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Mary Sues: Why I'm Not Afraid of Them
11 years ago
Header! Ball! Yay!
So sorry to sick another really long post on you all, but I got inspired to write this, so read at your own risk.
An artist I watch on a website (being discreet because it's not important) recently said he was removing himself from his character, as he was finding it was making the character too much of a "Mary Sue." Now, I thought I had an idea of what it meant, but after looking it up on Wikipedia (seriously great place, guys, don't bash it) I'm finding my views on it changing.
The stereotypical "Mary Sue" character, according to the character, fulfills two things. The character is an insert of the author, either directly or indirectly, into an already established world. Second, the character is unrealistically superior: faster, stronger, better than everyone and everything, and all the characters around them.
I understand the negative connotations of such a character. The young fighter pilot loved by his or her superiors, even romantically so, who always saves the day until they die in a dramatic and heroic fashion. This would naturally make for an uninteresting character, too perfect to relate to on any level.
However, I have to agree with what some of the critics of the "Mary Sue" have to say. To use the same quote as the article, from author Ann C. Crispin, "The term 'Mary Sue' constitutes a put-down, implying that the character so summarily dismissed is not a true character, no matter how well drawn, what sex, species, or degree of individuality."
I was thinking about what the aforementioned artist said, about wanting to disconnect from his character to avoid being a "Mary Sue" or "Marty Stu", and I thought about my own universe, one that is primarily only in my head as I work daily to write it into being, and about one of the characters. Particularly, Alan Wolfsheim, the character that I made to be like me in most regards. I began to wonder, is he really a "Marty Stu?" Is he an unrealistic insertion of myself into my own story, to be the dramatic hero that everyone mourns when he sacrifices himself to save his loved ones?
My answer was: yes and no. The world that my characters exist in is a harsh, violent universe, where my heroes are not seen as heroes by most of the world, no matter what good they do. They are hunted even as they attempt to stop the people who turned them into the living weapons they are from causing more harm to others, hence the name I chose for their team: The Renegades. But if I choose to make Alan fairly strong, and their leader as well, he falls right into Marty Stu territory, doesn't he?
In that regards, yes. I'm not ashamed to admit that I favor the character that represents me the most a little more than the others. He's strong, and the leader of the Renegades. There is, however, another aspect in which he fails, at least in my opinion, to be a Marty Stu.
The other fault and danger of Marty Stus/Mary Sues, is that they are uninteresting, generally because their lives are too perfect. That's where I feel Alan and Marty Stu part ways.
I worked very hard on my initial roster of heroes, keeping them to a select 7, each with their own lives, stories, and powers. Even as I added more characters of all types, from neutral victims of the powers that be to downright mega villains, I kept working on the first seven, always aiming to improve them, but not in the way you might think.
Alan is a representation of me, sure, but he's far from perfect. Teammates get injured or kidnapped due to decisions he makes, and that adds to tensions between him and the other leadership-potential teammate, Shane. He hides things from his team, thinking it's for their own protection, only to find that he did more harm than good, and has to work hard each and every day of his written life to maintain his friendships. In the end, it's their trust for him that keeps him in the leadership position, not because I'm stroking my own ego thinking I'm some incredible leader at heart.
Eventually, Alan goes through a process of rebirth, literally dying to try and find out the meaning of his existence, and honestly why the people around him even care. He sacrifices himself to defeat their enemy, like a typical Marty Stu, but it doesn't work. He fails. I think that's why I've been so interested in building my world lately rather than writing fanfiction or anything in someone else's world: my characters are human.
And for those of you wondering, yes, the majority of my main cast are anthropomorphic animal-people. It's what I like to write, and is a core aspect of the characters lives and identities, as well as a centerpiece to the universe itself.
In the end, I thought all these things, and wondered if I should do the same. Should I disconnect myself from Alan, making him less like me and more of a "balanced" character?
My answer: No.
Yes, my character is a focal point of my stories and the leader. However, he's hardly perfect, and none of my other characters are any better. If I found out one of them had an advantage, I changed it or made a villain that could stop them, i.e. I had a character that could copy other characters powers, but found it was too easy for him to become to powerful at the drop of a hat, no matter what restrictions I placed on his powers and their use. Eventually, I scrapped that character's powers all together, making him more like Black Widow or Hawkeye than Mimic (Marvel characters, for those who lack the knowledge).
The other reason my answer is no is because, frankly, I don't give a damn. So what if my character represents me in a story? It's my story, not yours, I'll write it how I want. I've done what I can to avoid him being a Marty Stu, and that's as far as I'm going to go. If someone still thinks he is, that's their opinion, but I don't have to acknowledge it or even change anything about my world or characters to avoid it.
Hence the title of this long, absurd little article. I'm not afraid if my characters come across as a little Mary Sue/Marty Stu, because in all honestly each and every one of my characters has a little bit of me in them, good and bad alike. I could never take myself out of my characters entirely, because most of them were born from a place deep inside myself, shaped and molded by time and my own desires, and ending up where they are now in my head. They are my children, and like children they bear a piece of me, whether they like it or not.
That's my opinion on the matter. This came out much longer than I had thought it would, but so it goes.
Tl:Dr; My characters are a little Mary Sue/Marty Stu-ish, and that's okay.
An artist I watch on a website (being discreet because it's not important) recently said he was removing himself from his character, as he was finding it was making the character too much of a "Mary Sue." Now, I thought I had an idea of what it meant, but after looking it up on Wikipedia (seriously great place, guys, don't bash it) I'm finding my views on it changing.
The stereotypical "Mary Sue" character, according to the character, fulfills two things. The character is an insert of the author, either directly or indirectly, into an already established world. Second, the character is unrealistically superior: faster, stronger, better than everyone and everything, and all the characters around them.
I understand the negative connotations of such a character. The young fighter pilot loved by his or her superiors, even romantically so, who always saves the day until they die in a dramatic and heroic fashion. This would naturally make for an uninteresting character, too perfect to relate to on any level.
However, I have to agree with what some of the critics of the "Mary Sue" have to say. To use the same quote as the article, from author Ann C. Crispin, "The term 'Mary Sue' constitutes a put-down, implying that the character so summarily dismissed is not a true character, no matter how well drawn, what sex, species, or degree of individuality."
I was thinking about what the aforementioned artist said, about wanting to disconnect from his character to avoid being a "Mary Sue" or "Marty Stu", and I thought about my own universe, one that is primarily only in my head as I work daily to write it into being, and about one of the characters. Particularly, Alan Wolfsheim, the character that I made to be like me in most regards. I began to wonder, is he really a "Marty Stu?" Is he an unrealistic insertion of myself into my own story, to be the dramatic hero that everyone mourns when he sacrifices himself to save his loved ones?
My answer was: yes and no. The world that my characters exist in is a harsh, violent universe, where my heroes are not seen as heroes by most of the world, no matter what good they do. They are hunted even as they attempt to stop the people who turned them into the living weapons they are from causing more harm to others, hence the name I chose for their team: The Renegades. But if I choose to make Alan fairly strong, and their leader as well, he falls right into Marty Stu territory, doesn't he?
In that regards, yes. I'm not ashamed to admit that I favor the character that represents me the most a little more than the others. He's strong, and the leader of the Renegades. There is, however, another aspect in which he fails, at least in my opinion, to be a Marty Stu.
The other fault and danger of Marty Stus/Mary Sues, is that they are uninteresting, generally because their lives are too perfect. That's where I feel Alan and Marty Stu part ways.
I worked very hard on my initial roster of heroes, keeping them to a select 7, each with their own lives, stories, and powers. Even as I added more characters of all types, from neutral victims of the powers that be to downright mega villains, I kept working on the first seven, always aiming to improve them, but not in the way you might think.
Alan is a representation of me, sure, but he's far from perfect. Teammates get injured or kidnapped due to decisions he makes, and that adds to tensions between him and the other leadership-potential teammate, Shane. He hides things from his team, thinking it's for their own protection, only to find that he did more harm than good, and has to work hard each and every day of his written life to maintain his friendships. In the end, it's their trust for him that keeps him in the leadership position, not because I'm stroking my own ego thinking I'm some incredible leader at heart.
Eventually, Alan goes through a process of rebirth, literally dying to try and find out the meaning of his existence, and honestly why the people around him even care. He sacrifices himself to defeat their enemy, like a typical Marty Stu, but it doesn't work. He fails. I think that's why I've been so interested in building my world lately rather than writing fanfiction or anything in someone else's world: my characters are human.
And for those of you wondering, yes, the majority of my main cast are anthropomorphic animal-people. It's what I like to write, and is a core aspect of the characters lives and identities, as well as a centerpiece to the universe itself.
In the end, I thought all these things, and wondered if I should do the same. Should I disconnect myself from Alan, making him less like me and more of a "balanced" character?
My answer: No.
Yes, my character is a focal point of my stories and the leader. However, he's hardly perfect, and none of my other characters are any better. If I found out one of them had an advantage, I changed it or made a villain that could stop them, i.e. I had a character that could copy other characters powers, but found it was too easy for him to become to powerful at the drop of a hat, no matter what restrictions I placed on his powers and their use. Eventually, I scrapped that character's powers all together, making him more like Black Widow or Hawkeye than Mimic (Marvel characters, for those who lack the knowledge).
The other reason my answer is no is because, frankly, I don't give a damn. So what if my character represents me in a story? It's my story, not yours, I'll write it how I want. I've done what I can to avoid him being a Marty Stu, and that's as far as I'm going to go. If someone still thinks he is, that's their opinion, but I don't have to acknowledge it or even change anything about my world or characters to avoid it.
Hence the title of this long, absurd little article. I'm not afraid if my characters come across as a little Mary Sue/Marty Stu, because in all honestly each and every one of my characters has a little bit of me in them, good and bad alike. I could never take myself out of my characters entirely, because most of them were born from a place deep inside myself, shaped and molded by time and my own desires, and ending up where they are now in my head. They are my children, and like children they bear a piece of me, whether they like it or not.
That's my opinion on the matter. This came out much longer than I had thought it would, but so it goes.
Tl:Dr; My characters are a little Mary Sue/Marty Stu-ish, and that's okay.
My Bearsona is too flawed to be considered a Marty Stu as he's similar to Spider-Man in that he's struggling to put his abilities to good use after unintentionally killing his mom in a house fire as a child which mirrors my own real life tragedy where I lost my mom when I was 11-12 just days before 9/11. Anyway, despite the brave hero mask he puts on, Jimmy/Zelus Blaze actually suffers from self-doubt and a form of PTSD as well as having tendencies to single out one particular person so he can express his fears and anxieties too. As much as he knows he has his friends to lean on, he doesn't always open up to them as to not give them the phantom burden he carries or forgives himself for the accident.
Heck in actuality all ten of my main Z-Heroes represent different aspects of my life and personality in varying ways, but none of them are considered Mary Sues due to their own flaws and inner demons they shoulder which enables them room to develop and grow. So, I guess I don't have just "One" fursona, even if he is my first and oldest alter-ego, but I have at least "Ten" alter-egos that are manifestations of my very being to cope with all sorts of despair I went through over the years and thankfully had my best bud
But yeah; Mary Sues suck, although they don't necessarily have to be "self-inserts" from time to time from what I've learned over the years. :)
I felt the same way about my characters as well, which was the conclusion I came to. All my characters are parts of me, for good or ill, and I build the rest of them around that side of me they get so that they aren't just incomplete people.
I'm also glad you've had TK around for so long. He's a really neat guy, just like you. ^=^