All About Mary Sue

Who is Mary Sue?

Mary Sue is nortorious in fan fiction circles (as is her male counterpart, Gary Stu). Who is she? Generally, 'Mary Sue' is the generic name tacked onto a fic author's beloved original character (OC). That is, if the OC is written in a certain tiresome, predictable way.
Usually, Mary Sue has some kind of tragic past, is haunted by unsurmountable guilt, and is so beautiful and desirable that she leaves a wake of jealously wherever she goes. Mary also tends to fall for, marry, and/or have sex with the author's favored canon character and is multi-talented in ways that far surpass any other canon character's abilities. And finally, Mary usually dies a tragic death in self-sacrifice. This of course sends all the canon characters into a tail-spin of grief. You get the idea...

But...Aren't Some Canon Characters 'Mary Sues'?

Certainly, they could be viewed as such. Take Princess Allura for example. She's royalty, smart, beautiful (so beautiful she's desired intensely by Lotor and that's a plot point in more than one episode), and has a tragic past. She's also talented enough to learn to fly the Blue Lion in a short period of time.
But the difference between her and a Mary Sue that YOU as an AUTHOR insert is just that - you're inserting a character you dreamed up (and in worst case scenarios, this character is merely yourself living vicariously in the Voltron Universe), that may even overshadow or replace a canon character. And when you're dealing with an established universe, what's ok for the goose isn't necessarily game for the gander. In reality, writing in the most offending type of original Mary Sue will end up turning off readers who don't want to see their favorite canon character play second banana to your little invention. That's just the way it is.

Then, are all OCs Mary Sues?

No. And just because yours may be does not mean your fan fic is doomed to be loathed by your fandom. But knowing you have one is half the battle. The other half is accepting your character's Mary Sue status and having it work for you rather than against you.

How do I write a 'Good' Mary Sue, then?

For starters, take the litmus test linked to from this page. Answer the questions about your OC and your story's plotlines as honestly as you can. Afterall, if you're dishonest the only thing you'll be hurting is your story. There are four levels of results you can achieve by taking the test:
1. Well Developed. This one meaning, you're not writing what can be called a Mary Sue at all. This is the best result you can get, provided you've taken the test honestly.
2. Borderline Mary Sue. While your character may have facets of a Mary Sue, there's enough of a counter-balance to only warrant a warning that you're edging toward Mary-Suism.
3. Mary Sue. Ok, so you're writing a Mary Sue. But take heart - it doesn't have to be a bad thing. Just accept this, be aware of it, and be sure to tone down what would be the most 'unacceptable' aspects of your character and you should be ok.
4. Horrible! If you get this result, scrap the character and do it now. I can all but guarantee you that if you don't, you'll be hard pressed to have anyone stick with your story. Your Mary Sue is out of control!

Think you can handle the 'truth' about your OC?

Then take this test!

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