Everybody should be allowed to be a sue for 24 hrs

[secondlina]

To have a day where everything magically gets done for you and you can do no wrong? That would be sweet.

I think I figured out why Mary Sues are so popular.

And in case one of you still doesn't know, A Mary Sue is :  is often either a perfect or almost perfect character. They often appear in fan fictions and are sometimes based on the author themselves.

If the Mary Sue or Gary Stu is based on the author, they normally have qualities that the author wishes they had. For example, they wish to be more popular or better looking.When a Mary Sue or Gary Stu is written into a fan fiction, it will often cause canon (original) characters to become OOC (out of character). They often have terrible, grief-filled pasts and 'need' a certain canon character to understand them or they have a past that is the exact same or very similar to a canon character's. Mary Sues and Gary Stus are mostly found in new writers or written in fan fictions by more exprerienced writers for fun. They also tend to have either very common or extremely strange and exotic names or, if they are made for fun, will sometimes have the name Mary Sue or Gary Stu.

I think when you're a writer Mary Sues can be really fun to play with. Unfortunately, when you're a female writer, if you have a character with a slight physical resemblance to you (such as being female and dark haired in my case) she will be called a Mary Sue right off the bat. Not all main characters are Sues. And heck, even some "Sue" accused characters, like Tohru from Fruits Basket or Sakura from Card Captor are actually amazing and fun characters. I don't think it's bad to create a Sue, as long as you write her well. Like every character, the quality of the writing will make her a good or bad character, Sue not withstanding.

In other news, i,m posting this from my brand new computer, all ready to be used thanks to Link, who even added some coolness and added a Slayers Wallpaper for me to see when I got home. Way to go the extra mile, boyfriend of mine.

Sleep now.

-Isa

Comments

[ichiban-victory.livejournal.com]

It's the perfection of Mary Sues that makes them really annoying after a while. Having a character that is perfect in everything makes for a really boring story...but of course now I'm thinking of Mary Poppins since we watched that recently, and I guess some could say she was a Mary Sue herself. Eh, whatever.

I'll take a flawed character any day though. (Even though it would be wonderful to be the perfect worker. That is unfortunately only gained through experience. Just think: one day you will be an Epic Mary Sue!)

[elfgrove.livejournal.com]

Good point.
A point made by one of my favorite authors was that no concept or story element is irredeemable given a writer of sufficient skill.
That would mean ...even Sues/Stus.

And I definitely wish I could be a real life Sue for a day.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

I had what I thought was a Mary Sue character -- in fact, two of the Buffy fanfics he's in actually have "Mary Sue" in the title. But I was informed that he's actually a self-insert, apparently because he's unlucky in love, is seldom the main character of the story, tends to screw up when he is -- and he's a rotten shot with a crossbow.

[amelia-seyroon.livejournal.com]

I wanna see your Slayers wallpaper!

And thanks to this definition that I have a better idea on what a Mary Sue/Gary Stu is. >____>

[spankingfemme.livejournal.com]

Sues can be okay as long as the writer keeps them from 'running the story' They can be a lot of fun, and I will admit I once wrote a semi Sue character way back when! LOL!

Love your funny strip! ;)

[earthstar-moon.livejournal.com]

I think we all have days we wish were magically done for us.

I think you had a good explaination about sues. If done poorly, they're annoying, but if they're handle by a good author they are fun to read.

[kokumi009.livejournal.com]

HAHAHAHA. oh boy, i can't help think that she was going to be the next ideal Barbie doll. (imagine Isa dolls sold on stores! XD)
I guess it would be fun to be a Mary Sue for one day. But flawed characters still get more of the fun.

[snapdragon76.livejournal.com]

One thing about my job I like is the fact that I don't actally have to TALK to people...

Hell, I have a Mary Sue character already floating around somewheres...

And that Link. He sounds like a keeper, he does! Can you clone one for me?

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Mary Poppins would be a sue.

But a cool one.

I find that even flawed characters can come off as sues if they are badly written. Hence why I feel it's not the character itself that matters, but rather it's presence in the story and the writting style.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

god, that would be sweet. Probably why they are so popular in fics.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

They have "untalented sues" categories too.

And again, who cares if a sue is there as long as she's cool!

(Does the Buffy-bot kinda count?)

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

it's just one of the "Lina casting a spell" commecial breaks.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

The girls in your icon could be argued to be canon sues! It's really all in the writting and in the eye of the reader. Some people see bad sues in the tiniest details. I was accused to have made the ROSe main character into a sue because we both had black hair. Never mind that her story is based on heartbreak when I never had a heartbreak in my life. Logic is just a detail.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Mwahahaha. Sue doll.

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Shall I clone him from rattail hair?

[amelia-seyroon.livejournal.com]

Oh. Still awesome! :0

[snapdragon76.livejournal.com]

Why certainly! The rattail is part of the charm!

And you can tell him I said so, too... LOL!

[izo-chan.livejournal.com]

Haha, so true -- who wouldn't want to be a magical girl or cool sorceress or super nothing-can-go-wrong-for-you woman for a day?

I agree -- I think people focus too much on "zomg it's a Sue!!!" these days without stopping to really think about it. Ok, a perfect character and makes everyone else OOC or splits up established couples so that said character can have a slew of sexual encounters is bad. That's a given. But if done correctly (give the character flaws -- not everyone can like them!), I don't see a problem with modeling a character after yourself or giving them some of your traits, or even giving them a tragic past they must get over somehow with the help of the canon cast. Writing is about having fun, right? If it's done well and the canon characters stay IN character (and couples aren't broken up) then there isn't a problem imho.

>.>

[val4s.livejournal.com]

Love the comic! Hahahaha XD And grats for the new comp! X3

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

Funny you should mention the Buffybot. My MarySue kind of, um, shot her. Accidentally. But he really is very cool, as long as you don't put a weapon into his hands!