Mary Sue?

[EverPhoenix]

i didnt quite know where to put this, so i chucked it here.

since a fair number among you have tried their hand at story writing, i figured id ask this. did you ever run your characters through the Mary Sue litmus tests?

as fanfic writers (original or not) im sure you'd be aware of what a Mary Sue character is.

ive put one character ive come up with (made an appearance in the soon[ish] to be cotinued fic i started on here, RP board, and another place i think) through these tests, and the results vary from borderline to not at all. so im fairly impressed with that. if i do post the fic up anywhere, it shouldnt get that much Mary-Sue related hate.

so yeah... ever seen the test?

[inferiare]

I have! I roleplay as well, so any original characters I have, I run them through that test to make sure they aren't raging special snowflake Mary Sues who are the most gorgeous women in the land. When I make my own roleplay, any original characters will be highly recommended to be run through that before applying.

[Blade]

Trainstation? What is Mary Sue'ing a character?

[EverPhoenix]

a Mary Sue character is a character that is clichéd to the point of pointlessness. kinda like most of the Twilight characters.

for a better definition,

"A Mary Sue (sometimes just Sue), in literary criticism and particularly in fanfiction, is a fictional character with overly idealized and hackneyed mannerisms, lacking noteworthy flaws, and primarily functioning as wish-fulfillment fantasies for their authors or readers. Perhaps the single underlying feature of all characters described as "Mary Sues" is that they are too ostentatious for the audience's taste, or that the author seems to favor the character too highly. The author may seem to push how exceptional and wonderful the "Mary Sue" character is on his or her audience, sometimes leading the audience to dislike or even resent the character fairly quickly; such a character could be described as an "author's pet"."

-wikipedia

[Blade]

Haha, like the Postman in Twilight Princess? ^^

You learn something new every day!

[inferiare]

Let me demonstrate by shitty purple prose roleplay writing at 5am (dear god I'll want to kill myself) what a Mary Sue is:

*ahem* "As the girl walked into the bar, the first thing one might notice about her was her perfectly crafted body: her curves were perfect and her skin pristine. Speaking of her skin, it was pale in colour, but it seemed to glow when the dim lights in the bar hit it. In fact, it was glowing, seeing as Samantha Kitty Misha Branbul was the child of an angel and a human. She inherited many things from her mother, which included long golden hair that could bring back a certain nostalgia in people about the fields in which they may have played in when children, and deep blue orbs (note: hur hur almost used eyes here, what was I thinking?) that changed colour depending on her mood.

Of course, that's not including her body, which again was perfect in any way and could get any man she may have wanted. In fact, no man had ever turned her down when she asked for something; it was a blessing and a curse to be this beautiful."

On that note, I'm going to go commit seppuku now.

[psychokind]

now I understand that too

I don't write fan fics, but I'm playing pen & paper. can I make the test for my "the dark eye"-char too?

although I don't think I fit the stereo-type of my "black magic demon summoner" - mage. I like to rape and torture elven females, but on the other hand I'm the prime minister of our country. and I rule with a fair hand, unlike certain warmongers in my group

[EverPhoenix]

lol thats certainly an interesting character. there are a few tests out there, this one being one that you do online. the rest ive seen involve pen and paper, and tallying numbers. then again, if you RP with that character, pen and paper should be easily accessible too.

and @raini. lol. that completes like 2 of the categories flawlessly. maybe more, even. very much worthy of sueicide (oh god help me, that one made me want to borrow your katana after youd finished)

[psychokind]

link pls

tay... NO!

[tay120n64]

psychokind wrote:

link pls tay... NO!

WHEN YOU TELL ME NOT TO IS WHEN I DO IT.

[inferiare]

EverPhoenix wrote:

and @raini. lol. that completes like 2 of the categories flawlessly. maybe more, even. very much worthy of sueicide (oh god help me, that one made me want to borrow your katana after youd finished)

It's sad when I can do that. I've been doing the roleplay thing for a long, long time. AOL had some of that kind of stuff going on way back in the day, so I saw it on a constant basis. Guess it sort of ingrained itself into me.

Edit: And I realized I forgot to add that she had some traumatic childhood that probably involved her dog dying in her arms after a bull stampede. Damn. Next time, though.

[EverPhoenix]

psychokind wrote:

link pls tay... NO!

there was a link in the message i posted. this one was a link.

http://www.springhole.net/quizzes/marysue.htm

[psychokind]

50+
Kill it dead. Or make sure you read the instructions properly (some people don't do this, which causes freakishly high scores) and take the test again.

total of 71?!...

[EverPhoenix]

psychokind wrote:

50+ Kill it dead. Or make sure you read the instructions properly (some people don't do this, which causes freakishly high scores) and take the test again. total of 71?!...

did you fill in both the original character AND the rpg insert sections? coz u choose one of them.

otherwise, OUCH.

[psychokind]

only part 1, 4 and 5. well, maybe I am playing a stereotype. I still think my roleplaying behaviour is very reasonable, I play myself with the possibility to torture, kill and rape everyone who gets in my way