Hey, all! It's Thursday, which means it's time for my workshop, of course. I have a very special workshop tonight: a jointly-taught lesson! And for this joint workshop, my co-teacher will be TV Tropes, aka the best time-waster on the internet, nay, in the world.
And with my good friend TV Tropes here, we are going to talk about one of the most common accusations in the writing world: "Your character is a Mary Sue." A Mary Sue started out referring only to an author self-insert, but has expanded to include any character that the reader disliked.
So with all this bickering, how is one supposed to know what a Mary Sue really is? With the help of TV Tropes, I'll tell you specific types of Mary Sues and how to avoid them in your own writing.
The "Purity Sue" - Possibly the most common form of Mary Sue out there, this Sue is perfect in each and every way. She's beautiful, gentle, kind, a great cook, and everyone loves her. The guys want to take care of her, and the girls want to be her. Normally you won't find this kind of Sue outside of fanfic, but sometimes authors get a little carried away...
How to avoid: You've probably heard this before, but I'll say it again. It's extremely important that your character have realistic flaws. And I don't mean flaws in the sense of "she's too selfless" or "doesn't take care of herself because she's too busy taking care of others." Your character can be sweet and still do things that drive other people crazy. Is she obsessive-compulsive to the point of rearranging her best friend's things every time she comes over? Does she take an hour to decide which brand of toothpaste to buy? And to avoid Sue territory, these flaws must be acknowledged by others. There's nothing more irritating than an author using other characters to tell the reader how perfect an imperfect character is.
The "God Mode Sue" - As the name would imply, a God Mode Sue is absurdly powerful. The God Mode Sue outdoes every other character at everything; you might say that the rest of the ensemble is just there for moral support to the Sue. This one may be a bit more common in published fiction than the Purity Sue, especially in fantasy fiction.
How to avoid: The important thing here is to establish limitations to your character's power so they don't outdo everyone else in the cast. Do they have ridiculously powerful magic? Maybe they accidentally level entire towns every time they use it. Do they have super strength? Maybe their speed is lacking. Brute force and finesse are at opposite ends of the spectrum, so the closer the character is to one end, the worse they're going to be at the other. And remember: if your character is a Jack of All Trades type, don't forget that the saying ends with "Master of None."
The "Jerkass Stu" / "Tsundere Sue" - This type of character is more than just a jerk - they're a jerk that the author expects you to give a free pass to be a jerk, probably because of a tragic past. The other characters certainly do! Not a scene goes by when someone doesn't comment on what a troubled soul the character is, and how s/he has some good in him/her somewhere, and by gosh, they're gonna find it!
How to avoid: Making a character that readers love to hate is easy. Making a jerk character appealing to readers who dislike the type? That's harder. It certainly takes more than a tacked-on tragic past and a scene in which the jerk puts a stranded baby bird back in its nest. You wouldn't base a nice character around their niceness, and likewise, you can't base a mean character solely around their meanness. You don't have to strive to make everyone like this character. S/he just has to be interesting.
There are more Sue types on TV Tropes, but these are the three I feel are abused the most.
And let's end with a discussion! What's the most egregious Sue or Stu you've ever encountered, either in fanfic or original fiction?
