  Romance/Love
This week: Mary Sue and Gary Stu Edited by: esprit  
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Everything you write, even if you define it as a paperback romance, is art. Art is crucial to society because it asks us to imagine-and when we imagine, all things are possible. Virologist Jonas Salk imagined a world without polio, and made it so.
N.M. Kelby's "The Constant Art of Being a Writer" |
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Mary Sue and Gary Stu
Are your best characters Mary Sue's?
Such proxy characters, critics claim, exist only because authors wish to see themselves as the "special" character in question.
The term is also associated with cliché such as exotic hair and eye colors, mystical or superhuman powers, exotic pets, possessions or origins or an unusually tragic past, especially when these things are glaringly out of step with the consistency of the canon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sue
Mary Sue can be found in fanfics most often, but they appear in general fiction too. They are recognizable as being gorgeous, strong, intelligent and perfect.
Mary Sue is mysterious. She is often a victim of past abuse. She's had tragedies happen to her that a normal person could never handle with such grace. Adversity has strengtened her though, and she is determined to right every wrong that comes across her path-and she does.
Gary Stu? Ditto.
As I read Wiki's definition above, I had to disagree with part of it. I don't believe authors write Mary Sue's to place themselves in the 'special' character's position. Not all authors.
Some stories call for strong characters that are able to do many things, often alone. Action/Adventure comes to my mind, Chuck Norris in particular. His POW rescue movies, his Walker, Texas Ranger series. To call every strong character a Mary Sue is ridiculous and unfair. Chuck isn't a Gary Stu! Is he? Doesn't he have a flaw of some kind? Do you think that whoever writes his scripts is fantasizing himself as the Chuck Norris character?
New writers might write a Mary Sue or Gary Stu without meaning to. They just haven't learned how not to yet. It's hard to create less than perfect heroines and heroes, isn't it? Weaknesses help to strengthen a piece of fiction and make it more engaging; but it is a skill to be learned through experience and practice. The best authors realize this and they use their own flaws to develop their characters at times. The skill fits into the 'write what you know' category.
Readers find these rounded characters interesting because they are realistic, flawed, and accessible, making the reader feel a deeper connection with the story. A Mary Sue, on the other hand, is so obviously a fraud that she often ends up alienating the reader from the story.
For readers, the Mary Sue can be a uniquely frustrating character. Her actions sometimes are so inconceivable that she ruins the story. Mary Sues often break the rules of a fiction world, and the flowery descriptions of their perfect beauty and profuse talents can grow dull for the reader. Authors use cliched terms to describe them; they have "glowing eyes," "flowing hair," "porcelain skin," and so forth. They have unique magical powers.
The scriptwriter for Chuck Norris does not break the rules of good fiction. The stories have interesting, albeit cliched, plots, so obviously Chuck is not a Gary Stu.
Write the story the way you'd like, perfect character qualities and all. However, during the rewrite process, as everyone knows is where the real story is written, consider weaving in some personality quirks and shining hair that comes from a box or walnut shell dye if there's no Walgreen close by.
Begin gently. There's no need to rid yourself of Mary Sue's completely. A good way to tone them down is to tell the story from another character's point of view. Take them out of the spotlight. As long as you don't break the rules of fiction and write a good story, the good characters will evolve with practice.
You don't have to air your own flaws either, unless you want to. People watching will give you all the quirks you need if you keep copious notes.
 The bottom line: Mary Sue and Gary Stu are very annoying, uninteresting one dimensional characters.
I linked the original Mary Sue Litmus test here. You can use it to test if your main character is heading toward cliche or not.
Litmus Test
More info.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Mary-Sue
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Comments on "Invalid Item" and "Invalid Item"
Submitted By: Lorna Dune
Submitted Comment: Men do read romance stories, it is how you present them to them. My Bob was my greatest critic, he always read my stories, even though some were more 'racey' than others. He loved them all. Now I am working on Our Story and trying to put all the things we loved to do in it. Like "Holding hands meant something. I'm not sure who was the first to reach out, but once it happened we always help hand after that."
Submitted By: Ash
Submitted Comment: Hey Esprit! I loved this newsletter. I've never thought about guys actually writing or reading romance novels...but it would be great if more of them did. :)
Great newsletter, Ash
Submission Time: 05-13-09 @ 1:20pm
Submitted By: Jaye P. Marshall 
Submitted Comment: Another very good newsletter. It is unfortunate that the Romance genre has seemingly acquired such a "bad reputation" for "literature" - especially while selling like the proverbial hotcakes.
Thank you for featuring my story, "Anniversary Party".
Submission Time: 05-14-09 @ 5:11pm
Submitted By: spazmom
Submitted Comment: I agree with your sentiments pretty much. Romance isn't the generic term everyone applies to it. Bodice ripping covers are not the ones I read anyway. My hubby calls those porn for women. Romance can be wonderful without the sex every two pages -- there are relationships, learning about each other, communication...etc. Sorry...it's my soap box. Thanks for a great newsletter.
Submitted By: Leger~ 
Submitted Comment: Hi Esprit,
RE: romance/love issue 5/13/09
The category link was terrific, it went into my submissions favorites. Thanks so much!
Submitted By: sarahreed
Submitted Comment: Thanks for the information about Writing to a Category Imprint. It was very insightful.
Thank you for taking the time to write in. 
Editors:
darkin
Fyn 
Your guest host this week is esprit
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Romance/Love: October 07, 2009 Issue [#3307]
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