Obviously, I don't extend this to include those characters who have ten animagi forms, are part fairy and part Tolkien elf, are Snape's daughter and Dumbledore's granddaughter and both Harry and Draco's sister and going out with Ron, but I heartily dislike characterisation of all beautiful, intelligent, powerful female characters as Mary-Sues
My, albeit limited, experience with this fandom so far is that there are four kinds of writers, three kinds of readers and five kinds of 'Sues'
Writer 1: Fantasy-- she (almost always a she in this fandom) is writing about the magical parts of the books, those things which are, inherently, unbelievable.
Writer 2: Romance-- she is writing about interactions between characters, usually romantic ones. Whether she uses Canon Characters or Other Characters, she's writing about their love lives and how they relate to one another.
Writer 3: Adventure-- she is writing about a chain of events. It's very plot heavy, with exciting battles and dramatic rescues
Writer 4: Psychological-- she is writing character studies and exploring the inner workings of a character's mind.
All of these can be happy, sad, fluffy, dark, dramatic or stark. The best fics (and in a broader sense, the best literature-- this is not unique to fanfiction) combines elements of two or more of these. At the end, though, there will be a slant in one direction or another. Something is more important than the others, is the driving force behind the work.
There are three kinds of readers:
Reader 1: Escapist-- she reads because she's had a long, hectic day at work/with the kids, and for just a little while, she wants to lose herself in a story.
Reader 2: Empath-- she reads for largely the same reasons as the Escapist, but she puts herself *in* the story and runs around in one of the character's shoes. She doesn't merely lose herself, but she becomes someone else for a while and is able to live a life that is more exciting, more romantic, more dramatic or more whimsical than hers is.
Reader 3: Critic-- she reads for the literary merit, for the joy of reading. She's a thinker, and she will never get lost in the story-- she analyzes every word, and she wants to be taken on an intellectually stimulating journey.
There are two types of Sues:
Reader's Sue, who is an idealization of something that is basically real, and a character whose shoes the reader can step into unobtrusively; and
Writer's Sue, who is the self-insert of the author.
And, of course, there are combinations thereof and there are characters who are not sues at all, but momentarily putting those aside.
It's a matter of combining writers, readers and characters (and remember, there is no inherent intelligence or ability in any of these classifications-- we've all read horrible psychology, we've all seen stupid readers who were very full of themselves and we've all seen miserable characterizations... but I'm writing to the middle ground here, not the extremes).
So, assuming reasonably good writing, reasonably reasonable readers and reasonably inoffensive sues...
Romance writer + Escapist reader + Writer's Sue = Potentially a good combination. The escapist is reading a story, and she can read your story and enjoy the character who is your own self insert (provided your self insert doesn't develop nasty habits like single-handedly taking down a dozen Death Eaters)
Romance writer + Escapist reader + reader's Sue = Potentially a good combination. Really, the escapist reader is the easiest to write for, because she doesn't expect you to make everything perfect. As long as she can immerse herself in the story, she's happy.
Romance writer + Critical reader + Reader's Sue = Dodgy. Romance is a very formulaic genre, and chances are the critical reader isn't going to be thrilled with much that's in it, anyway. It's predictable, which frees up the reader to think an awful lot about the characters.
Romance writer + critical reader + Writer's Sue = Friction. The critic isn't occupied with the story, and therefore has plenty of time to critique the characters. And when the character she's critiquing is the writer's stand-in, there is high potential for sparks to fly.
Writers, Readers and Sues (Part 1)
My, albeit limited, experience with this fandom so far is that there are four kinds of writers, three kinds of readers and five kinds of 'Sues'
Writer 1: Fantasy-- she (almost always a she in this fandom) is writing about the magical parts of the books, those things which are, inherently, unbelievable.
Writer 2: Romance-- she is writing about interactions between characters, usually romantic ones. Whether she uses Canon Characters or Other Characters, she's writing about their love lives and how they relate to one another.
Writer 3: Adventure-- she is writing about a chain of events. It's very plot heavy, with exciting battles and dramatic rescues
Writer 4: Psychological-- she is writing character studies and exploring the inner workings of a character's mind.
All of these can be happy, sad, fluffy, dark, dramatic or stark. The best fics (and in a broader sense, the best literature-- this is not unique to fanfiction) combines elements of two or more of these. At the end, though, there will be a slant in one direction or another. Something is more important than the others, is the driving force behind the work.
There are three kinds of readers:
Reader 1: Escapist-- she reads because she's had a long, hectic day at work/with the kids, and for just a little while, she wants to lose herself in a story.
Reader 2: Empath-- she reads for largely the same reasons as the Escapist, but she puts herself *in* the story and runs around in one of the character's shoes. She doesn't merely lose herself, but she becomes someone else for a while and is able to live a life that is more exciting, more romantic, more dramatic or more whimsical than hers is.
Reader 3: Critic-- she reads for the literary merit, for the joy of reading. She's a thinker, and she will never get lost in the story-- she analyzes every word, and she wants to be taken on an intellectually stimulating journey.
There are two types of Sues:
Reader's Sue, who is an idealization of something that is basically real, and a character whose shoes the reader can step into unobtrusively; and
Writer's Sue, who is the self-insert of the author.
And, of course, there are combinations thereof and there are characters who are not sues at all, but momentarily putting those aside.
It's a matter of combining writers, readers and characters (and remember, there is no inherent intelligence or ability in any of these classifications-- we've all read horrible psychology, we've all seen stupid readers who were very full of themselves and we've all seen miserable characterizations... but I'm writing to the middle ground here, not the extremes).
So, assuming reasonably good writing, reasonably reasonable readers and reasonably inoffensive sues...
Romance writer + Escapist reader + Writer's Sue = Potentially a good combination. The escapist is reading a story, and she can read your story and enjoy the character who is your own self insert (provided your self insert doesn't develop nasty habits like single-handedly taking down a dozen Death Eaters)
Romance writer + Escapist reader + reader's Sue = Potentially a good combination. Really, the escapist reader is the easiest to write for, because she doesn't expect you to make everything perfect. As long as she can immerse herself in the story, she's happy.
Romance writer + Critical reader + Reader's Sue = Dodgy. Romance is a very formulaic genre, and chances are the critical reader isn't going to be thrilled with much that's in it, anyway. It's predictable, which frees up the reader to think an awful lot about the characters.
Romance writer + critical reader + Writer's Sue = Friction. The critic isn't occupied with the story, and therefore has plenty of time to critique the characters. And when the character she's critiquing is the writer's stand-in, there is high potential for sparks to fly.
(cont)