Thank you for saying this. Myself, I don't judge a Mary Sue based on the conventional version. I don't mind Original Characters. Oftentimes, they're nessary for the plot. However, when you insert an original character and write them in badly, then I call them Mary/Gary. It all depends on the author's writing ability.
I know it's crucial for young authors to write, even if it means producing large amounts of rubbish. I can remember stories that I wrote when I was younger (and indeed, even now) that have horribly perfect, cliches of characters. However, after writing, and then reading those stories, I could see that this 200k story I had just produced was utter and complete trash. I'd examine, and prod at the story until one day (hark!) I finally realized that I was writing the dreaded Mary Sues. You see, it wasn't that my characters were intellegent, amiable and beautiful people, but rather, it was that I had wrote them like the child I was. I had made them the most perfect people I could, because in my ten-year-old world, I had thought that perfect people were something that needed to be in stories. Now, I look at my stories and make sure that the writing in it exceeds the normal thirteen-year-old standard.
So, it's not the character that annoys me, it's the writing abilitly. If you can't see that your story is not captivating in the least bit, and is badly written and in need of editing, then I'll probably click the back button.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2005-07-12 04:13 am (UTC)Thank you for saying this. Myself, I don't judge a Mary Sue based on the conventional version. I don't mind Original Characters. Oftentimes, they're nessary for the plot. However, when you insert an original character and write them in badly, then I call them Mary/Gary. It all depends on the author's writing ability.
I know it's crucial for young authors to write, even if it means producing large amounts of rubbish. I can remember stories that I wrote when I was younger (and indeed, even now) that have horribly perfect, cliches of characters. However, after writing, and then reading those stories, I could see that this 200k story I had just produced was utter and complete trash. I'd examine, and prod at the story until one day (hark!) I finally realized that I was writing the dreaded Mary Sues. You see, it wasn't that my characters were intellegent, amiable and beautiful people, but rather, it was that I had wrote them like the child I was. I had made them the most perfect people I could, because in my ten-year-old world, I had thought that perfect people were something that needed to be in stories. Now, I look at my stories and make sure that the writing in it exceeds the normal thirteen-year-old standard.
So, it's not the character that annoys me, it's the writing abilitly. If you can't see that your story is not captivating in the least bit, and is badly written and in need of editing, then I'll probably click the back button.
-Lizz