OMG, hey! My name is Mary Sue and I-
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Yeah sweetie, let's stop you right there.
First of all, please don't hate me. Especially if you've read this entire book so far you are all more than aware of my crappy updating habits. Sorry 'bout that, I promise I'll do better. In theory.
(Kidding!)
Anyway, today's rant is on Mary Sues! (Alternately Gary Stu for boys.)
For anyone who has literally been living under a rock-or is just new to writing-a Mary Sue is essentially a character that has no flaws and can do no wrong. They're perfect, everyone loves them, and yet they hate themselves. If you Google the definition (I did) this is what comes up:
A Mary Sue is a character the author identifies with so strongly, the author is often warped by it.
Eh, I guess that works. It's actually good, because it reminded me of the other part of a Mary Sue character: not only are they perfect, but they're perfect because the author is doing their best to live vicariously through the character. this of course is understandable, and also borderlines on self-insertions into stories, which I might do a rant on in the near future. Anyway, Mary Sues have either no flaws, or only one or two. usually the author chooses clumsy-ness, because tripping over your own two feet is apparently adorable.
Can someone find it endearing when I fall flat on my face??
No. Because it isn't cute, it's a fucking hazard.
After Googling several lists of Mary Sues in actual published writing, here are the characters that seemed to crop up the most:
Beth March (Little Women)
Bella Swan (Twilight)
Cinderella
Snow White
Wesley Crusher (Star Trek)
James Bond
Nancy Drew (Nancy Drew series)
Cedric Diggory (Harry Potter)
Now, I don't necessarily agree with all of these. In fact, I loved Beth-one of my favorite characters in Little Women. I was especially hesitant about adding in Diggory, as Harry Potter is the closest thing I have to a Bible and I personally adored Cedric. But did he actually have any flaws..?
What do you guys think about it? Any characters to add? Any you disagree with? Let me know in the comments below! And if you could take a second and click that vote button! And by the way, we're almost to 1K READS ON THIS THING! So thanks for that, too.
(Edit: Almost to 6.5K!!! Thank you all so much, oh my gosh. I literally can't even.)
As always, thanks for reading!!!
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My Wattpad Rants
RandomWattpad; a safe place for young, inspired writers. The only bad thing; some of them can't write. We hear the same one-liners, read the same plots, see the same mistakes over and over. So, here's a safe haven for all of us who have a deep, burning ha...
