Mary Sueism and Self-Insertion

This is just part of the Escapists' Guide to the Haven, and thus just a thread about suggestions and advice. None of this is mandatory.

Definition
First, the question is, what is a Mary Sue?

Mary Sues and Gary Stus are what might be considered the “perfect people”. They’re smart, attractive, young, and catches everyone’s attention. They are perfectly moral and strive for goodness, but are also very modest.

“Mary Sue! You’ve saved us all!”

Mary Sue: No, I couldn’t have done it without all of you. *Wipes away a single tear from her eye, managing to look fantastic even while shedding a tear.*

They still look sexy even after a 16 hour battle in the marshes while getting ghoul guts splattered all over them artistically, even somehow managing to make them look even sexier. They look great no matter what they do. They always know exactly what to do in every situation and excel at everything they do as well. Mary Sue does what no one else can do, whether it’s taming that unruly horse that no one else could ride or saving a man being overcome by a deadly curse single-handedly without much effort. All the boys and girls have crushes on Mary Sue and Gray Stu. They get along with everyone and get even the most cruel-hearted villains to shed a tear.

They are often kind and stable despite having a tragic past. Whether it’s the evil aunt or uncle or the cruel and uncaring orphanage after the horrible slaughtering of their dearly beloved parents and siblings that they witnessed after being hidden in the closet. Or wandering the streets of some city after decimating their entire home village because of the awesome powers they could not control. Or after being bullied by all those jealous girls, who can’t stand all the attention Mary Sue gets and how all the guys want her. It never gets them down until it’s time for another pity call, and Mary Sue has a teary but beautiful break down.

Though some Mary Sues have a perfectly good life and have never had anything bad happen to them, and the creators intend to keep it that way. There are never any lasting tragedies or suffering that befalls them during RP’s.

Gray Stu is calm, smooth, and always the leader because of his awesome snap judgments and awing combat abilities. Oh, and he always gets the girl because he is perfectly handsome, charming, and moral. He’s also amazing in the sack even if it’s his first time.

Villain-Sue seems evil while secretly having heroic tendencies and often has a tragic past that excuse their evil ways. Villain-Sue is often like Angsty-Sue, who is constantly depressed and ridden with self-loathing and guilt for something, even though they never really did anything wrong—just an excuse to feel guilty and gain sympathy. Or seek vengeance for slaughtered family and they are perfectly justified in doing so.

They never do anything wrong.

But:

Originally Posted by Drammor

they usually lack certain creative traits referred to as "flaws" and "vulnerability to the world around them".

The Lacking of Creative Traits
Now, what’s wrong with this is that it’s perfectly boring and predictable. Perfect people don’t exist. While this is fiction and these are fictional characters, where’s the fun in making a Mary Sue? The truth is that perfect characters have been done and will be done again. It’s much more interesting to give them flaws and have their mental stability be affected by their horrible, violent, and tragic past like a real person would.

Why? Because truthfully, real people are more interesting. Real people don’t always look so pretty when they cry. Ever looked in the mirror after crying? Your face gets all red and puffy, snot is dripping from your nose, and your eyes are red and watery and if you wear mascara it’s running down your face in black inky ickness. Also, your face gets all twisted and scrunchy with all that real emotion twisting inside of you.

Crying is when you’re losing control of your emotions to have an emotional reaction. So it’s not going to look so controlled and pretty.

The truth is that the more believable they are, the more into the story readers and yourself get. It’s more captivating and more creative. These characters come from us, so why shouldn’t they be imperfect as well?

Mary Sues are boring to write with and boring to read. They are shallow and dimensionless. Like Barbie and Ken, they have no real personality or depth.

While some writers are capable of making a Mary Sue work tastefully, never assume you’re one of them.

Self-insertion
Self-insertion is often closely tied into Mary Sueism. This is where you make a character of yourself, though often in slightly veiled variations. Mostly that they act like you but with Mary Sue qualities such as: great looks, good at everything they do, extremely talented at young age, knows exactly what to do in any given situation, and is never wrong.

I know that all characters come from us, the writers. Thus, they will always have a piece of you in them no matter what you do. Which is why you shouldn’t try to make yourself. Especially a Mary Sue self. It’s not interesting. You are not an interesting character. At least not in that way o.0 I have always believed you can learn a lot about yourself through characters, but really … it sure says something if you need to make a perfect version of yourself.

Avoiding Mary Sue
Now, everyone at some point has made a Mary Sue. They may not have all of the Mary Sue qualities, but the majority of them. There’s even more Mary Sue tendencies that I have not listed above. To avoid a Mary Sue character, I suggest running them through the Mary Sue Litmus Test. I also suggest you read Drammor’s General Guidelines for Having a Character Here. The character profile section of this guide also goes through the character template and gives advice on how to avoid it. You also can ask Councilors and seasoned EH’ers to review your character before posting it for approval. Run it through about four people at least.