Mary Sue. And why it's a "Flawed" Term.

It's a term i encountered a lot of times when just browsing through the 'Review' Section of fan fictions. Since i like to see what people think of a fiction before launching myself in and regretting when it fails to deliver later on.

I have come to realize that this 'Term','Label' Or whatever it is, is used to make fun of seemingly 'Perfect' Characters... Those being : Smart, strong and without flaws. while promoting authors to write 'Flawed' ones. *Cough* i mean... Overgrown kiddies.

The problem with that is : That it encourages authors to rely on 'Flaw' Cards to push certain situation and also advance the PLOT. This promotes lazy thinking on the part of the author as he/she doesn't need to reason why said 'Characters' are doing something. They can just push the blame on the character's 'Flaw'... This make writing easier, you don't need a solid reason to push certain situations, can create 'Artificial tension' because said characters are too dumb to be aware of themselves, and doesn't help smart people and NOT flawed readers from 'Relating' to an MC/s. In the end, this term, Mary Sue, seems to be the darling of people who have failed at life and do not want to improve themselves as a being/person. And just want to waste time 'Relating' to fictional characters that are on their level. The retard level is almost on par with this :

MARY SUE : The term that makes being Strong. Smart. And Perfect somehow... wrong. God bless stupid people.

EDIT: Reply by The Great Derc : I think I get what you're trying to say. You hate how people make their MCs utterly incompetent, and all of their struggles are caused by their own mistakes. Then you get a group of people that point at any supremely competent MC and they all go "ITS A MARY SUE! BAD WRITING!" Then everyone thinks they also have to make some limp dick MC just to keep haters away.

This reply should help make people understand better as to what i am trying to say.

 

twat. you cant sympathize with perfection. with flaw it is easier since we all have it.

edit to elaborate.
immersion is number one thing when reading a novel. And the main character is designed to lead you into it. it is easier for a person that has emotion to immerse themselves as the protagonist.
it is a lot harder to feel as an all perfect being with no flaws whatsoever, because we cannot imagine ourselves as that existence. we can dream about it, but only an egocentric person can imagine And immerse in it

 

You are just a proof of what i've described. The first word proves the butthurt level.

"Mary Sue, seems to be the darling of people who have failed at life and do not want to improve themselves as a being/person. And just want to waste time 'Relating' to fictional characters that are on their level."

 

This is... a mess. I can't tell if you like or dislike the concept or if you think people are just mis-using it or...

 

I really wish you were trolling but knowing the stupidity of Nuffians...eh.
Web novelists aren't good authors, especially those who write Mary Sue characters. Expecting them to realise that writting Mary Sue's is bad writting and it got washed out decades ago may make them add artificial flaws to their characters. They are still bad writters and it will seem forced and barely developed.
You seem fairly new to this and barely literate so pls just stop.

 

I once read a fanfic that deconstructed a mary sue, with all of its mary sue stereotypes: self-insert, weird name, special powers, etc.

It was an interesting read and the author proved that the disgusts for mary sue isn't limited to these banal qualities of "perfection." The writing and execution of the writing is often the problem.
There are plenty of well like OP character that can easily be classified as mary sue too.

 

twat. i elaborated in an edit.
i called you twat because you lack awarness to personal perspective of others


twat

 

I think the real issue is how people just straight up misuse the term "Mary Sue". Your character can be perfect, overpowered as hell, and smart too. They are NOT, however, a Mary Sue if the plot does not revolve around them. One Punch Man is a good example. Despite how unkillable he is, there's still other stuff going on in the manga while he beats up stuff.

Practically every good MC, CN novel or not, will not take up every moment of the novel. There's character development on the edges and other events going on. Death Mage is another good example, and another one I've seen people call Mary Sue on. There is an incredible amount of character development and plot advancement in the background. Sure, everything goes well for the MC, but that's not a Mary Sue.

Just my thoughts.

Edit: lots of people can immerse themselves in novels with "perfect" protagonists. It's fun watching practically unkillable MCs destroy everything (Li Qiye for example). As long as that's not the whole story

 

Not really. A fiction doesn't need the revolve around a character's flaws to make it good. Mother of learning is proof of that.

Congrats kid. You learned a new word.

 

Zorian isn't a Mary Sue, I don't think you even know good examples of Mary Sue's.

 

And you learned nothing. congrats mr. egocentric

 

Oof I love a good insult hurling contest. You guys are all touch noodles.

Edit: nothin' personal kid.

 

Maybe your view of what a Mary Sue is. Isn't the same as what i've already described.

 

What is a Mary Sue? Enlighten please

 

I think it is not "flawed" but realistic.

 

Flaws don't exist in characters in order to make them "relatable" lol. Flaws exist in order to give characters room to grow and have a character arc.

Eg. Character starts off idealistic but cowardly at heart. Character is confronted with situations wherein their cowardice causes them to fail, run away, lose the people they love. Their cowardice doesn't make them relatable, in fact it makes them kind of unlikeable because as the reader, you are frustrated and angry that people are dying because they're so useless. But then! Character learns to overcome their cowardice, tropey situation of "bravery isn't a lack of fear but being willing to stand up despite your fear" or whatever, character grows and changes as a result.

An amateur writer who posts chapters that they probably don't get anyone proofread online, unedited, on a forced schedule so they're often just writing chapters for the sake of having an update and thus the chapters don't really mean anything, and you're shocked that the writing is bad. LOL.

 

A Mary sue is a character that is too 'Perfect' thus making it unrealistic. And people confuse it with smart characters that do almost the same. Thus the 'Stupids' Even went as far as to create a misleading label about it.

I see. That makes sense. But that is assuming that the character has to start from Zero on his way to Hero.

 

Mind giving a tldr for your whole argument? I'm running on 5% brain output and would like to know what your issue is.

 

There is no view, there is a definition and we all seem to know it except you. A good character must have flaws but the story doesn't need to revolve around those nor attributing everything bad happening to them(unless you're making a monk like character).
In Zod We Trust is a new popular among edgy teens fanfic right now. It's about John Doe getting Superman's powers, then getting almost immune to kryptonite, then getting Flash's powers, becoming a billionaire and inventor and whatnot all in a year. That's a Mary Sue, an especially bad one, I don't even know what's the story gonna be about since he is immune to kryptonite and will face no challenge at all. There is romance in that story too, yeah the author just decided the MC fell in love in his secretary just bcoz she is the only other charater he developed(She said about a few sentences, that's it). So you see, even if this author made a flawed character the story would still be trash.