[ SECRET POST #2137 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2137 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 015 secrets from Secret Submission Post #305.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 1 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. THANK YOU.

I could just write "thank you" over and over again for eons in response to this.

It's been driving me absolutely up the wall. Every character who has a unique characteristic or who is heavily involved in the plot these days is dubbed a Mary Sue. No! NO! Those aren't Mary Sues! And furthermore, why do they seem to want non-unique characters who have no impact on the plot? What would even be the point of writing about them? GAH.

[(Anonymous)]

As far as I'm concerned, Sues/Stus are characters that warp the story universe around them in illogical ways or break the rules of their universe (this definition allows for canon Sues/Stus).

So like, a character appears and everyone with OMG totally loves them, or OMG totally hates them why are they so meeeean which... doesn't happen in real life. There is no logical reason for the other characters to have such strong reactions to someone they just met. They are warping the logic of their universe to place themselves at the center of it.

Or like, you have a character that's established as being the best at X in their universe, and then another character comes along, and oh look! They're better at X than pre-established character! If there isn't a plot specifically revolving around how this came to be, the new character has a very good chance at being a Sue/Stu.

Etc. etc. I think it's a pretty good and useful diagnostic criteria for bad writing. Characters should have realistic reactions to other characters. Universal rules and settings need to remain consistent.

By this definition, a character doesn't necessarily have to be an author insert in order to be a Sue/Stu. Just a particular brand of awkwardly written.