OK, Mary Sues have never been fandoms favourites, but is the hate coming in waves? Like every 5th year, or so?
It’s amazing how many discussions and petitions I’ve lately seen, each and all of them concerning Mary Sues – while half of them declare every original character to be a Mary Sue (or Gary Stue, depending on the OC’s gender/sex; though mostly OMCs are safe from any kind of hate), and basically call any fanfic author that dares to develope an OC a poor writer.
Seriously, I’m slightly scared to read my RSS subscriptions, or look in certain message boards/blogs/whatever, because that makes me feel like a horrible writer. I know I’m not a good one, but I don’t like to feel like a horrible one. *pouts*
Is it just me, or are a lot of people actually lacking to understand what a Mary Sue is? Because clearly not every OC is necessarily a MS, and not every MS is an OC. And as a matter of fact, I’ve seen a lot Mary Sue in so-called established, canon characters. But obviously, that’s legit as long as you call it OoC.
I think Mary Sue fics are important. Not because of their quality, because let’s face it: out of 100 Mary Sue fics only one, or two actually are enjoyable – and readable. However, those fics are important, because they bring new writers to fandom, and those writers develop their skills with each and every fic they’re creating – even though they’ve started with a damn Mary Sue.
Anyway, this Mary Sue-phobia/-hate is starting to irritate me – and it’s blocking me. It’s like I sit down and think about a new character and sooner or later a tiny voice will pop up in my head, telling me to stop, because the character already is too perfect, or too smart, or too beautiful, or to independent… and I start to talk to myself, asking the little voice in my head whether it would be satisfied if I created a dumb bimbo, that’s waiting for the man of her dreams to marry her and impregnate her, so that she can live the life of a 1950s housewife.
These conversations actually take place – sometimes even in trains, much to the amusement of fellow passengers. I really should stop listening to my iPod when I’m on the train; maybe then I’ll realize when I’m talking to myself.
Maybe I’m a little sensitive (or sensible? Which one do you use when the German word would be “sensibel”?) when it comes to Mary Sues, since every now and then some wiseacre reads my fanfic, and yells “Eww, you’re writing Mary Sue!” – just because apparently OFC = MS *rolls eyes*
I’ve written Mary Sues, too. I’m not ashamed of it. It actually brought me into fandom. Before then I’ve only written for myself, because I could never find books that would satisfy me when I was a child – and most likely people would call my white witch named Annabella, who would use her magic to fight evil and help the weak, a Mary Sue, but then I was 8 years old and really liked the concept of a strong women… witch… whatever.
But then again I’m crazy like that… After all we all know that identifiable (is that a word?) women are those that leave the thinking to men. /sarcasm
Granted, there are real Mary Sues, mostly written by young (female) authors, but that are just beginners and most of them get better with time – the rest makes a shitload full of money with sparkling vampires. *lol*
Maybe I should just try to write slash – no one ever accuses a slash writer to be a Suethor; even if one of the two male main characters acts worse like a 1950s housewife that was written as a Mary Sue.
Since LJ is still giving me a hard time with notification – or rather the lack of those – please comment at DW, or at my website. Of course you can also comment in my LJ – if you can wait for a response. *g*
