I'm Suing You: Why Do We Make Mary Sues?

First of all, I freely admit that what I say isn't gospel. I am a total amateur at art and writing. I've learned everything that I know via the internet and a few drawing books. It's just that I appreciate all of the tutorials here on dA that have helped me out, and I want to put a little bit of my own methods back in.



Let me get this out of the way:  I only write tutorials if I feel that I have something to add to the topic or if I feel like it's one that few people touch on.  So then why on Earth am I writing about Mary Sues?  Everyone's written about them!  And it's true; this topic has been well-explored in countless places that it seems pointless to go over it again.  Heck, you can find one of my favorite Sue-torials here (WARNING: THESE THINGS ARE HILARIOUS).  I'm not even going to tell you what a Mary Sue is in here, you can easily find that elsewhere.  How could I possibly have anything new to add to the topic?

What I want to talk to you about today is not what Mary Sues are, but why they exist in the first place.  'Cause there's a lot of them out there, even with all of this information available on how to avoid them.  As former queen of Sue creation, I want to tell you why I think I and so many others have created so many.  I figure that knowing the reason behind the Sue will help you to recognize when you're making one.


Love Me, Love Me, Say That You Love Me

Why do we write?  Artistically, it's because we have something to say or something that we need to create so that we can fully express ourselves.  But what about from a human perspective?  Why do we post our work so that other people can read it?  Why do we hope that millions will hang on to our every word?

Acceptance.  Recognition.  Power.   Respect.

And you know what?  That's ok.  We're all human.  It's ok to be this way.  Typically, these are the reasons that we post our work.  We want to be accepted by our peers, especially those who are better than us.  We want to be recognized for the hard work that we've put forth and want some sort of end result from all of that work.  We want the power that comes when other people respect us and our creations (not that we necessarily want to abuse that power; usually, we just want to be important for one shining moment).  

These are usually our guiltiest, most secret, most locked-up reasons for writing.  They're not the only reasons, but they certainly are the dirtiest.  So when we write our characters, these are some of the things that we may be secretly trying to achieve.  We assume that if people like or respect our characters on a personal level, they'll like or respect us.  Unfortunately, that's not always the case.


One in a Million is Hard to Accept

Many writers obsess with making their characters "unique."  They wrongly assume that a unique exterior equals a unique interior, and it doesn't.  Most well-seasoned authors know this.  But what's even harder for us to accept is that our character's personality can't truly be unique.  It's impossible.  

Thousands of people with your character's personality have lived, died, and will continue to live and die for many years to come.  People with your personality.  People with my personality.  And that's a good thing.  

People connect with characters who they understand.  How many times have you read a great character and thought "They remind me of my mom/dad/sibling/friend/boss/co-worker!"?  Characters teach us about ourselves and the people around us.  That's why many readers hate Mary Sues; we don't know anyone like them because they're not realistic.  We can't connect with them and we can't learn from them because we can't relate to them.  I'm not advocating making your characters stereotypical, but just be careful.  Don't get so caught up with making them unique that you forget to make them just like the rest of us.


Playing Character Dress-Up

There is yet another enormous reason that authors make Mary Sues that I haven't brought up: self-insertion.  These characters aren't always about gaining respect or recognition.  They're about fantasizing, and it's really no different from sex fantasies.  The difference is that instead of drooling over a buff/busty model, we're drooling over seeing ourselves in our "perfect" form.  We're drooling over seeing our own success in self-improvement and perfection.  Mary Sues do the things that we can't because we are flawed.  We wish we were them, so we pretend to be them, playing dress-up in their skin.  Sound creepy?  It is.  Don't do it.

We also live through Sues who may not be perfect, but embody the traits that we respect.  Cool.  Smart.  Funny.  Sarcastic.  The list goes on.  It's like a father pushing his unwilling son to be an expert runner because the father never had the chance.  Characters don't exist for us to live through them; they have their own lives, and I don't think it's very kind of us to assume that we can do that to them.  


The Thematics

On a final note, Mary Sues often exist in a vacuum in which the character has nothing to do.  Not plot-wise, but THEME-wise.  Characters exist to present themes to the reader, often about human nature and the existence of personal flaws.  If your character has nothing to prove to the reader, they have no thematic point and become bland, two-dimensional, and often a Mary Sue.  

Have a point to make in your stories!  This is a great protection against Mary Sues; if they're off doing things and helping you prove your themes, it's more likely they'll be too busy to be Sues (and you might be too busy to force them).  Just know your character and know what your point in having that character is.

This is the area in which you can make up for the fact that your character can't be unique.  Thematically, you can use your character in a unique way!  Use their personality to explore a theme that other people haven't touched on.


In Conclusion

These are just my theories.  I haven't even gone over every single type of Mary Sue, just the "classic" one.  But know that people dump these kinds of Mary Sue traits on characters because they want us to like/respect/pity/etc. the character so that we will in turn like/respect/pity/etc. the author.  After all, the author is the proud mother/father whose creations sprung forth from their brow to entertain us!  What many don't realize is that excessive perfection or the glamorization of bad traits won't get you the respect you're looking for.  A character is best when they have room to grow and change.  A true Mary Sue has no room to change because she's already perfect.

On some level, I think that we all already know this.  I know that I used to live in a lot of denial about my characters' Sue statuses.  "Hey!  The only reason that her eyes glow is because she was orphaned and this is how the magic in her body chooses to express that pain!  She's not a Sue!"  Um… b*llsh*t.  I knew that that character sucked, but I couldn't admit it.  I thought that a failed character meant that I was a failed writer.

As writers, the hardest, most important thing to do is to learn how to LET GO.  If something doesn't work or isn't good… we have to learn how to delete it.  We have to learn to stop worrying about impressing other people with them.  Look at your character and really ask yourself:  Is he/she a Sue?  If they are, just sit down with them for a minute.  Have an intervention.  Take them off to rehab and work with them extra hard to cure their Sue.  Learn who they really are and know what you need to do to help them become full-fledged people.

As always, there are always exceptions.  Some people write Sues on purpose for comedy or to comment on the nature of the phenomenon and those who create them.  If you feel you have a good reason for making one, go ahead.  Just know what you're doing before you decide to break the rules.  Good luck with your characters.  And as always:


Never, ever forget: I might be wrong. I try not to be, but nobody's perfect.  Art is one giant matter of opinion.  Feel totally free to disagree or to only utilize the bits that you agree with.  If you found this helpful, disagree with me, or just prefer another method to my own, feel free to tell me about it in the comments.  After all, I'm here to learn too.