User:Atarumaster88/MarySue

Mary Sues and why we hate them

 * Everyone hates a Mary Sue- save for the creator of said Mary Sue, naturally. They're bloody egotistical. They're obnoxious. They do all sorts of ridiculous things and get away with it. They survive, and Mary Sues always, always, always get the incredibly attractive person of the opposite sex. That's why anything written by Atarumaster88 is a Mary Sue-free zone.

Just to make some things clear, I put Selusda Kraen, the protagonist of the Force Exile series and the only one who could possibly become a Mary Sue, through a pair of Mary Sue tests. Here are the results:

From "The Writer's Mary Sue Test"



 * And I quote:

"Selu Kraen is only a little like you. He is not at all cool; in fact, he thinks cool is a temperature reading, and when he says "Oh, I just put on whatever old thing's lying around," he means "on the floor, where I threw it last night - but I turned the underwear inside out first." He may have sometimes thought that he was special, or destined for greater things, but probably dismissed the idea as a fantasy. He's come in for his share of hurt, but gotten off with minor damage. And he's gotten no slack from you.

In general, you care deeply about Selu Kraen, but you're smart enough to let him stand on his own, without burdening him with your personal fantasies or propping him up with idealization and over-dramatization. Selu Kraen is a healthy character with a promising career ahead of him."


 * Score Breakdown
 * I Love Him, I Let Him Go 10
 * He's The Anti-Cool 0
 * I'm Destined For What? 6
 * Can't Complain 5
 * Momma HATES Him! 0
 * Total: 21

Comments: Yes, Selusda Kraen bears some similarities to me. Heck, I used many of the same physical attributes. And that's where the similarities end- at the skin, folks. He's not me, and never will be.

The Universal Mary-Sue Litmus Test



 * Total score: 43
 * Described as: "36+

Fanfiction authors, you might just want to start over. Role-players and original fiction authors, at this point your characters are likely to provoke eye-rolling and exclaimations of "yeah, right!" from your readers. (Well, at least from me.) Immediate workover is probably in order."

Comments: Wait, before you hate and say "Ataru lied to me! Hatred!", just try running any Jedi character through this. Heck, try running Luke Skywalker through this test, and he'll come out like the ultimate Mary Sue. When I did the test the first time, I compared Selu, as a Jedi, vs. Joe Sentient on the streets of Planet Average. Now, run him through again, this time using John/Jan Jedi as the baseline. John Jedi assumes that everyone has a lightsaber; everyone has telekinesis, everyone was adopted as little tyke, everyone was trained by a canonical character such as Yoda or Cin Drallig at some point. Little things that are common to Jedi aren't assumed to be Mary-Suish.


 * (Second round)
 * Total score: 20
 * Described as: "17-21

Probably not a Mary-Sue, although a character can go either way at this point. Fanfiction writers should pay attention to ensure that their characters aren't getting too Sue-ish. For an RPG or original fiction character, however, you're probably perfectly fine."
 * Questions checked yes to: 3, 22, 52, Fan-fiction 2, 6, 13, 13c, 13f, 15g, 29, 37, 37c, 39, and one other that's a bit of a spoiler. It's worth 2 points though. De-suifiers 1, 2, 10, 11, 12b, 12c, 13.


 * More comments: Yes, I acknowledge that Selu has some potential for Suish traits, but we're staying far away from that line. Any hints, suggestions, or general alerts that I'm approaching that limit would be greatly appreciated.