I have to say... these threads are terribly predictable. But for the moment, here we go again:
Those tests are decent lists of things that should be cautionary. I have a few objections, however - how is it a Mary Sue for a character to be given a name that matches its personality? Isn't that what you'd call good naming?
SirThinks2Much wrote:The worst part of both quizzes for me is "are they/do they wear something you find attractive" when I find lots of people attractive and "would you like to be their friend" because some of my characters are quite friendly.
I know what you mean. But keep in mind there's 20 points before even being borderline Mary Sue (for the first test, anyway) - so they're assuming a few of these will happen to fall out along these lines.
Bobtheduck wrote:(oh, and I think Gandalf was supposed to be based on Tolkien, too, so he may have ranked pretty high on that list as well, particularly since he was a magic user and those are rare in LotR, if not so much in the extended Middle Earth stories)
That has me curious. I've already looked at the first test, but I did him while reading the second. If we don't assume anything about Tolkien and say that magic is universe-acceptable (if not common) then he actually scores pretty low.
Bobtheduck wrote:I also never understood the whole hatred for basing a fanfic character after yourself. People call it self serving, and it might often be such ("And Luke flicked his finger at Goku's face, throwing him into the sun and killing him, becoming the strongest fighter in the UNIVERSE"), but the vast majority of commercial fiction have characters, including main characters, based on the Authors. Harry Potter and Hermione Granger combined were based directly on J.K. Rowling. Diggory in Magician's Nephew and Ransom in the space trilogy and the main character in the Great Divorce are all directly based on C.S. Lewis.
The question is what purpose the character serves. Diggory, for example, is a relatively normal little boy who gets into some trouble and things turn out alright in the end - that's not a self-aggrandizing exercise in wish-fulfillment. Now if Harry was basically Rowling (I don't know her and so I can't judge) that would be cause for me to disapprove. Actually, he does have tons of traits that I dislike and I think make him a mediocre protagonist.
Bobtheduck wrote:What makes it different that it's fanfiction?
I think this makes a fairly big difference, actually. Original fiction creates an entire world in which the author (even if an explicit self-insertion) is only a part. Fanfiction allows the author to enter someone else's world and play out their fantasies in a far more obvious fashion.
the_wolfs_howl wrote:The one I like the least is the "Would you want to be friends with them?" one. I feel very close to all of my main characters, and many of my supporting characters as well, and yes, I would like to be friends with many of them. How does that make them Mary-Sues? That aspect of the character has nothing to do with their personality or character design. Not really.
Yeah, that one would definitely be checked for most of my characters too. That's because my requirements for friendship are basically "interesting people" and those are the kinds of characters I try to write.
But I can see why it is worth a point. One form of Mary Sue is to create someone who is the perfect imaginary friend. I kind of assumed they meant the question in a "Oh, I wish she/he went to my school" way instead of "Sure, if they were real."
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There's a bit more leeway in that one.
:)
