I'd never heard the term Mary-Sue before this weekend, but boy, has it been making the rounds! Here are a few more links for those interested in learning about wish fulfillment characters :)
From Zoe Marriott http://thezoe-trope.blogspot.com/2011/08/you-can-stuff-your-mary-sue-where-sun.html She also gives us the name for the male counterpart Gary-Stu.
In response to Zoe's post we have Holly Black's http://blackholly.livejournal.com/157736.html
And then there's Christa Faust who has coined a new term for us, the Jenna Sue, after one of her characters was termed a Mary-Sue by a reviewer. http://faustfatale.livejournal.com/264464.html
And off the top of my head, here's a few Gary-Stu characters that came to mind while I was reading these posts. But truth be told, I doubt that any of them have been referred to as such by reviewers. Jack Reacher, Dirk Pitt, Doc Savage, and Tarzan. How about you? When you write, do you have a wish fulfillment character in mind? You know, that perfect creature you'd like to be.
9 comments:
A lot of people write these types of characters and get away with it; you need to shroud it properly. Give them flaws. Let them fail. Make them pick themselves up.
I think every writer creates this type of character, Thomas, but for some reason when it's a female character some readers believe that it's gone over the top and into unbelievable territory.
And I like my characters to have flaws, but I also like to have them be able to take care of themselves in some way.
I'm such a failure. I had never heard the term before reading this post.
But I immediately think of Susan Silverman, who strikes me as so complacent that she's inert.
Susan is such a dull character, isn't she, Al? How boring to just be a sounding board for Spencer. Do you suppose that she is Parker's wish for what he wanted a woman to be? Of course, she would never be called a Mary Sue :)
Thanks for pointing this out. I once wrote about a Mary Se character in a very old book, but hewas a male (wphy do we need a diff name for males?). tp://criminalbrief.com/?p=10725.
About sysan silverman being a sounding board, i am reminded of the comic strip Dykes to watch out for whe one character vows to only watch movies ln which two women talk bout something other men. She said the last movie she had seen was Alien, because the women had discused the monster...
Susan resembled Parker's wife, if she wasn't based completely on her. He talked in interviews about the period when she left him, the way Susan left Spenser.
Gender bias, Rob? No guy likes to be called "Sue" :) Yeah, a Johnny Cash fan here.
And women do tend to talk about men, don't they? But then it beats talking about washing dishes, doing the ironing, or swapping jello recipes.
In the earlier books I enjoyed Susan's character but towards the end she didn't seem to do much, Al. I often wondered if he'd based her on his wife as all of his books were dedicted to her.
I have only read one Jack Reacher book, which I loved, but I imagine his invulnerability would grow tiresome after a while.
Susan grew old because it was too easy to paint my the numbers. I loved her for the first six novels.
I can see the appeal of Reacher, Patti, the story carries you along but for some reason I didn't care the character himself. Just a personal thing. And yes, Susan was more interesting in the first of the books.
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