I just found a great old post by Teresa Nielsen Hayden on “Mary Sue”.
MARY SUE (n.): 1. A variety
of story, first identified in the fan fiction community, but quickly
recognized as occurring elsewhere, in which normal story values are grossly subordinated to inadequately transformed personal
wish-fulfillment …[for example] Galadriel’s secret love-child (Aragorn’s unacknowledged daughter) who runs off to join the Company of the Ring, sorts out Boromir’s problems, out-magics Gandalf, out-fights Aragorn during the melodramatic scene in which she reveals her true identity, demonstrates herself to be so spiritually elevated that the Ring has no effect on
her, and wins Legolas’ heart forever.
I loved this, and was all set to blog that Robert Heinlein falls deep
into this trap in some later novels–until I discoved Teresa’s
commenters had already said exactly this.
What would Mary Sue do in my situation? Drink exotic poison and die a
lingering death in the arms of Johnny Depp, as mascara ran down his
cheeks on a riptide of tears….
4 responses so far ↓
1 Stu Savory // Mar 2, 2004 at 11:18 pm
Oops… Yes I fell into that trap (though not quite so badly) in my first novel.
Embarassing, in retrospect.
Stu :-(
2 Suw // Mar 3, 2004 at 1:37 am
Well, speaking as a Suw, rather than a Mary Sue (Mary Suw?!), I’d prefer to drink exotic cocktails, skip the whole death thing and just get on with enjoying Mr Depp’s arms (etc.), but I suspect that Mary Sue herself would actually come up with some fantastically profound insight into the state of the world, before saving it and humanity from a fate worse than dodgy SF by daringly risking her own precious life, simultaneously winning the heart of not only Mr Depp, but Orlando Bloom *and* Kiera Knightley and any other cute, enviable famous person, plus (obviously) the rest of humanity into the bargain. She would then dine out on the tale for the rest of her natural life, which would be long, happy and involve owning her own personal Caribbean island.
Bitch.
3 Betsy Devine // Mar 3, 2004 at 12:14 pm
Wow, Suw, I want to be in your Mary Sue story! Hey, Stu, care to join us? There’s room on this Caribbean island for lots of friends.
4 Suw // Mar 7, 2004 at 1:08 pm
Particularly if one of them is the aforementioned Mr Depp…