Character Development Tips

[Jen]

Since this is a character development season, we have a number of new players who have recently joined, and we do plan to write more seasons like this in the future, I thought I would create a thread of tips that I've found for developing well-rounded characters. Bare in mind, we are all armatures and this is just our hobby (for now  ;) ), so don't be worried if your characters have some of these traits or has gone against the grain as far as the tips posted here are concerned. Just be very careful about their abilities/skills, popularity/lack there of or their "issues" as you continue developing them. Consider these things to make your writing and our collaborative stories better. Please be honest with yourself when you take the litmus tests. We all probably have places where we could improve. :)

[Jen]

How to avoid the  "Mary Sue" or  "Marty Stu" character.

What is a Marry Sue? Sometimes shortened simply to "Sue", it is a negative term used to describe a fictional character who plays a major role in the plot and is particularly characterized by overly idealized and clichéd mannerisms, lacking noteworthy flaws, or having too many, and primarily functioning as wish-fulfillment fantasies for their authors or readers. Perhaps the single underlying feature of all characters described, as "Mary Sues" is that they are too pretentious for the audience's taste, or that the author seems to favor the character too highly. The author may seem to push how exceptional and wonderful the "Mary Sue" character is on his or her audience, sometimes leading the audience to dislike or even resent the character fairly quickly; such a character could be described as an "author's pet".

"Mary Sues" can be either male or female, but male characters are often dubbed "Marty Stu", "Gary Stu", or similar names.  While the label "Mary Sue" itself originates from a parody of this type of character, most characters labeled "Mary Sues" by readers are not intended by authors as such.

While the term is generally limited to fan-created characters, and its most common usage today occurs within the fan fiction community or in reference to fan fiction, original characters in role-playing games or literary canon are also sometimes criticized as being "Mary Sues" or "canon Sues," if they dominate the spotlight or are too unrealistic or unlikely in other ways. One example of this is Wesley Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Look out for "Anti-Sue":
Some authors make an extreme effort to avoid making their character into a "Mary Sue". The results of such attempts are sometimes referred to as "Anti-Sues". Given that the key difference between a well-developed, sympathetic character and a "Mary Sue" is often considered to be a lack of realistic faults, this generally involves making such characters extremely flawed. Some such attempts are seen as creating interesting, three-dimensional characters - though others are seen as being similarly over-the-top as the more stereotypical "Mary Sue".

"Anti-Sue" traits include physical unattractiveness, mental illness (including sociopathy and psychopathy), noticeably lacking in power or competency relative to other characters, being generally disliked by others or never interacting with them, cowardice, and other unflattering characteristics. While characters who can arguably be described as "Anti-Sues" have proved popular in some fiction, especially in modern times (see anti-hero), at other times they may be perceived to be as bad as or even worse than "Mary Sues" for their cliché nature or lack of sympathetic traits. "Anti-Sue" is viewed as merely another cliché stock character, or even simply an anti-hero variation of the "Sue" - especially if he or she still manages to take the spotlight away from the canon heroes.

And "Angsty" Sue:
This subconcept of the larger "Mary Sue" concept comes in two common variations. The first is a character who is constantly depressed and has a tragic past, frequently involving murder, child abuse, rape, or abandonment of some sort. She or he often feels guilt for something that happened in the past, even though it is usually not his or her fault, which gives him or her the ability to feel bad about something without having done anything wrong. Generally, if she or he doesn't commit romanticized suicide, then only the love or close friendship of one or more canon characters can convince her that she is not responsible for a tragic or horrific childhood or event that was obviously not of her making. Such backgrounds constitute an ill-advised attempt to gain sympathy from the reader.

The other version of the "Angsty Sue" subconcept involves a character who has a similarly tragic past, but rather than angsting about it, she or he seeks revenge. She or he is thrust into the spotlight of the story while doing so. The writer is seen as using his or her past not merely as a device to gain sympathy, but also to claim moral superiority and justification for his or her actions. As such, this type of "Angsty Sue" rarely has any guilt at all - after all, she or he hasn't done anything "wrong."


Canon-Sue (in fan fiction)
The term "canon-Sue" (also written as canon!Sue) or "Possession Sue" is used to describe canon characters who are changed significantly from their original canon characterization and sometimes even divorced from their original context completely. Such characters are seen as having been heavily idealized to the point of being more of a stand-in for the author's wish fulfillment than being the original canon character.

Characters most frequently labeled "canon-Sues" often develop over-the-top traits associated with "Mary Sues" with little precedent or explanation, a process sometimes called "sueification." Some examples are the discoveries of tragic pasts and abilities superior to other canon characters, the elimination or romanticization of flaws, and being antagonized by characters disliked by the fan-author while befriended by canon characters liked by the author - regardless of how friendly or unfriendly they were before. If the "canon-Sue" deviates enough from the original, it may be referred to jocularly as an act of "canon rape" - a term often used when a significant (and disliked) change has been made to the canon world or characters, such as when a former hero is vilified without explanation, a character who is unpopular in the canon receives a make-over and becomes popular, or a usually-chaste canon character is easily seduced by a fan-created "Mary Sue" character. Even in alternate universe stories where the premise involves examining how the story might play out differently if characters behaved differently, many readers criticize such changes as being too extreme.

A "canon Sue" may also refer to a character whose canon portrayal itself is seen as a "Mary Sue", rather than a character who has been altered in fan fiction. Typically, this refers to a character accused of being overly idealized or having other traits traditionally associated with fan fiction "Mary Sues", such as being "special" by having a gratuitously tragic past, unrealistic skills, or a seeming inability for the character to do wrong. Examples include Wesley Crusher and Amanda Rogers in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Parody Sue
This "Mary Sue" is intentionally created for a parody, usually aimed at readers who are familiar with the "Mary Sue" concept, and who dislike said "Sues." Her vast repertoire of skills and lack of personality are emphasized in a humorous way and generally, one of two things happens in the story:

* She succeeds and everyone in the canon universe falls under her buxom charms.

* She fails, either because there are too many other "Mary Sues" fighting her, because another of the author's original characters interferes, or because the canon characters see how uninteresting she really is.

Note that the "original" Mary Sue from "A Trekkie's Tale" is in fact a Parody Sue. A recent trend among some fan fiction authors is to write entire tales based around making fun of Mary Sues and to have "Sue Slayers" as a main character, a normal person hunting down all these Mary Sues and killing them. This trend is particularly prevalent and obvious among "Redwall" fan fiction (originally by Brian Jacques) and "The Lord Of The Rings" fan fiction (originally by J. R. R. Tolkien). The irony implicit in the fact that the "Sue Slayers", being self-insertions that dominate the story, are themselves Mary Sues, apparently escapes the awareness of these authors.


Self-insertion
Self-insertion is used to describe clear (and usually seen as indisputable) cases where the author has directly inserted a version of him- or herself into the story in lieu of a wholly or even partly original character, generally going so far as to use the same name or pseudonym for character and author. Though some author surrogates are common in fiction - such as Philip Roth in his Nathan Zuckerman novels, Clive Cussler in his Dirk Pitt novels, or Lin Carter in his work - "self-inserts" in fan fiction are frequently seen as the most blatant of "Mary Sues", especially when heavily idealized. Some online fan fiction archives have an outright ban on any story, which involves self-insertion. They are also sometimes frowned down upon in role-playing communities, despite that some argue that it is easier for inexperienced or casual role-players to learn.

Villain-Sue:
"Villain-Sue" usually replaces, befriends or is romantically involved with a major canon villain. Other traits include defeating canon characters with ease, secretly having redeeming qualities, having a tragic past that somehow excuses and justifies all her heinous deeds, and letting the canon characters live when she could kill them — not out of bad qualities such as wanting to see them suffer, a desire to have all of them as prisoners at once, or wanting to gloat, but because she really isn't so evil as others might think. In fact, she may even secretly be a hero, or have hidden heroic tendencies. This can be seen as a variant of the "Angsty Sue" seen above.


Find out if you have a Mary Sue Character: Litmus tests
Various tests, commonly known as "Mary Sue litmus tests", have been written ostensibly to help writers (especially inexperienced ones) gauge whether or not their character is a Mary Sue, as well as bring the "Mary Sue" concept to writers' attention.[8] These tests list fiction clichés and character traits that are also commonly associated with stereotypical "Mary Sues", ranging from questions on hair and eye color ("Is it a color found in nature?") to the author's relationship to the character (such as if they share a name or nickname with the character). Matching more traits results in a higher score for a character. Once the score is high enough, the character is said to be a likely "Mary Sue", to varying degrees of apparent severity including "Uber-Sue". The original "Mary Sue Litmus Test" was meant for those writing in the Gargoyles fandom, though it has since been almost endlessly adapted for other fandoms and original characters, becoming somewhat of a minor meme online.

Most such tests include a disclaimer noting that even characters with extremely high scores can be executed well enough not to be considered a "Mary Sue", and that the test is primarily meant as a guide for better characterization. Nevertheless, many writers believe that many of the litmus tests are too strict, finding that they make not only popular fictional characters out to be "Mary Sues", but also some real people as well (notably, the original test and a good number of its adaptations explicitly mention Bono as an example of a non-fictional person who actually tests as a "Mary Sue" by the test's criteria). Additionally, in determining the "Mary Sue" status of speculative fiction characters, some tests will score characters higher if they have magical powers, superhuman abilities, or "unusual" names, appearances, and pets - all of which are far more common and accepted in science fiction and fantasy settings. Even if such powers or appearances are normal in the context of the setting, many of the questions on older "Litmus Tests" will still rate a character higher for having them in the first place. Litmus tests have also been criticised for increasing a character's rating for trivial attributes, such as having the same gender as the author.

Online Litmus Test found here (answer honestly ;) ):
http://www.springhole.net/quizzes/marysue.htm

Criticism:
The "Mary Sue" concept has drawn criticism from amateur and professional authors. Many such criticisms are brushed off as coming from writers who create "Mary Sues." However, the onus of wishing to avoid being condemned as a "Suethor" ("Mary Sue" author) apparently weighs heavily even on professional authors and sophisticated amateurs, particularly women.

In chapter four of her book Enterprising Women Camille Bacon-Smith includes a subsection on the "Mary Sue" concept. While not denying that such characters exist, with reasonable psychological observations as to why "Mary Sues" exist in the first place, she observes that fear of creating a "Mary Sue" may be restricting and even silencing some writers.

Smith quotes editor Joanna Cantor as identifying "Mary Sue" paranoia as one of the sources for the lack of "believable, competent, and identifiable-with female characters." In this article, Cantor interviews her sister Edith, also an amateur editor, who says she receives stories with cover letters apologizing for the tale as "a Mary Sue", even when the author admits she does not know what a "Mary Sue" is. According to Edith Cantor, while Paula Smith's original "Trekkie's Tale" was only ten paragraphs long, "in terms of their impact on those whom they affect, those words [Mary Sue] have got to rank right up there with the Selective Service Act." At Clippercon 1987 (a Star Trek fan convention held yearly in Baltimore, Maryland), Smith interviewed a panel of women authors who say they do not include female characters in their stories at all. She quoted one as saying "Every time I've tried to put a woman in any story I've ever written, everyone immediately says, this is a Mary Sue." Smith also pointed out that "Participants in a panel discussion in January 1990 noted with growing dismay that any female character created within the community is damned with the term Mary Sue."

Several other writers quoted by Smith point out that James T. Kirk is himself a "Mary Sue," and that the label seems to be used more indiscriminately on female characters who do not behave in accordance with the dominant culture's images and expectations for females as opposed to males. Professional author Ann Crispin is quoted: "The term 'Mary Sue' constitutes a put-down, implying that the character so summarily dismissed is not a true character, no matter how well drawn, what sex, species, or degree of individuality."

Resource:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sue

[Jen]

I read the above article on Wikipedia and I thought I'd post it here as a character development tool. I have to avoid these things too and I took the test to make sure I'm not wandering into "cliché world". So far both of my main characters, though they do have a few "Mary Sue" traits, are not considered "Sues".

Which traits do Sevryll and Ryla have that are "Sue traits"?  Well, I had never written in an RPG before so I made some mistakes. I set Sevryll up as an uber beauty. She's been banished from her planet (for now) and she has the inability to effectively control her emotions. The emotions thing is something I threw in as a flaw that I hoped would keep her from being "perfect". The last thing you want to do is create a perfect character. It makes them unbelievable and unlikable.  Ryla is also flawed now—the synbiont is dead, but I did that in an attempt to introduce something different into her story. Something that hadn't been written about in any of the ST series.  I don't want her to ever be the star of the show and I didn't want her to be too "Glenda the Good witch" or "Polly Anna", so I've made her a little angsty this season...that won't remain the norm. I don't want her to be "Debbie Downer" (depressing, boring character), but to develop a character writers often do something to them that causes them to grow. I figured this would achieve that goal. I have no grand scheme for her career or her life really...I just want her to be a Lieutenant for as long as possible and I want her to be a believable, likable character.
I took this test and answered all the questions honestly (because I don't want to have a Mary Sue on my hands). I scored a 17 for Sevryll, which apparently riding the line for original fiction, but perfectly fine for an RPG character. My score was lower for Ryla, but she's been in the spot light a few times so I checked that box. I think as long as she doesn't remain in the lime-light, it will be fine.

Again, we are all armatures and this is just our hobby, so don't be worried if your characters have some of these traits (and some of us do), just be careful about their abilities/skills, popularity/lack there of or their "issues" as you continue developing their characters. As always, if you need help Kenny and I can provide that.

[Geekyfanboy]

Interesting stuff Jen.. but I found those questions (RPG, Fan Fic) to difficult to answer for our RPG game. Alot of them didn't make since, they kept referring to "canon" characters and it makes better since with a fan fic then our rpg as we very rarely use any canon characters.

I answered the best I could and got an 11

[Jen]

Interesting stuff Jen.. but I found those questions (RPG, Fan Fic) to difficult to answer for our RPG game. Alot of them didn't make since, they kept referring to "canon" characters and it makes better since with a fan fic then our rpg as we very rarely use any canon characters.

I answered the best I could and got an 11

Which one's did you find difficult? I just answered the questions for the RPG section...the others are for original fiction. Skip the questions that don't relate...like swords and stuff. It's a generic test, so it won't be exactly in line with our RPG.

You're right we don't use cannon characters that much. Answer it as it relates to our story. The Canon characters would be T'Pol (Sevryll's Great Grand Mother), Diana Troi (Quinn's Cousin) and Riker who has made an appearance in our story.

11 is good. :)

[Feathers]

I got 6. Not sure my Ferengi's been around long enough to have too many problems :)

[Jen]

They can develop within the profile at birth. But 6 is most excellent. :)

[Meds]

I actually cant do this simply because i write (at the moment )  for four differnet things. The RPG here, The Danger Signs, News@Then and a film script. Cool find though Jen.

[Jen]

Does that mean you don't have time? :D  I just did one character at a time (just Sevryll and Ryla). The test is all check boxes and then you click a tally button at the bottom of the page. You can skip most of the questions as they don't pertain. It really doesn't take that long. But I just added the link to help. I'm not insisting that everyone take this test. I added it as another tool to help, like the RPG resource thread and the book thread I created a while back. :)

[Meds]

Will give it a go tomorrow and just think of D'Callan. Of course if i get a score of 62 I'll be embarrassed ;)

[Jen]

Will give it a go tomorrow and just think of D'Callan. Of course if i get a score of 62 I'll be embarrassed ;)

Ah, you guys don't have to post your score. :) It's just for your  eyes only.

[X]

I was looking into it and some of those question are pretty hard. Expecially for non-humans. I'm going to give it a go tonight. Right now, I'm sneaking internet time from work and using someone's computer that I'm suposed to be fixing.

[Jen]

I think I took the first half of this test, which was labeled "all characters". I believe I said it was called "RPG characters" in my earlier post. I was mistaken..I thought the portion I did take was fairly straight forward (did you name your character after yourself, is your character an Anime character, do you wish you were your character, Would you like to be friends with your character? ect). It is VERY long... 80 or so questions, but the real point of this thread was to post tips/articles on writing. People sometimes PM/email me for pointers. I figured I'd start a thread.

I found an article on the Mary Sue, and typical mistakes that writers make which leads to these sorts of characters. This is not meant to be homework, it's a tool that you can choose whether or not to use. You don't have to take the test if you don't want too, but read the tip if you are interested in learning more about writing. I gleaned quite a bit from it and see things that I could be doing wrong.

I'm sure there's quite a few of these tests online (I posted a link to the one I thought was pretty good), if you still think it's hard but you want to learn more... google "Mary Sue test" and I'm sure you'll find a plethora. :)