It's not a bad thing to have a Mary Sue or a Gary Stu, and if you don't want to, you don't have to change your character in any way. All of us had at least one – and if people actually flame you for having one, they're idiots.

But if you want a character, that other people like and maybe even feel with, you maybe want to think about changing him or her. This is going to be some sort of guide that maybe can help you.

Most Mary Sue tests tend to be overly harsh. They make it out so only a morbidly obese, extremely ugly, talentless character with an IQ of 40 is not a Mary Sue. And that's wrong. Every character can be a Mary Sue, and every character can be believable and relatable too.

This guide is mostly intended for Young Justice/DC in General, and will include some short, little stories from time to time. Of course, no one forces you to do anything you read in here, and I'm not an expert – but maybe it'll help you, still. Because I'm lazy, I'll mostly write about Sues, but most things count for Stus too. Starting from this chapter, I'll build a character – following those steps, so in the end, we'll maybe have a cool, believable character.

So let's do this, shall we?

But what to start with? I know – Names!

There are a few things you have to think about and consider before naming your character. Where is she from? What's her species? When was she born? What are her parents like? Do I want her to be a hero or a villain?

Those are just a few things you might want to consider. But why? Let's take a closer look!

An all American girl from Kansas probably won't be named Lavyndi'r Styll'Ryviir, and an Alien from a planet far, far away won't be named Amber Brown – Unless you're aiming for a comedic effect, just as a school girl from Japan won't be known as Jackie Smith and her friend from Canada probably isn't called Yuki Hamasaki – unless their parents are American in Jackie's, and Japanese in Yuki's case.

While DC isn't too realistic, you'll notice that everyone's name is fitting their ethnicity and origin. Dick Grayson, Wally West and Conner Kent are names fitting for American boys. Conner even has two names, as his Kryptonian name is Kon-El. Likewise, Kaldur'Ahm and M'Gann are great names for a mythical being like an Atlantean and a girl from Mars. In Miss Martian's case, who's alias is a white girl, Megan Morse is also a great secret identity. It's a name fitting her.

Now, Artemis Crock may be a little of an oddball, but her name is fitting for her character - being an archer. Also, it is some sort of pun. Artemis - "hard to miss". It's a rare name, yes, but it doesn't give you the impression that the writer's us it for any "special snowflake" points.

And after all, a rare name doesn't have to unfitting, as this fandom is rather... forgiving of strange things.

Many parents go with a popular name when naming their child. In my generation, there are many girls named Lisa, Nadine, Nicole or Julia, and many boys named Jan, Phillip, Maximilian or Kevin. My name wasn't very popular back then, over here you'll see more women and their 30s and 40s named that. So my parents were a little more creative.

Now, were your character's parents too? Or did they go with the flow. When their daughter was born in 1997, did they name her Emily, Jessica or Ashley like many parents did, or did they like a name that wasn't that popular, like Ellie or Donna? Or did they want a special name and chose something like Alayna, Essence or Abbigail?

Again, you maybe want to consider where your character grew up again. If you need a name, there are tons of sites you can look up, that have statistics on names based on popularity and place.

There is no need to give your African American character a stereotypical name like Shaniqua or Latisha, though. I think they're beautiful names, but if all your black girls are named like that, you may come off as someone who thinks that all black people are stereotypically "ghetto". If your character is from an English speaking country, she could be an Emily or a Nora, and if she's from Germany, she could be a Karoline or Leonie. After all, not all black people are "ghetto" or African American.

As for Asian characters - I noticed that in the US at least, many of them tend to have an English name and a Japanese/Chinese/Vietnamese/Korean/Insert more Countries surname. If your character's parents are of a different ethnicity than were they live, they may do that. Same goes for every ethnicity, not just for Asians. Of course, they also can have a name like Momoko Obata, or, if their parents have lived in America for generations, she might even be named Lilly Smith. But as for a rule of thumb, consider your character's ethnicity when naming them.

We were at the subject of parents, right? Well, that brings me to another thing. Almost every name has a meaning, and parents sometimes like to give their child a name with a nice meaning.

Rose, Daisy and Lilly are names of pretty flowers - so for those parents, their daughter was a pretty as a flower. Same with Ruby, Pearl and Diamond. Rare, precious stones (and some sort of seashell... thingie?) that are beautiful.

If parents name their child something like Liberty, Charity or Joy, they might hope she'll grow up showing these traits.

My parents named my brother Peter, with his middle name being Rolf, after my dad. Peter means "rock", and they wanted him to be strong and stable, like a rock. Rolf means wolf, and while my brother doesn't really show any traits of this name, my Dad used to love them. His nickname at work even was "Lobo" - The Wolf. My sister's middle name is Julia, which means beautiful. And well, my sister used to be a model and now plays in several indie films.

My name is Viktoria Irene – Kinda lame, I know. My first name translates to "The one who wins". Doesn't fit me much, but my parents wanted me to be optimistic and a winner. My other name is the name of the Greek goddess who personified peace. In fact, my first name is the name of the Roman goddess of victory. So I'm named after two goddesses. That they knew. I think they just wanted me to be badass like that.

So while naming your character with a name that has a special meaning is okay, please think about her parents. Would parents name their child "Darkness Bloodrain Agony"? Nah, they probably wouldn't. I don't think anyone would let them either.

And one more thing: If the meaning describes the character's personality or interests, how did she get that name?

Nothing wrong with a happy girl named Joy, or a florist named Rose from time to time, but if your character is a pyromaniac named Flame, that only wears red, orange and yellow and goes by "Firestarter", you might will have to explain yourself.

So to be short: Meanings are great if used in moderation!

Now, why did I ask about if she's a hero or a villain. Well, names tend to have an effect on you if you hear them. A good character's name often includes a lot of vowels and soft consonants like L or N. A bad guy has less vowels and hard consonants such as K, R and T. Of course, those aren't guide lines per say (Like Clark Kent and Lex Luthor), but you often see that.

For example, compare Wally West and Len Snart. Wally rolls right of your tongue, while Snart almost sounds angry. Hard consonants often sound aggressive, because you either have to "spit" them out, like a T, or "choke" like a K. Those sounds are the reason why German sounds angry to non-German speakers, and why Finnish or Japanese sounds so soft and more friendly.

You might want your character to have a "nomen est omen" like name, that gives your readers a first expression just by her name.

Compare Sophia Brown to Cassandra Black. Both a completely normal names, but while Sophia Brown sounds smooth, Cassandra Black has a lot of "hard" sounds. I mean, BlaCK. It ends with such a rough sound – Which is why I named my sona that. Black, not Cassandra.

It's not too important, but it can be nice to have "fitting" names like that.

And of course, all those tips count for boys as well. And for surnames. Basically, just consider those points.

Now some things you may want to avoid – But I can't force you, I'm not your mom.

While some noun's are used as names, such as Gem, Pearl, Robin, Daisy or River; try to stay away from those that aren't used as names. Darkness, Blood, Wind, Widow, Agony are all names I've read that just... wouldn't work for a character, unless they named themselves. They might work for a hero alias, but I've yet to meet a parent that would name their child Darkness.

Unless your character is an alien or another non-human being, try to avoid weird spellings of names and nouns alike. Koriand'r works well for an alien like Starfire, but a human named Joo'ceelyn'Na? Better think about it again.

Don't use too many names, especially not with the same or similar meanings. Ruby Rose Red for a character with fiery red hair and red eyes? Bit of an overkill. A normal middle class girl named Crystal Blue Pearl Catherine Anne Barbara Green III. might be better off as Crystal Green and leave that long name for a rich character with slightly snobby parents.

So, we've got the points down now pretty well - So let's make a name for our new character. Let's make her American, with a Russian mother and an America father. I like the name Wright for a surname. It's not too uncommon and sounds "strong", at least to me. Now, as for a name – Do we want something Russian, maybe? Or English? Or something else that fits a teenage girl living somewhere in the Northeast of the US? Praskoviya may be a nice name, but it doesn't fit too well - It's sort of unfitting, too long, too hard to pronounce. Stanislava has the same problem. But there are some names that are used in Russia and the English speaking countries alike. Tanya, Natasha, Sasha, Lana – Wait, I like Sasha. Let's test it!

Sasha Wright. Sounds pretty nice, doesn't it? It combines a "soft" name (Sasha rolls off your tongue nicely!) and a strong, harder name. It does stand out a little – Sasha is not too common of a name, but it doesn't sound too strange either.

It's a name that fits the setting. And with that, our new character finally has a name.

In the next chapter, we'll talk about hair – yes, that'll get a whole chapter, don't question me on that. And in that chapter, we'll explore why it's a bad idea to have hair up to your ankles when you're fighting without superpowers, and why an Amazon with pink, blue and purple hair may be a little hard to explain.