10 Steps to De-Sue a Mary Sue

Hello everything. This is my first attempt at both a humor and an Avatar fic, so please bear with me. This is basically about Sokka giving a little lecture on how to turn a Mary Sue into a good, original character. This will be multi chaptered.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar. If possession were ever fall to me… Let's just say Sokka would have a couple of male stalkers. The official sounding definition of Mary Sues comes from Wikipedia.

Chapter One- Naming Your Mary Sue

Sokka walks into a room, coming to stand in front of a chalk board. Over his normal clothing, he wears Zuko's robe from before his ship exploded, and what appears to be Teo's goggles. All in all, it's a very cute attempt of him trying to look like a professor.

Clearing his throat, he picks up a piece of chalk.

"Today we are going to talk about the dreaded cancer of Avatar fanfiction." He paused to scribble something on the chalkboard. "That's right. We are going to talk about:" Sokka steps away from the board the reveal the words, "Mary Sues."

Adjusting his (Teo's) goggles, he picks up a book and begins to read. "A Mary Sue (or just Sue) is a fictional character, the term originating from fan fiction, who is an idealized stand in for the author. It is also sometimes used to describe any stand in for the author (whether idealized or not), and idealized character (whether a stand in for the author or not), or any original character in fanfiction."

Sokka closes the book with a snap. "In lame-man's terms, it is a stunning beautiful, optimistic, male magnet, ultra powerful girl with a tragic past, usually based on the author who writes her. AKA, the 'perfect' character."

Erasing the board, he writes something else, than turns back around.

"Now, I know that some of the authors out there are not aware they are writing about Mary Sues. I also know that every author foes through a phase where they write Mary Sues, and it can be hard to stop. So I present to you," Sokka picks up a pointing stick and slaps it against the board, "10 steps to de-Sue and Mary Sue.

"Of course, there are far more than ten steps, but ten makes the title sound better. That, and I'm making this up as I go along and aren't sure how many exactly are there. This process will be divided into different lessons bases n appearance, character interaction, the character's past, bending/fighting ability, and anything else I manage to think of. But for now, let's focus on names."

Writing on the board, Sokka continues his speech.

"Let's focus on the names of the main characters."

Sokka, has been written first on the board. It is easily the biggest and boldest name written. Next to it are the names Katara, Aang, Saki, Yue, and Bumi. Next are the names Bato, Pakku, Appa, Momo, Meng, and Haru. Lastly are the names Jun, Iroh, Jet, Zula, Zuko, Zhao, and Oazi. It should be noted that there are frowny faces and various ugly looking chibis around the names Jet, Zuko, Zhao, and Ozai.

"First, look at the number of syllables in each name. Katara is the longest with three syllables. Aang, Meng, Jun, and Zhao each have one syllable. All other names have two syllables. Therefore, in relavence to the Avatar universe, names should be one, two, three, MAYBE four syllables long. In other words, no names that are ridiculously long like, I dunno; Anna-banana-santa-maria… Was that name ever actually used?" Sokka shuddered at the thought.

"Next, let's look at the names. They all sound Asian, don't they? Well, except for Jet." Sokka quickly crosses out the rouges name with glee. "That's because the Avatar-verse is based mainly off of Asia, and her cultures. So when creating a name for your character, it should sound Asian. Names like Rebecca or Sophie or Nicole or anything like that just don't work.

"Please note that no one in the Avatar-verse has a last name. Therefore, no one should have a last name in the fanfics."

Suddenly Sokka pulls out a small notebook and quickly glances through it.

"Oh and no giving your character a name that sounds like one of the main characters' names. That means, no Zuka, no Katari, no Aangzu, or Sokkai, or anything else like that!"

"Sokka, who are you talking to?" Katara pokes her head into the room.

"No one Katara." Sokka quickly erases the board and pulls the goggles off his head.

Katara graces her older brother a look of disbelief. "Whatever you say Sokka. By the way, Teo wants his goggles back now."

"Okay."

"Did Zuko say you could borrow his robe?" Katara can't help but ask.

"No, why?"

"It's just…

Zuko's voice suddenly thunders from another room. "WHO TOOK MY ROBE!"

Sokka epps, and hides the robe behind the chalk board. Then, with a look that he hopes is innocent, he goes to return Teo's goggles.

Katara waits inside the room and listens to the conversation Taking place in the hallway.

"You took my robe, didn't you?"

"No… Why do you say that?"

"Give me my robe back now water tribe peasant; or I will-"

"Ahh! I don't have it! Wait! No firebending! Aughh!"

Katara sighs and grabs her water pouch. It looks like she's in for a long night healing her brother's burns.

This sounded so much better in my head. It probably would have done better as a comic too. Oh well. At least I tried. Anyways, read, review, and be gentle.

Next chapter will be another lesson in de-sueing your Mary Sue. Any suggestions, or just something you thought I missed with this chapter, feel free to let me know.

Ja min-na san!