Credits: My sister (who helped me write this) and TA Maxwell (who wrote a very nice Mary Sue guide that I used to help myself in writing this).

Before you start reading this, two things to keep in mind:

Do not simply assume your OC is or isn't a Mary Sue before you start reading. Keep an open mind.

This guide is NOT a rulebook. No matter how Sue I think something is, that doesn't mean you absolutely should not do it under any circumstance. Also, some things are more minor than others. Just because your character has some Sue traits doesn't make her a Sue. A little flare doesn't hurt.

Enjoy ^^

Cookie Krisp and Cursed Bunny's Mary Sue Guide(Part 1.1)

Note: Even though this guide is in the Hunter x Hunter category, it is a generalguide.

This is by no means meant to be offensive or aimed at any specific author or character. It is also not 100% accurate. There are always circumstances outside a Mary Sue Guide. The purpose of this is not to be a statement of fact but merely something to help.

Definition of a Mary Sue: A clichéd being that is often too perfect and unrealistic. Because of this, they may cause other characters to go out of character.

Possible Traits of a Mary Sue and How to Fix Them:

1. She is more powerful than any of the canon characters and is always stealing the spotlight from them. Elemental abilities have a particularly high tendency to cause this. Her abilities may allow her to do anything at all with few restrictions to compensate that. Keep in mind that making her only super strong at random intervals (ex. She doesn't know why, but all of a sudden, a bolt of electricity exploded from her hand and killed her enemy) also falls under this category. If her powers are going to be this sporadic, there had better be a good reason.

Fix: Give her weaknesses. Maybe she is super powerful against some enemies, but she may also be super weak against others (or even super weak if the enemy manages to exploit her one weakness).

2. She is the most beautiful thing the canon characters have ever seen and the author is constantly describing how beautiful she is. She is often described with "sapphire orbs" or "raven-colored" hair. She has wonderful curves that nobody can resist staring at. Even random people she passes on the street think she's gorgeous. And somehow, she is this beautiful without even trying. My good friends… I must inform you that beauty takes work to achieve. Have you ever seen a scar in real life? They are not beautiful, and they usually are not cool.

Fix: She can be the most gorgeous thing in the world, as long as you don't describe her as such. Feel free to say she looks pretty, but please keep to doing so at a minimum. Chances are the reader will not want to hear about how beautiful she is every single chapter. The reader probably got the idea the first time. Any more than that becomes redundant.

3. She is the definition of kindness, compassion, honesty, and sympathy. Do note that saying she is "too kind", "too compassionate", "too honest", and/or "too sympathetic" is not a flaw unless you truly make it one. Ex. She is "too kind" and therefore, is extremely gullible and a pushover. And if you've ever met someone like this, you should know that they are always bullied and can get quite annoying at times. Now that I think about it, she could become quite the Angsty Sue in this manner.

Fix: Does she really need to be all of these things? Surely you've met people in your life who are nice without having to be kind, compassionate, honest, and sympathetic. People do not have perfect personalities. Neither should your character. Give her some personality quirks. Not only do they make her more realistic, they can also make her more fun.

4.She exceeds the possibilities for a human (or any other being for that matter). If she is of multiple ethnicities (of which there should probably not be more than three), then the percentages of each ethnicity should at least add up to 1. It is not possible for anybody to be ¼ angel, 2/5 shinigami (Death God), ½ fox demon, 1/3 wolf demon, 1/8 fallen angel, 9/10 vampire, 4/13 werewolf, 1/16 fairy, 2/3 mermaid, 4/4 cat demon, 1/6 priestess, and 7/8 witch. First of all, if you have ever met someone who could be 2/5 something, I would think that would be extremely difficult, considering as it is not a multiple of two. Being ½ of something, ¼ of something, or 1/8 of something is plausible (although at this point your character probably part of several too many other species), but not 1/5 of something 1/11 of something or 1/13 of something. Not only that, but these fractions add up to 5.586858974 (so says my calculator). If you've ever met someone with 5.586858974 bodies, then please do feel free to contact me. If, perhaps, you are in disbelief that anyone would actually do this, feel free to check Quizilla.

Fix: Try to keep the number of ethnicities/species down to one through three. She does not need to be part of everything.

5.She bypasses the boundaries of the world. Ex1: She is able to use magic in a story where magic isn't real. Ex2: She is a supernatural being in a world where supernatural beings don't exist.

Fix: If nobody else has magic and nobody else is a supernatural being, why does she need to be so special? It is best to change her into someone who can actually exist in the world she lives in. Try to make her as normal as possible.

6. She causes other characters to become OOC. She makes the guy who is obsessed with another girl stare at her goo-goo eyed, and she makes the cold, uncaring guy call her "-chan".

Fix: As stated previously, other characters should not be swooning over your character. If you are writing a fanfiction, then you should try to keep all the characters in character. If they are constantly out of character, why bother writing a fanfiction?

7. Name: Whatever your OC's name is, it shouldn't be something that doesn't fit in the world. For example, I should not be reading about a Misako from France unless she is half Japanese or her parents like foreign names. In the case of the latter, if she has siblings, they should also have foreign names.

On that note, I also do not want to read about Alexandria May Raven Trinity who introduces herself, explains the meaning of her name and tells her life story while doing so, and says, "By the way, call me Alex."

Fix: Pick a name that makes sense in the setting and with your characters background. As for Alexandria May Raven Trinity, first of all, her name is way too long. Unless there is a specific (and quite good) reason for such a long name, it is unnecessary. Also, do you ever bother to go through all that trouble while introducing yourself? If the answer is no, then your character probably shouldn't be doing so either.

8.She has a terrible past. Perhaps nobody likes her! Her parents hate her, and so do all the other kids, even though she never did anything wrong. Nothing good has ever happened to her. Or maybe her parents were murdered when she was young, and she was left to fend for herself from that day on. Or maybe she has been abused, raped, kidnapped, tortured, targeted, or whatever else.

Fix: This is an easy way that an author draws pity for his/her character. It is also quite common. Most people also do not want to read an utterly depressing character, and there is a line at which people get annoyed and start to see it as whining. Furthermore, if the character does not correctly capture the circumstances, then you may alienate or infuriate readers who have actually been in the situation. Be very careful what you write.

Types of Mary Sues

Perfect Sue (God Sue): She is incredibly beautiful, incredibly strong, and incredibly smart. No one is anywhere near comparable to her, and she is practically invincible! She always wins, nobody gets mad at her, and everybody loves her for her kindness. Even animals.

Common traits: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

Mixed-Up Sue: She's quiet, but is always yelling. She says mean things, but everybody forgives her anyways. She's the most sympathetic person the other characters have ever met, but she couldn't care less about a sobbing villain asking for forgiveness. She just doesn't make any sense.

Common traits: 2, 3

Angsty Sue (Pity Beggar Sue): She has never been happy before, or, if she has, she lost everything. Her world is dark and black. She often seeks comfort with her love-interest.

Common traits: 2, 3, 6, 8

Naughty Sue (Badass Sue): She's a rebel! She hates society and does everything she can to show it! She dresses "Hot-Topic" or "emo" style and has scars. She acts mean, but underneath it all, she has her reasons.

Common traits: 2, 6, 7

Anti-Sue: The opposite of a Perfect Sue. She's got nothing good going for her. She's not pretty, she's weak, and she's not very smart either. She can't do anything right. She's got a ton of phobias, and she needs help doing everything.

Common traits: 6, 8

Canon Sue/Canon Stu: The only non-OC Sue/Stu. This is when the author causes a canon character to become a Super Sue/Stu! The canon character gradually transforms into a Sue/Stu through the eyes of the OC and is the OC's love interest. Since most OC's are girls, the Canon Sue/Stu is most commonly male.

Common traits: 1, 2

Copy Sue: An almost perfect copy of a canon character that is often her love interest. If he has black hair, then so does she. If he has purple eyes, she does too. They even have the same interests and personalities!

Common traits: 2, 7

Plot-stealing Sue: George caused the evil villain to regret his actions? No, that was actually Alexandria May Raven Trinity! Jessica eloped with George? No, that was actually Alexandria May Raven Trinity! Andrew stopped Jessica from making a stupid decision? No, that was actually Alexandria May Raven Trinity! She is always in the spotlight, even stealing other character's roles to do so!

Common traits: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7

Victim Sue: The damsel in distress. She's super wimpy, and her love interest must always come and save her!

Common traits: 2, 3, 6

Other ways to avoid creating a Mary Sue:

Avoid giving your OC Mary Sue jewelry/accessories/gadgets/weapons: Keep whatever items she has something that fits within the world. Don't give her anything terribly extravagant that you can't describe in one or two sentences. It's okay to be cliché every once in awhile. Also, don't give her too many things. You don't want her to be a knife-throwing, sword-wielding, gun-firing, magical girl. Whatever you do, don't overdo it.

Do not give your OC a talking pet. This is overly clichéd.

Avoid Mary Sue abilities: Mind-reading, controlling another person, telekinesis, anything elemental, seeing/talking to ghosts, seeing the future, flying, floating, transformation, anything to do with time/space, anything overly powerful that upsets the balance of nature (Ex. Anything you wish becomes true).

*These are mostly clichés that could use some more originality or things that could cause her to become overpowered. Feel free to give your OC these abilities as long as they have substantial restrictions to amount for their overly powerful and vagueness (ex. If your power is air, you can just create a vacuum around a person you want dead so they can't breathe.)

It is a cliché to give your character a food obsession that causes them to eat extremely large amounts of food without explanation. This is okay though for the purpose of humor.

Avoid Mary Sue talents/hobbies: Singing, cooking, sleeping (and waking up without a bedhead), dancing, drawing/painting/any type of art, playing an instrument, fighting, etc.

*It is alright for your OC to have one or two of these talents. The problem starts when she has too many of them and begins to look like a walking cliché. I must advise that you should be particularly careful if your character has an amazing voice though because that is the most cliché on the list.

I am not a Mary Sue hater, and there are stories with Mary Sue OC's that I do enjoy. I think I may have killed my own OC several times with this guide T-T. However, I feel that there is such a thing as too much Sue-ism. Everything is good in small quantities. Just make sure not to put too much.

…When I have time, I will try to create Part 2 of this guide, the Mary Sue test. For now, there are various Mary Sue tests on the internet… try taking those. I hope I helped~

Review with anything I might have failed to cover, comments, criticisms, questions, etc~