Disclaimer: I do not own Starkit/Starpaw/Stargleam/Gleamstar/Starstar, of Starkit's Prophecy. She belongs to XxDarkrosesxX, thankfully.
Guestperson here, with yet another story! Except, this story isn't quite like my other stories, because it's not just a story, but an informative one. It also contains a lot more humor and general silliness than my other stories. I made this in the interest of helping other writers make interesting and unique warriors stories, like I strive to do with my own three projects (which will most likely all become connected to each other over time). In the spirit of tying my stories to each other, I have some supporting characters from some of my other stories that will be featured in this story.
So what does this story have to offer you as a writer, exactly? Well, it will give you tips and tricks to making good characters, good plots, and also teaches you to recognize and understand popular types of stories (how do you tell a troll-fic is a troll-fic?) and the dreaded Mary-Sue, bane of all writers (except, of course, if you are writing a troll-fic). If you ever wanted to make a cryptic prophecy, or avoid creating a Mary-Sue, then allow this "show" to be your guide.
Honeyshine, take it away!
Episode One: Mary Sues
"Gladly!" a fluffy, golden-furred she-cat exclaimed. She was sitting on a cushiony, red chair in the middle of a stage with glazed, golden-brown, wood-plank flooring. Her white-tipped paws were busy rearranging her fur in a tasteful fashion. She beamed up at the camera, and sat straight-backed in her chair. "Hello, viewers, welcome to The Writer's Guide to Warriors Fanfiction! I am your hostess, Honeyshine!"
She turned in her red chair to indicate a person sitting off-stage. The person was wearing a blue t-shirt, jeans, glasses that hung on the bridge of her nose, messy blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail, and had a laptop sitting on her lap. She was staring at the screen intensely, and had earbuds plugged into her ears. Honeyshine beamed at the person, and waved her paw. "This is GP, the show's scriptwriter! Say hello, GP!"
"Hmm?" The girl said, lifting her eyes from the screen. She pulled her earbuds out, and looked at the gold and white she-cat imploringly. "Whatd'ya say, Honeyshine?"
"Isn't she just amazing?" The she-cat gushed, turning away from the rather confused writer to look back at the camera. "Our cameracat here is Pewter, but he doesn't talk much. Then again, GP doesn't talk too much either." Reluctantly, the slate-gray tom turned his camera over so the viewers could see him. He stared back at them with half-lidded yellow eyes, and looked for all the world like he would rather be doing something else.
"And the other member of our crew is Fell, our security guard! Hi, Fell!" The camera panned over to a tiny white she-cat who was playing with a ball of moss. The she-cat looked up as Honeyshine introduced her, and squeaked happily.
"Aw, you're so cuuuuute," Honeyshine said, covering her cheeks with her paws. She bounced back around in her chair to stare into the camera. "Anyway, now that the crew's been all introduced, it's time to bring in my co-hosts!" The golden and white she-cat turns over to pick up a strange-looking remote controller. Clicking a button, there was a sudden loud zap and a shriek came from backstage. The camera zoomed in dramatically on the curtain as a young gray tom tumbled out from behind it. He looked dazed. Then, the curtain parted again as three more cats stepped out. One was a ginger she-cat, another was a young brown tabby and white she-cat, and the last one was a black and white kit.
"You guys need to get a better mode of transportation!" the gray tom growled, getting to his feet. He padded over to the collection of red seats, and sat down in one of them. The other three followed suit, with the brown tabby promptly fainting as soon as she sat down. There was a low thunk as she fell off and hit the floor. "See?" the gray tom said, pointing at her unconscious body.
"This here is Smokepaw," Honeyshine exclaimed, jabbing a paw at the gray tom. "The ginger she-cat is Fox, the unconscious tabby is Brindle, and the black and white one is Badgerkit."
"What are we doing here already?" the kit exclaimed, looking at Honeyshine quizzically.
"We've started airing early!"
"Great," Badgerkit said, frowning.
"Oh, come on guys, it's not that bad!" GP called from her seat off-stage. She had her arms crossed and her laptop off to the side.
"Are you kidding?" Smokepaw asked incredulously, raising a paw. "You're supposed to be updating your other stories, but instead, you decide to force some of your characters to give advice to some other two-legs that we could care less about. Don't even get me started on this she-cat—!" Honeyshine beamed as Smokepaw pointed an accusing paw at her. "—or the fact that we're basically teaching your fellows how to torture their own enslaved cats! I'm sorry, but that's hardly ethical!"
GP huffed, and brushed a stray strand of pale hair off her forehead. "Moving on." She presented a remote, and clicked one of the many buttons on it. There was another loud zap, and a purple and white she-cat suddenly appeared in center of the stage. She rose her head, and opened her eyes to reveal rainbow irises. "Everyone," GP began grimly. "Meet Stargleam."
"OmMGGG!111! Wur ahm i!?11/?!" The she-cat exclaimed, looking around the stage.
Fox hissed, her hackles rising as she receded into her chair. "What is that abomination?"
"Whhuoo?/? Meii?" The purple she-cat exclaimed. She looked over at the ginger battleleader ecstatically, and it was apparent that she doesn't know what the word "abomination" meant, for she purred, and sat down to explain herself. "I ahm Gleaeamstaharr, Sthaarstahar, Staarkit, Stauhrpah, and Stahrgleem! Buhtt u can cull me Steargleahm!11!"
"Why don't you just have one name?" Badgerkit mewed curiously, his brow furrowed in confusion.
The purple she-cat shrugged. "i dont no, I gess my creeahtor wuz cunflictahd bout wich 1 fit me behst."
"How about none of them?" Fox said dryly.
"Precisely, Fox," Honeyshine said, a list magically appearing in her paws as she suddenly adopted a more serious attitude. "Stargleam here, as we're going to call her, is going to help us today on the show."
"Hmm?" Brindle exclaimed, finally stirring from unconsciousness.
"We're going to take this rainbow-eyed kitty and change her from a 'Sue to a believable character," Honeyshine explained, pushing her newfound reading-glasses up the bridge of her nose.
"Where did those come from?" Smokepaw asked quizzically, narrowing his eyes at the glasses.
"Dunno," Honeyshine said with an apologetic shrug. She looked down at Stargleam, who was grooming her fur. "Alright, let's read through this list, lessee . . ."
1. Avoid using strange or very pretty-sounding prefixes and suffixes. That is, no using things like Ruby, Gem, Angel, Demon, Winter, Sparkle, Pretty, Shining, et cetera. Moon, Sun, and Star are usually off-limits, but since Moon and Sun have been used by the Erins, they are technically usable. Star is a big no-no, though. Try using simple, "supporting-character-like" prefixes and suffixes, like, for example, Brackenpelt. It makes the character more relatable and realistic.
"Alright," Honeyshine said, grabbing her trusty remote again. "First off, we've gotta give Stargleam here a new name. I dub thee . . . Dawntail! A pretty prefix balanced by a generic suffix." The golden and white she-cat nodded, pleased with her work.
The newly renamed Dawntail looked up at Honeyshine in confusion. "Hey, you can't just change my name like tha—"
"Interrupting cow!" Honeyshine said quickly, cutting the purple and white she-cat off. "And yes, I can! Moving on to the next thing!"
2. Give your cat a realistic appearance. No green, bright yellow, purple, pink, or flat-out red/blue fur (ginger is a substitute for red, and blue-gray for blue), please. And give your character realistic eye colors, too, unless they're intentionally mutated or magical. Cat eyes can be blue, green, yellow, gold, amber, and in the case of albinos, pink/red.
"Sorry, she-cat!" Fox purred. "But the purple fur and rainbows have got to go!" Honeyshine eagerly raised her remote, and before Dawntail could tackle her, she pressed a button. Right before the other cat's eyes, Dawntail's purple fur morphed into a tabby brown and white. Her rainbow irises were taken over by a dark amber, and the she-cat pawed at her fur in dismay.
"I-I loek so plane1!" The brown tabby and white she-cat exclaimed in horror.
"Believe me, it's an improvement," Fox said, grinning toothily.
"What next!" Honeyshine squealed, sounding like a female two-leg looking for another outfit to try on while on a shopping spree. She unfurled her magical list.
3. Avoid giving characters powers, especially if they don't have any discernible weaknesses or limits.
"Thank StarClan," Honeyshine said. "I was worried she was going to remember she had powers before we got to this part. No brainwashing, coming back to life, or archangel whatever-ness for you anymore, Dawntail!"
"Waiht, I ahd powers?" Dawntail asked, looking down at her paws in surprise. Before she could figure out how to use said powers, Honeyshine pressed another button on her remote. Dawntail screeched as a ball of white light suddenly flew from her forepaws, and into Honeyshine's device. The golden and white she-cat patted the remote possessively, and smiled down at brown tabby and white Mary-Sue.
4. Now for personality. Be prepared to give your character some faults, and weaknesses, and not just physical ones, but psychological ones, too. For example, let's say your character is tactless and says things without meaning to or thinking about it, first.
"Tactless, eh?" Smokepaw said, putting a paw to his chin thoughtfully. "Give me that remote, I've got just the thing." Grinning, Honeyshine gave the gray tom her magical device of supreme power.
"Naht only r u takin away everytin dat mad me speshul & bootiful, butt now ur goen 2 change the wae my mind werks?" Dawntail shrieked. "Absolootly naht!" The brown tabby and white she-cat dived off the stage, and made a break for the exit.
"Fell!" Honeyshine cried, pointing at her dramatically.
The tiny white kit, who was somehow in charge of security, squeaked, and abandoned her moss ball to toddle over to Dawntail. The brown tabby and white she-cat stopped in her tracks, and looks at Fell in surprise. The white she-kit stared up at her with what had to be the most adorable pair of big, blue eyes.
"Awwww!111!" Dawntail cooed, sitting down. The brown tabby seems to be put in a trance by the white kit's cuteness, completely forgetting about trying to escape. "Ur so kawaei!"
"Quick, change her already!" Fox hissed.
"Got it!" Smokepaw said, pressing down the button Honeyshine had indicated. "Dawntail, you are now not a very smart cat (not that you ever were), and it takes you a while to understand things. You get spooked easily, and hate fighting. You're loyal to your friends, and love kits."
Honeyshine nodded. "Nice, Smokey."
"Don't call me that."
Dawntail looked up from Fell to look at the cats on stage with confusion. "Wh-where am I? Who are you?"
"We're up here, and you're supposed to be as well," Fox said testily.
"Are you sure you changed her personality too much?" Badgerkit exclaimed skeptically, curled in his chair. "It didn't seem like she was very smart before."
"Hush, Badgerkit, don't be mean to our guest," Honeyshine said, looking down at the list. She clears her throat and reads the next entry on the list.
5. When you make your character's history, don't make it too tragic or unusual, unless it pertains to the plot. Be realistic.
"Alright," Honeyshine says, putting her list back on the stand next to her chair. "I don't know about you, but being the child of a blind medicine cat and a she-cat from another clan seems awfully unrealistic."
Brindle frowned. "What's a clan?"
Smokepaw ignored the Gray World she-cat's question, and lifted up Honeyshine's remote. "Alright, Dawntail, your parents were both warriors of ThunderClan. You saw your mother die in front of you defending the nursery when you were only a kit, which is why you're so skittish. You have a lot of siblings, from three different litters. You're from the youngest litter, and your littermates' names are Gorsefang and Rushfeather. Your older siblings are named Juniperleap, Birdpelt, and Oakshadow. You have a friend named Redfoot. I think that's it." The gray tom coughed when he was done, and handed the remote back to Honeyshine.
"It seems we've covered everything!" Honeyshine declared, rolling up her list, and pointing the remote at Dawntail. "Thank you for helping us! I'll send you back now!" The brown tabby and white she-cat disappeared with a pop. Her clanmates were in for quite a surprise.
"Well, that was fun," Honeyshine said, sitting back. "But I think our viewers might be confused about something."
"And what would that be?" Brindle piped up.
"What exactly a Mary-Sue is!" The golden she-cat hopped off her chair and crossed over to a whiteboard a little ways across the stage. She picked up a marker, and began writing. "To the best of our knowledge, a Mary-Sue is a 'perfect character', and it is to be avoided by writers at all costs. However, what defines a perfect character?"
There was a period of silence from the other four cats before Badgerkit finally shrugged. "I don't know."
"Precisely," Honeyshine mewed. "The term Mary-Sue is so encompassing, that it has to be split into different categories. Allow me to present the first category." The she-cat crossed her t's and dotted her i's, and then turned to present what she'd written down on the whiteboard.
1. Self-Insertion: These types of Sues occur when a writer wants to put themselves into a world pre-established by some other author. They work as a wish-fulfillment.
"Picture this," Honeyshine says, raising her paws. "You've recently been sucked into a new fandom, and you've begun wishing that you could live in the world of this fandom. You end up creating an OC that you'll admit is a lot like you, or rather, what you wish you could be. That OC goes on to do a lot of great and frankly, unrealistic things within the universe of your choice. Perhaps they even get into a relationship with one of the canon characters!"
The golden and white she-cat turned back to the board. "Don't get me wrong though, it's good to have a character that is relatable to the writer. It's nigh impossible to write about a character that isn't anything like you. Take maybe a couple traits about you and pack that character with some different flaws and strengths. That way, you don't have to worry about having a Self-Insertion Sue."
2. Tragic Sue: The opposite of the Classic Sue. This Sue has a horrible history, like having had her family die. Typically, the characters that hate her are all antagonists (meaning the "bad guys" of the story), and the characters that like her are her supporting characters. Tragic Sue spends most of the story moping around, yet somehow manages to pull through in the end, most likely making a great sacrifice to defeat the main villain. The characters that disliked her all end up suffering somehow, no matter how justified their disliking of her is. Either that, or they convert over to her side.
"There are many stories on this site that are centered around the main character being under appreciated, and end up proving themselves against all odds. Think about your story if it's like this. Is your protagonist underdeveloped? Are all the cats who dislike your character 'evil', or destined to be evil? Does your character end up having some fantastical power, or becomes 'one of the greatest leaders in the history of BlahClan?' If the answer to all of these questions is yes, you might want to remedy that plot," Honeyshine said, putting her paws on her hips.
"Who are you taking to?" Brindle asked.
"The viewers, duh," Honeyshine replied, turning to face the brown tabby and white she-cat. Brindle wrinkled her nose.
"What viewers? I don't see them!"
Honeyshine sighed, and puts a paw to her forehead. "Talking about technology would take too much time, I'm afraid." She spun back to the board.
3. Romantic Sue: These Sues typically have multiple other characters fall in love with them, as the Romantic Sue is a very beautiful person (although the Sue thinks they're average or whatever). I can't think of a case where those "other characters" aren't canon, but all the same, I believe Romantic Sue can apply to OC pairings as well as OCxCanon pairings. Romantic Sue is very commonly part of Self-Insertion Sue.
"Pretty self explanatory," Honeyshine said. "Moving on."
4. Destiny Sue: This Sue has a great destiny, possibly "one of the greatest destinies evah". They have to defeat a great villain, and/or save the clans/entire world (you gotta aim high as a Sue :P). They most likely have great powers, too, "the greatest powers evah" even. The writer will describe the plot as "epic", "world-changing", and the "climax of the entire fandom".
Honeyshine wrinkles her snout. "Soooo, if a summary of your story is somewhere along the lines of 'a prophecy of greater worth than ever before is about to be told, and one cat may hold the greatest destiny ever in their paws', you ought to change up that plot a bit. Destiny Sue isn't as terrible as some of the others, though. I know for a fact GP doesn't mind them, as long as they are solely Destiny Sues, and don't fit the description of the other Sues."
5. Pure Sue: This character can do no wrong. They are the essence of good, and was possibly sent down from StarClan to cleanse the clans of evil. Any character who remotely dislikes this character is tainted and lowly in some shape or form. This character may be referenced with some forms of Twoleg religion.
"One distinct example of this type of Sue is Stargleam, who was sometimes very blatantly compared to—if you can believe it—Jesus in Starkit's Prophecy," Honeyshine said dryly. The golden and white she-cat turned to the camera. "These are only a handful of examples of the various forms of 'perfect characters' in existence, but they are the most common in the Warriors fandom. Take note that Stargleam was actually a combination of all of the mentioned Sues, except for possibly Self-Insertion, because the author was most likely a troll. What's a troll you ask? Well, that's a question for another episode!"
"So, let me get this straight," Badgerkit mewed, bouncing down from his seat. "These two-legs are apparently making cats, and they're worried about them being too 'perfect?'"
Honeyshine nodded briskly. "Yes, that's the general idea."
Badgerkit frowned. "Twolegs are weird."
"I second that!" Fox called from her seat.
"Alright!" Honeyshine exclaimed as she sprang back into her chair. "I think this concludes the first episode of The Writer's Guide to Warriors Fanfiction! Thanks for tuning in, and keep your eyes open for the next episode, which will be titled Prophecies and Powers!"
Thank you very much, Honeyshine, for an informative episode on Mary-Sues!
I hope you all found this first chapter helpful, and that you agree with my points. Like Honeyshine said, the next episode will be about making good, cryptic prophecies. We will be analyzing canon prophecies, and offering pointers to making your own prophecies. We will also put a spotlight on powers (no pun intended), and magic in general.
Digital cookies to all viewers! Stay tuned!