A/N: As soon as you start to read this, if you know what one is, you will gasp: Life Starts Now is blatantly creating a sue! Gasp! How could she!

Just keep reading :-D

She knew he'd seen her. She knew he'd been entranced by her beauty. Arabella Nightingale Neverland Alaska (Anna for short) knew that Drake would never be able to take his eyes off her.

His thoughts echoed through her head; Is she a princess? An angel?

She had him enraptured. And now he was hers to control.

Anna sauntered down the street. She felt more than a little uncomfortable in her sleazy outfit, but she'd wanted Drake's eyes on her. She had to control him. She'd lead him down to the beach, entrance him . . . and then coercer him to his doom.

She heard his thoughts of surprise as clear as day. Mind-reading. Useful. She bit her lip, and flipped her hair back. A wave of shimmery blond hair fell over her shoulders. She turned back, trying to look absent-minded, and her gaze met his. Her vibrant purple eyes met his unfeeling cold ones.

That was it. He was hooked. She started to walk to the beach. No one would be there, her Rebellion would make sure of that. Brave Jake, and Johnny, and Felix and Keith . . . her throat closed. They wouldn't be hurt, would they? Of course not. They'd do anything for her.

This plan had to work. She'd been the one that thought of it. And it would work. Drake might be powerful, in control, sadistic . . . but he was still just a boy. And even before the FAYZ, boys had been enraptured by her every step.

They'd planned to kill Drake for months. When the pack of wild coyotes and him leading it had invaded Perdido beach they'd started plotting. The five of them had the strongest powers. Drake had captured Sam, Caine, Diana, Dekka, Brianna . . god knew what he was doing with them. It was up to Arabella Nightingale Neverland Alaska and her rebellion to do something about it.

With her exquisite beauty, Drake would have to follow her. She heard his thoughts now, as her bare feet slid over the smooth white sand. The beach was empty on the best of days; Drake had put the kids to work, finding food and other supplies. Now not a soul in sight.

His thoughts echoed through her head. The intense emotion in them shocked her.

Who is she? What's she doing here? A beautiful thing like her could get hurt. God, I've got to protect her. Do something . . .

Surely Drake couldn't feel human emotion, could he? She dug into his memories. His past. With horror, she understood. Everything that had happened to him . . . all the hell he'd been through.

It wasn't sympathy she'd felt for him. It was empathy. She understood how it was to be mistreated by her guardians. How it felt to be bullied by the kids at school because you were different (although she'd merely been ridiculed and disliked because of her beauty). She understood him completely.

But he'd become hard and cold, while she'd risen above it all.

She swallowed hard and looked at him. Her purple eyes shined with loss, sorry, empathy. She wanted to reach out . . . to help him . . . somehow . . .

And he just wanted to reach out and help her.

DDDD

This, my dear friends, is a Sue. She disguises herself as Anna, but don't believe a word she says. She's a toxin, a scourge upon all writing.

Most likely, you are reading this because a) You have no idea what a sue is and would like to learn how to turn yours into a real character, or b) You're looking for something and thought this would be funny.

A sue is an overly idealized character, one who can't make any mistakes. That's the dictionary definition. The true definition of a Mary-Sue: She's a stuck up bitch that all reasonable readers hate with unprecedented fashion.

Well. Moving on. The first step to reforming your Mary-sue is admitting you have one. Yes, I know it's hard. I've had to do it before, too. You've slaved away at the laptop or computer or pencil and paper or whatever. You've worked hard to put your story online, and some idiot flamer (or maybe even me) comes along and tells you that your story sucks. (Not that I have anything against flamers, as long as they're reasonable).

Well, I'm sorry to tell you, but if you have a Sue . . . there is a high possibility that your story sucks.

But I'm also here to tell you that you don't have to end it! It's still possible to create a good story! It's still possible to have a good character!

Signs that you have a sue:

All or at least several of the male leads fall in love with her.

She has an incredible cool power, or at least a moderately useful one.

She angsts. A lot. More than necessary.

She's disgustingly beautiful.

She's bullied because she's so beautiful.

She gets raped because she's so beautiful.

She can't make a single mistake.

For more signs, take a Mary Sue Litmus Test. There are many different ones . . . just go to google and type in "Mary Sue Litmus Test."

Notice that I've said "She" a lot. Yes, it is possible to have a male Mary Sue, although these are called Gary-Stus. But you know what? 99% of the fanfiction population is female! And male writers, as I've noticed, are less likely to create slutty characters that prance around hopping into bed with the hottest guys and then randomly save the day.

Fact of life :-P Get over it.

Now, let's look at the character I have above. She appears to have her own harem of boys, as well as Drake (who falls in love with her immediately). She has a power. She angsts. And she is disgustingly beautiful.

In short? She's a Sue. And many of you are arriving to the same conclusion about your own characters.

Now that you've admitted you have a sue, (or are sighing with relief over the fact that you don't have one) you've got to start . . . reforming her.

The second step to reforming Mary Sue is bringing her down to earth.

She doesn't get away with everything. Not all of her endeavors succeed. Next time you try writing from your character's POV, have them make a mistake. Screw something up. Get someone hurt. Get herself captured. Anything.

And now, to see this technique in action . . .

DDDD

His thoughts were still in a daze, she knew that much for sure. Anna held her breath. Would this work? Oh god, let this work. She couldn't let down her friends!

"I'm Anna." She held out a hand.

He reached forward with his whip and wrapped it around her wrist. Cold shock tore through her as he dragged her closer.

But his thoughts weren't malicious!

"Hi, Anna. I'm sure you know me. I'm Drake. Lotsa coyotes call me 'Whip Hand.'" He eyed her. "And I'm going to find out why I've never seen a pretty thing like you before."

If only she could struggle, she would fight him! She had a black belt, she could fight anyone. But the whip pulled her close to him.

And she realized why his thoughts weren't malicious. Because Drake's insane.

He pulled back his fist. The last thing she saw before he knocked her unconscious was his smirk.

A/N: I realize I will probably get a lot of reviews from disgruntled writers for this. However, this topic is too important to resist. Please review and tell me what you think of my character-writing guide. :-D

-Life Starts Now