So I'm here just to do what my name says. I point out the obvious. I'm not trying to be mean, I'm trying to be realistic. There are too many people on this site who write nothing but dribble and I call them out on that.

If you write a romance story in characters announce their love to one another in the space of five minutes or five sentences- I'm going to call you out for that.

If you write something purely for shock value and it is nothing but poorly written, gory run on sentences- I'm going to call you out for that.

If you write nothing but bad smut (and there is a differnce between a lemon and crapy smut)- I'm going to call you out for that.

If you chapters are less than three sentences long- I'm going to call you out on that.

If your author's note includes characters with their own bios that are longer than the actual story- I'm going to call you out for that.

If every other word is spelled horribly wrong- I'm going to call you out for that.

If your grammar looks like that of a five year old who's first language isn't English- I'm going to call you out for that.

If your characters are completley OOC with no good explanation- I'm going to call you out for that.

If your story is full of Mary Sues- I'm going to call you out for that.

If you use "IM/Text Speech" and spell the word "thanks" as "thanx" or some other horrible destruction of the English language- I'm going to call you out for that.

I'm not here to mean, I'm not going to criticize and over analyze everything because I know I'm certainly not perfect and have gotten my share of flames in the past. Constructive criticism is a good thing people. I will point out the highs and lows of a story . That's what peer review is all about right?

Feel free to private message me or even send something straight to my email. I won't hide from people I review and will respond as civilly as possible. I won't be posting any stories here so please don't ask to see them. They are out there try to find them if you like, my pen name on this account is related to the pen name of my author's account.

Question: What is a Mary-Sue?

A Mary Sue is that unforunate Original Character that is "practically perfect in everyway" and their only fault is that they 'have joined the darkside' or something like that. Mary Sues tend to appear in fanfictions somewhat later in the original story's story line. (Even better is when the original story line of the show/book/whatever is butured to accomidate the newcomer.) To explain their absence up until this point it is always revealed that they knew about whatever they were involved with from birth, a young age, whatever, but they've been off training, doing special missions, etc, etc. Once they join up with the main characters, and are instantly accepted and liked (except by maybe a jealous girl or boy) and almost always at least one of the main characters falls in love with them. And why not? Mary Sue's are normally, beautiful, kind, and talented- annoyingly so. Usually they have multiple talents that might make them a rockstar or model or something. And because of these oh so wonderful character traits the evil villian loves them/wants them to join them. And more often than not Ms. Mary-Sue has a past with this villian. Throughout the story Mary-Sue's past is sometimes revealed (a bad writer won't even give a crappy explanation). Pasts usually run along the lines of being some from of royalty and/or having horrible abuse. But does this make Mary-Sue unhappy, no that would make her human, no she is sunshine and lollipops because she's just that God given blessed and wonderful. But there is something bad on the horizon and Mary-Sue will be at the center of it all. But it always works out in the end. Mary-Sue saves the day, gets the one she loves, and will ride off into the sunset to have more Mary-Sue adventures.

Now, why is this a bad thing? Let me ask you this? Do you know anyone like this? Honestly I mean, do you know anyone who is like this? If you answer yes than you idiot, if someone appears like this they are a) lying or b) there is something else going on, something you don't understand. Characters like Mary-Sue have, of course, existed throughout time. A good author will explain her reasons for being and usually, by the end of the story, it is revealed that she isn't as perfect and flawless as she seems. A real writer, even if they are writing fantasy/science fiction that suspend the realms of reality, will always make a character human. And what does that mean? They're going to have flaws. They're going to have tempers, bad days, not always be primped and polished, they'll make mistakes, and there will be consequences.

Many a times a writer of Mary Sues have the character do something wrong but they realize their mistake (or worse its revealed that they are actually brainwashed) and all is forgiven. People who live in the real world no that this is not the case. Something goes wrong, or someone pisses you off. You may forgive them in time but there is always resentment/hard feelings there.

My suggestion, if you even have an inkling that your character might be leaning toward Mary-Suedom than you need to evaluate the character, and the story. There are people in the world who do seem overly talented, have it all, and just seemed to be born lucky. But a true observe of human nature knows that it isn't always what is seems. To be a good writer characters must have depth. Don't create an original character in the image of what you want yourself to be. That's always a recipe for disaster because then authors are all the more hurt when they aren't well recieved.

So good luck, and here's to good writing.