How to really kill her
Okay...and now a few tips on
How you can *really* kill her
~*~Plot~*~
First and foremost:
If the thought leading to the story is:
"I wish I could be in middle Earth so that I can get my hands on Legolas. Wait I can. I just take this Girl that is being send to middle Earth. But I wouldn't life long in middle Earth. So I have to make her much smarter than me. And of course I would be able to conjure Magic and fight swords. Or would it be better if she is a elf?"
Then you need to take no test and spend no thought.
You have MarySue at your hand.
How can you kill her? In case you want to.
I mean sure we all have our little fantasy's from time to time. Just don't expect the story to gain more reviews than "Coool" "Love Legolas!!!" "Write more!!"
So how do you kill her?
Don't get me wrong. Not all female character are MS. Actually just the perception of the reader is making the decision.
For some a Mary Sue is someone who is perfect, acts perfect, is considered perfect by everyone and often dies a perfect death. And other consider Mary Sue's to be ANY kind of female Character that has more intelligence than a potato (IQ 18), is able to breath and walk at the same time and is not killed at sight by the Main characters.
If they are the later you can't help.
But If you write the former than the percentage of People seeing it (correctly) as Mary Sue will multiply to s sheer amount.
The Top 10 of Mary Sue Plots
1.) She is the secret 10th Member of the fellowship.
2.) She is a former (and future) love interest of any of the 9 members
3.) She is related to any of the 9 other Members.
4.) The story revolves more around her than about the members of the fellowship. Above mentioned have no more Plot than to safe her and cuddle her after she was hurt (the amount of cuddling depending on the Rating)
5.) She is from our our Time and gets sucked into Middle
6.) She is the best friend of any of the 9 others Members
7.) She is a she either one of the most powerful Magic or one of the best Sword-fighter.
8.) She is both from above.
9.) She is the daughter of any of the other Major character in middle Earth...Elrond for example.
10.) Without here the ring would never be able to be destroyed.
These plots unless written by a VERY clever and very skillful hand. (which very few have.admittly me neither) lead directly to Mary Sue. Not to mention that all off them have been over used to a degree that is no longer funny. Actually it never was.
The chances that if you write one above themes you will come up with a plot that hasn't been written before are about as slim as winning in the lottery. So unless you won last week you are entering dangerous country.
10.) Without here the ring would never be able to be destroyed.
There are many person who are helping along the way but you are not among them and neither is you Mary Sue. Also unless you read the books you probably have a wrong picture on how the films will continue (Reading Spoilers and asking friends who read it excluded)
Remember that Tolkien's Mind works a lot more complex when it comes to the story.
9.) She is the daughter of any of the other Major character in middle Earth...Elrond for example.
OverOverused and in most stories only a reason to give her royal blood.
7.) She is a she either one of the most powerful Magic or one of the best Sword-fighter.
Yes there are chances that she is any of that. But why? Most times it is just a reason to give her ways to show of and outplay the other Members. Admit it. Is there any real Plot reason why she has to be more skilled at archery than Legolas. Better at sword-fighting than Aragorn. A more powerful Magic than Gandalf?
8.) She is both from above.
Same as above only worse.
6.) She is the best friend of any of the 9 others Members
Making her a friend to one of them is not the mistake. But most MS writers are not contempt with that. For them She is the ONLY friend that for example Legolas has.
But Legolas has Aragorn and more important he has Gimli. Both of them are one of the ultimate example of friendship in middle Earth (Others being Pippin/Merry and Sam/Frodo) The overcome their differences and grow very close. Writing a story with MarySue and Legolas without even including Gimli would be like writing a Sam that has forgotten that Frodo every existed.
5.) She is from our our Time and gets sucked into Middle
Now this is a plot that has been done to death! and then some more. Unless you write a Parody that has not a single serious sentence it will be like Groundhoundday for most readers.
Or even worse as with groundhog-day the days at least had a variety and a change every day.
4.) The story revolves more around her than about the members of the fellowship. Above mentioned have no more Plot than to safe her and cuddle her after she was hurt (the amount of cuddling depending on the Rating)
I think above speaks for itself. As soon as a plots revolves more around the female character (who is neither Rosie Cotton, Arwen or Eoywen (who?..wait a few month) more than the regular....she is a Mary Sue.
And a not very interessting one as a fact.
You might get you kicks out of having the Fellowship wait around you for every whim that you make. Fall in awe silence or tender care.
But most of us don't (We want them for ourself ;) )
3.) She is related to any of the 9 other Members.
2.) She is a former (and future) love interest of any of the 9 members
Same as reason as 4 and 6 and 9
1.) She is the secret 10th Member of the fellowship.
There is NO 10th Member of the fellowship.
For NO reason whatsoever.
Not so that there is one more than the black riders. Not so that she can be the one to fight Sauromon.
Not cause she has to replace Boromir. and even less that she has to replace Gandalf.
In the story that are many people that are as important in helping the fellowship. Faramir, Eomir, Eowyn and so on. But the members of the fellowship remain the same as they start out from Rivendale.
~*~Charakterisation~*~
One big Mistake....Charakterisation is NOT Description.
If you tell the reader who cool you character is dressed it make her just a plain cardboard like figure. Your reader will care nothing for her.
Same goes for describing her feature and hair only.
Don't get me wrong. It is in a way important to the imagination of aforementioned Character
But it isn't the character. Is is the person.
The character is for example
a.) How does s/he react?
b.) Why does s/he react that way?
You cannot use a without b
Take a look at your charckter.
What is her background?
Where does she come from?
What is her life so far?
What family does she come from
What is her motivation?
But in all that don't forget to keep her human not make her a super-hero.
Tell her story....But keep possible.
~*~Dialogs~*~
Middelearth is not Now-Time.
They do not talk like they do today.
Do not let Mary Sue walk around with a few (in your option cool) saying. There is no cool in Middle-Earth. There is no time and no need to be cool.
I know that not many of the writers (including myself) are able to write in the same stile as Tolkien. But at the least keep it neutral. Maybe read a bit into the book or watch the film again to get a little feeling for the speech.
Try not to be overly moral in her speech. Not every line that she says has to have the rest of them in awe.
Actually none should
TBC at a later time...
How you can *really* kill her
First and foremost:
If the thought leading to the story is:
"I wish I could be in middle Earth so that I can get my hands on Legolas. Wait I can. I just take this Girl that is being send to middle Earth. But I wouldn't life long in middle Earth. So I have to make her much smarter than me. And of course I would be able to conjure Magic and fight swords. Or would it be better if she is a elf?"
Then you need to take no test and spend no thought.
You have MarySue at your hand.
How can you kill her? In case you want to.
I mean sure we all have our little fantasy's from time to time. Just don't expect the story to gain more reviews than "Coool" "Love Legolas!!!" "Write more!!"
So how do you kill her?
Don't get me wrong. Not all female character are MS. Actually just the perception of the reader is making the decision.
For some a Mary Sue is someone who is perfect, acts perfect, is considered perfect by everyone and often dies a perfect death. And other consider Mary Sue's to be ANY kind of female Character that has more intelligence than a potato (IQ 18), is able to breath and walk at the same time and is not killed at sight by the Main characters.
If they are the later you can't help.
But If you write the former than the percentage of People seeing it (correctly) as Mary Sue will multiply to s sheer amount.
The Top 10 of Mary Sue Plots
1.) She is the secret 10th Member of the fellowship.
2.) She is a former (and future) love interest of any of the 9 members
3.) She is related to any of the 9 other Members.
4.) The story revolves more around her than about the members of the fellowship. Above mentioned have no more Plot than to safe her and cuddle her after she was hurt (the amount of cuddling depending on the Rating)
5.) She is from our our Time and gets sucked into Middle
6.) She is the best friend of any of the 9 others Members
7.) She is a she either one of the most powerful Magic or one of the best Sword-fighter.
8.) She is both from above.
9.) She is the daughter of any of the other Major character in middle Earth...Elrond for example.
10.) Without here the ring would never be able to be destroyed.
These plots unless written by a VERY clever and very skillful hand. (which very few have.admittly me neither) lead directly to Mary Sue. Not to mention that all off them have been over used to a degree that is no longer funny. Actually it never was.
The chances that if you write one above themes you will come up with a plot that hasn't been written before are about as slim as winning in the lottery. So unless you won last week you are entering dangerous country.
10.) Without here the ring would never be able to be destroyed.
There are many person who are helping along the way but you are not among them and neither is you Mary Sue. Also unless you read the books you probably have a wrong picture on how the films will continue (Reading Spoilers and asking friends who read it excluded)
Remember that Tolkien's Mind works a lot more complex when it comes to the story.
9.) She is the daughter of any of the other Major character in middle Earth...Elrond for example.
OverOverused and in most stories only a reason to give her royal blood.
7.) She is a she either one of the most powerful Magic or one of the best Sword-fighter.
Yes there are chances that she is any of that. But why? Most times it is just a reason to give her ways to show of and outplay the other Members. Admit it. Is there any real Plot reason why she has to be more skilled at archery than Legolas. Better at sword-fighting than Aragorn. A more powerful Magic than Gandalf?
8.) She is both from above.
Same as above only worse.
6.) She is the best friend of any of the 9 others Members
Making her a friend to one of them is not the mistake. But most MS writers are not contempt with that. For them She is the ONLY friend that for example Legolas has.
But Legolas has Aragorn and more important he has Gimli. Both of them are one of the ultimate example of friendship in middle Earth (Others being Pippin/Merry and Sam/Frodo) The overcome their differences and grow very close. Writing a story with MarySue and Legolas without even including Gimli would be like writing a Sam that has forgotten that Frodo every existed.
5.) She is from our our Time and gets sucked into Middle
Now this is a plot that has been done to death! and then some more. Unless you write a Parody that has not a single serious sentence it will be like Groundhoundday for most readers.
Or even worse as with groundhog-day the days at least had a variety and a change every day.
4.) The story revolves more around her than about the members of the fellowship. Above mentioned have no more Plot than to safe her and cuddle her after she was hurt (the amount of cuddling depending on the Rating)
I think above speaks for itself. As soon as a plots revolves more around the female character (who is neither Rosie Cotton, Arwen or Eoywen (who?..wait a few month) more than the regular....she is a Mary Sue.
And a not very interessting one as a fact.
You might get you kicks out of having the Fellowship wait around you for every whim that you make. Fall in awe silence or tender care.
But most of us don't (We want them for ourself ;) )
3.) She is related to any of the 9 other Members.
2.) She is a former (and future) love interest of any of the 9 members
Same as reason as 4 and 6 and 9
1.) She is the secret 10th Member of the fellowship.
There is NO 10th Member of the fellowship.
For NO reason whatsoever.
Not so that there is one more than the black riders. Not so that she can be the one to fight Sauromon.
Not cause she has to replace Boromir. and even less that she has to replace Gandalf.
In the story that are many people that are as important in helping the fellowship. Faramir, Eomir, Eowyn and so on. But the members of the fellowship remain the same as they start out from Rivendale.
One big Mistake....Charakterisation is NOT Description.
If you tell the reader who cool you character is dressed it make her just a plain cardboard like figure. Your reader will care nothing for her.
Same goes for describing her feature and hair only.
Don't get me wrong. It is in a way important to the imagination of aforementioned Character
But it isn't the character. Is is the person.
The character is for example
a.) How does s/he react?
b.) Why does s/he react that way?
You cannot use a without b
Take a look at your charckter.
What is her background?
Where does she come from?
What is her life so far?
What family does she come from
What is her motivation?
But in all that don't forget to keep her human not make her a super-hero.
Tell her story....But keep possible.
Middelearth is not Now-Time.
They do not talk like they do today.
Do not let Mary Sue walk around with a few (in your option cool) saying. There is no cool in Middle-Earth. There is no time and no need to be cool.
I know that not many of the writers (including myself) are able to write in the same stile as Tolkien. But at the least keep it neutral. Maybe read a bit into the book or watch the film again to get a little feeling for the speech.
Try not to be overly moral in her speech. Not every line that she says has to have the rest of them in awe.
Actually none should
TBC at a later time...