And here is where the quality writers who are not daunted by the Jacksonesque liberties I have taken with Tolkien's masterpiece will recoil in horror. Yes, she is in this story, or at least, in parts of it, and if your phobia of Mary Sue is particularly violent, you may want to go away for the next two chapters and pick up with the Paths of the Dead (although the next two chapters also have parts which have nothing to do with her).
My goal is threefold. One, Tolkien is short on good female characters, and especially the less epic/archetypical ones. I wanted someone hobbit-like in abilities and temperament, the small hands who do things they must while the eyes of the great are elsewhere. Two, I have a bone to pick with Tolkien: his mortal/elf pairings always involve great male heroes and the greatest elf women sacrificing themselves for their true loves. I would like to bring to life the Firiel in his lesser-known writings, the one whom the elves befriend, the one who revisits the elf/mortal question without resolving it. Three, obviously, I am venting a little stress release and indulging fangirl syndrome, but hopefully with a minimum of angst, drool, and melodramatic flourishes.
I detest Mary Sue. I cringe to be publishing anything smacks of Suedom. It is my hope that I've managed to avoid writing one, and instead have simply given female readers an opportunity to identify with a lesser character who is not more powerful than god (Galadriel), not a trophy bride (Arwen), and not a strong yet emotionally crippled Amazon who can only be "whole" once she bags her man (Eowyn).
However, as has been forceably pointed out by at least one reviewer, I may well fail, leaving the question open -- can anyone ever write this plot without it being drek?
And on a more positive note...
Any mistakes in my Sindarin Elvish are my own, but any successes are due to the learned pages of Helge Fauskager (www.ardalambion.com), the Fellowship of the Word-Smiths' excellent website (google for "gwaith"), David Salo's scholarship which produced the Elvish in the films, and most of all the excellent lessons and hands-on critique and instruction provided by the Council of Elrond (www.councilofelrond.com). Accept no substitutes: published books on Elvish are out of date and have been superceded by more recent discoveries; and there's too many websites out there, even classes being taught, with serious mistakes in them.
To the worthies I have named, and above all to my teachers Gildor-Inglorion and Naneth and my study partner Elena, I dedicate whatever good there is in this story. To those who wilfully set themselves up as authorities on Elvish and teach courses like they know what they're talking about, misleading a whole generation of Tolkien fans, I dedicate whatever traces of Mary Sue have slipped past my flyswatter.
now on with the show...