Authors Note: If I owned even one of these characters, books or movies I'd be raking it in, instead of sitting here in front of my computer in my huge Evanescence t-shirt, writing fan-fiction. I don't know how this chapter or how the story will turn out, but I know I can't do this without the help and advice of the readers (if any). So PLEASE review. But please…be gentle…
Amalita.
Prologue: Mary Sue.
Mary Sue. The name, or personality if you prefer, appears so often in fan fiction. After all, that's what Mary Sue's are made for. Some of us love to write them. Some of us put a spin on ourselves, picturing exactly how we'd like to look, or the skills we'd like to have so, in a small way, we can 'get' our ideal man. Others hate them, and with good reason. I mean, how many girls can there be in the world, with the perfect figure, the hair that always sits just so, the ability to sing like angel without any training whatsoever? The answer, in truth is about 1. No one, but no one, can wake up in the morning looking as if they just came off the set of a Hollywood film.
But in truth, most Mary Sue's are not born that way. They are styled to perfection, their talents that lie deep within them, like a diamond in the rough, are exposed and gruellingly styled till flawlessness, or until a nervous breakdown ensues, something which can take years.
How do I know all of this? Simple. I am a Mary Sue.
But really, what defines a Mary Sue? The answer seems simple. A girl with perfect creamy white/golden/chocolate skin, who never has a blemish, who's hair is perfect on every page, eyes that display a natural element of some kind, i.e. 'as deep blue as the ocean, as green as a forest glade, as brown as coffee,' who always have some sort of terrible, trouble ridden background and incredibly possess that one unique quality, shared most often, with their leading man, that drives said leading man wild.
If she were to fall into Middle Earth, she would most likely be a great swordswoman. If it was Christian from Moulin Rouge she fancied…could you guess? That's right, a great singer, and most likely she would be an ex or current courtesan, just so she could be as equally rebellious, or unconventional as Satine. But just as in the real world, the number of us Mary Sue's born just so, is about 1.
I was not born into that 1. Everything about me was real, too real. My hair was coarse. My skin was terrible. I would've given anything to sing and to dance upon the stage, but wasn't exceptionally good at either. My friend Claudia on the other hand lucked out. She was born a genuine. Her blonde shimmering curls, her blue eyes and pale skin, that heart of gold and complete naivety about her great looks. Her mother resented her, her stepfather beat her, leaving her shy and with a virginal innocence and fright that drove a man to passion. She was your typical sweet Mary Sue.
My best friend in the whole Mary Sue system, Jacqueline, was sculpted, like me. She was your typical tough Mary Sue. She had the smart mouth, the attitude, and the sassy look, but underneath all that, the romantic heart. And I bet you can guess why it was hidden. That's right, the troubled past rears its head once more.
As I mentioned previously, when you first are chosen to take on such a strange profession, you have to undergo a sort of Princess Diaries make over. They take you in, fix up your features, whether it is your frizzy hair or your pimply chin, and hone the gift you've always desired, that angel voice or that Jackie Chan fight style. It's hard to become chosen for the Mary Sue life; in fact it's rather like being accepted into Hogwarts. They keep an eye out for the genuine Mary Sue's, or girls who hold the potential talent, and bring them in to train them up.
And here is the most important part. What makes a Mary Sue? What makes even the most ordinary girl enter such a stunning world? It's not looks; I've already explained that. Everyone is beautiful, with some girls it just needs to be unleashed. If you think you're unattractive take a look in the mirror. You may have a beautiful set of eyes but coarse hair. Or beautiful hair but bad skin. That can be fixed. And it isn't smarts. Several Mary Sues, mainly the 'genuine' ones never attended school. Want to know what it is?
Imagination.
It's the schoolgirl who looks out the window in class, and wishes she lived in a world of passion and adventure. The cleaner who wants to take her place upon the stage. The ones who read a lot, fantasise and spend hours on end watching films, as though gazing into an alternate universe, wishing they would fall right through the screen. Just look at Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Bellefrom Beauty and the Beast. They were all picked on, treated by filth by the one's who had it all, yet through their dreams they all accomplished so much more than the empty headed blonde bombshell with the dress cut up to there. Your imagination is what makes or breaks you. Imagine it, instead of thinking yourself so beautiful it will just fall at your feet, and you'll probably get further.
And it will get the most imaginative women in the world notice you. The ones who choose the Mary Sue's. Who take the dreamers and give them the world they rightly deserve. Just like they did with me. And it truly is the best life you can have.
Isn't it?
Some years back as Jackie and me sat down to lunch, we wondered. Is the Mary Sue system totally contradictory? Would our imagination and beautiful minds make us desirable still to Legolas or Christian if we weren't fixed up?
"It all seemed so fair when I started," Jacqueline pouted (prettily of course). "Giving us girls who deserved such a beautiful life the chance to look like we always wanted and be who we always wanted. But now I don't know. It's like being put in a play, where the Leading Man only falls in love with you cause it's in the script."
These words kept me awake as I lay along side my latest Leading Man, Moulin Rouge Christian, one night. Silently I slipped from the bed and stared out the window and wondered…could I win my Leading Man on my own?
Mary Sue. A hard job. A confusing job. With great rewards?
Step into my world, and decide for yourself…
Alright. Like? Hate? Love? Could be? Maybe? Want to set my computer on fire so I can never write another story again? Let me know! I have to personally admit this was a pretty sucky chapter. But I promise the second will be better. I mean The Phantom's in Chapter Two, so that gives us SOMETHING to look oforward to. Right?