Saving Mary Sue

by James Lyn

When writing fiction, one of the challenges is to create interesting characters whom readers want to read about. A well-written character is as important as any other element of the story, and an interesting, three-dimensional character can pull the reader in and make him or her eager to find out what happens next.

One common mistake in character creation is the character often called "Mary Sue." "Mary Sue" is a term often used to describe an original character which appears to the reader to be a super-version of the author. The character may or may not resemble the author greatly, and the author may sincerely have written the character not to resemble herself in any way. But original characters often get labeled as "Mary Sues" despite the author's best intentions, especially in fanfiction where a majority of the other characters are borrowed from another source.

How can a writer create an interesting character without creating a Mary Sue, if characters can be so labeled without the writer's intent? It's important to understand the typical elements of a "Mary Sue" in order to know how to avoid creating such a character.

Mary Sue, as stated above, appears to be a super-version of the author. This character will typically have skills, powers, and resources greater than any other character in the story. The character will often a physical appearance that is more beautiful or striking than other characters in the story, such as hair and eyes with an unusual color. The specifics can vary, but in general a Mary Sue character will have more, and be more, of whatever is normal for people in the story's world.

Some examples of Mary Sue characters are children who take part in the adult world because of super-genius, yet who do not suffer difficulties (such as social awkwardness) in doing so. Other Mary Sues are the beautiful and wealthy royals who display rare magical powers and communicate with fantastical beasts in ways that none or few others in their world can do.

These characteristics alone do not necessarily mean the character is a Mary Sue. Mary Sue is a character who has these advantages to an extreme. The character is not only wealthy, but has such wealth that anything can be purchased at the character's whim. The character not only has magical powers, but has abilities that no one else has, or has them in unique combinations or at unheard-of strengths. Mary Sue is the elite, and the unique, and the best at whatever the character does.

Mary Sue characters also tend to slide through the story's events without struggle. This, perhaps, is the characteristic which makes Mary Sue an unpopular character more than any other. Mary Sues have so much going for them, that any difficulty is merely swept away with the wave of a hand and problems are solved with little more effort than turning a switch.

If a monster attacks, Mary Sue can throw a fireball and destroy it. If the monster revives, then the Mary Sue can pull a medallion out of her pocket which repels it. If a second monster attacks, then Mary Sue can telepathically call her friend, the dragon, who comes to her aid. The reader quickly learns that no matter what the writer throws at Mary Sue, Mary Sue will win, and win easily.

Because of the amount and quality of resources that a Mary Sue character has, the character does not need to struggle, or even change during the course of the story. Mary Sue characters are already perfect or nearly-so; they do not need to grow in order to accomplish their goals. Mary Sue characters rarely are faced with the need to change their beliefs, or principles as a result of the events -- more often, Mary Sue will be proved to have been right all along. If she changes, it will be only superficial - losing her power to freeze water, but gaining the ability to teleport. She may lose her family treasure, but she will marry the handsome prince who restores her family's wealth. Mary Sue's lot in life changes, but it never gets better -- and never gets worse.

This lack of change, and ease of problem-solving, can make for a very boring character. The reader may have great difficulty finding any reason to care about a Mary Sue because they know what's going to happen -- and what isn't going to happen. There is rarely any suspense concerning a Mary Sue character. Mary Sue characters win, and they usually don't suffer much or any loss along the way. Mary Sue characters rarely have to make personal sacrifices to accomplish their goals, because they have the powers or resources to achieve those goals.

Creating Character Depth

With all these problems with a Mary Sue character, how can you ensure that you're not creating one? The most important way is to give the character flaws. The struggle to overcome disadvantages, or to live with them and turn them into advantages, can make a character and the entire story much more interesting.

One good trick for avoiding the creation of a Mary Sue is to remove some of the gifts you're tempted to give. If your character has the ability to fly, don't give the character any other magical powers. A balance of advantages and disadvantages will make the character more realistic, and more interesting to readers. If you want to give your character wealth, fame, intelligence, and magical powers -- then give him or her a physically ugly mutation as well, or a curse that turns them into a lantern every full moon, or strand them on the dark side of the moon with only radio contact to the rest of civilization.

Disadvantages will give your character something to struggle against, and can provide an arena for personal growth or change. This is a excellent way to draw readers into the story and make them care about the characters so that they continue reading. That is, after all, one of the major goals of writing a story: keeping your readers hooked so they keep turning the pages.

It might be that the story requires your character to have as many advantages as possible. Perhaps the conflicts they will face are so grand and difficult that only someone who seems like a Mary Sue can overcome them. There are two ways to avoid creating a Mary Sue in this situation. The first, of course, is to decrease the severity of the conflicts. If your villain cannot be defeated by anyone except a Mary Sue-type character, consider giving the villain a few weaknesses.

The second is to require your character to earn the advantages necessary to defeat the villain. Rather than letting the character inherit the gifts and be born with magical powers which appear when needed, make the character study and learn the magic first, or go on a quest for the resources that are needed. Let the character fail a few times rather than getting it right on the first or second try. The amount of struggle isn't necessarily as important as the fact that some struggle exists, so that the character avoids the perfection so typical of a Mary Sue character.

There are many ways to give a character difficulties in succeeding too easily, and to create an interesting character who is not a Mary Sue. Balancing their gifts with weaknesses, limiting the number of unusual or super gifts, and letting the character suffer failures along the way are all good ways to prevent a character from becoming a Mary Sue. It may make the story longer, and may take more time to get the problems resolved. But that just gives the readers more to enjoy. Without a Mary Sue, your story will be more interesting and have more depth, and your readers will be more likely to come back for more.


James Lyn has been writing fiction for nearly thirty years. Favorites include science fiction and horror, which is weird considering that he absolutely refuses to read or watch any horror. When not writing, he enjoys cooking, reading, and catching up on sleep.