A Well-Developed Mary-Sue is a Good Mary-Sue

I've been thinking a lot lately about what it is exactly that bugs me about Mary-Sue. Who is Mary-Sue, you ask? A Mary-Sue is an original character invented by the author of a fan fiction. She usually possesses attributes such as overt friendliness, beauty, etc. This article I found goes into a lot more detail: http://www.geocities.com/betareadg/marysuefam.html. Bear in mind, the following views are my own. I admit that some people like Mary Sue fics. I'm just not one of them. And some others might not be either judging from the lack of reviews I see on these fics.

The perfection of Mary-Sue is what annoys many people. The perfect Mary-Sue is well-loved. Every single character loves her immediately and begins confiding in her their innermost secrets and desires and the characters will always take her advice. And if one character does not like her immediately (thrown in to throw readers off the scent that this is a Mary-Sue), something (even if it's just the rest of the characters begging this character to give Mary-Sue a chance) will happen that will get this character to like Mary-Sue by chapter 2, chapter 5 at the very latest. Perfect Mary-Sue is also all-knowing. If she comes to a Scrubs story set during a season where JD and Elliot are not dating, she will somehow know that they are perfect together, even if it was when they were loathing each other. She is also extremely skilled at something. For example: She is a phenomenal singer, begins singing in a band, and immediately goes solo after being spotted by a talent scout in the audience of her first ever show. She also may have a past full of tragedy. She was an abused child, her parents were killed when their house exploded when she was miraculously not home, she was kidnapped by evil space aliens, etc. (occasionally multiple tragedies can occur for her). But she has always been able to find the strength to look past her terrible childhood with the abusive space aliens who blew up her house because she is just that perfect. People hate Perfect Mary-Sue simply because how the heck can anyone be that unbelievably perfect?

It's the underdeveloped Mary-Sues that piss me off the most. These are the ones that show up with no sort of back story but are somehow ridiculously intimate with the main characters from the story. Or they do have a back story but it involves something quite ridiculous like they are magically sucked into Middle Earth, or they also have a romantic relationship with a musician and get the letter to go to Hogwarts. You see Underdeveloped Mary-Sue especially in Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings fan fiction, but they can show up anywhere. You can almost tell that these Mary-Sues are developed for the sole purpose of giving female fan fiction writers the excuse to put themselves in relationships with Harry, Leoglas, or whomever their heart's desire is. Heart's Desire becomes immediately infatuated with Mary-Sue, despite any previous romance with other characters. Perfect Mary-Sue and Underdeveloped Mary-Sue are, many times, found in the same person.

The key to developing a good original character, and not a Mary-Sue, to play a big role in your story is to give him or her a good back story. Ask yourself these questions: Who is this person? Where were they during the course of the book, movie, etc.? Does their back story fit the background of the universe you're writing about? Is it a realistic back story (aka: not nauseatingly dramatic or painfully surreal) But be careful not to spend too many chapters talking solely about your original character. We are here to read about the characters we already love after all. Sound conflicting? A good happy medium is to spend about half a chapter starting to set the back story of your original character, then check in on what Harry and the gang are up to. Or develop your original character as you go along. Your original character transfers to Hogwarts from Durmstrang and as the story goes on, (s)he gets friendly with Harry, Ron and Hermione and her past is learned through conversations with them. Eventually, a romantic relationship can ensue. You can even be this original character presupposing that you take the time to develop it correctly, and not jump right on the Immediate Infatuation with Mary-Sue boat. If you're having problems telling your original character is a Mary-Sue or a well-developed original character, here's a quiz that I found online: http://www.katfeete.net/writing/marysue.html. Please answer honestly. It may suck to find out that your beloved character is really just an unbelievably perfect, unrealistic character, but it will help you write a better, more down-to-earth, intelligent story that people will love. And that's why we're here, is it not? Sometimes just changing a few details will bring your character back from Mary-Sue Land. It may even help you find a more believable way to get yourself into Hogwarts, after all.

Now I am all for putting original characters into fan fiction. I do it all the time. Done well, an original character can be a welcome addition to a beloved cast. Put all the original characters you want into your stories; go nuts! Just please please please please PLEASE develop them appropriately.

Defending Some Common Misconceptions of Fan Fiction: Part 2

Here's another opinion on fan fiction from an author named Donna Durgin:
"Genre fiction authors aren't as well known. Even the big name pros within a genre can be completely unknown outside that genre, with the rare exception of the Anne Rices and Stephen Kings of the publishing world. Someone coming across fanfic based in one of my universes may well have no idea that the characters and setting =are= mine--or any way to judge how accurately they're represented." (Durgin)

While I do agree with Ms. Durgin in that most people don't know of authors outside of the genres that they usually read, if she thinks that someone who doesn't read a certain genre would mistake a fan fiction for the actual work of an author or scriptwriter, they actually have bigger problems on their hands. Obviously, this person (the figurative person I'm talking about, not Ms. Durgin, that is) is quite delusional. Yes, because someone with the pen names of gayfortinafey or Miranda River like I saw on the West Wing section of fanfiction.net is clearly Aaron Sorkin, the creator of The West Wing. Damn, you got us. Granted, you can find some fantastic fan fiction amongst the grammatically incorrect, underdeveloped fics of varying degrees of canon (which basically means if the story is true to the plot line) out there, but it's hard even then to mistake this story for the real thing. Not to mention the fact that you don't write fan fiction about something you've never seen or read and if you are writing it, you know who created the story that it's based off of anyway, so that makes Ms. Durgin's point moot. It goes back to my last blog about how we're not publishing these things anywhere but on the Internet. Publishing a book and posting something on the Internet are not the same thing at all, so other than the argument that this fan fiction could be Ms. Durgin's next big book that someone stole and posted online as their own work, there's really no way to mistake the two. And honestly, if someone did try to claim that they were the real author, you wouldn't believe them. Or at least I wouldn't.

Maybe these authors don't realize we always put disclaimers on our fics that basically say "THESE CHARACTERS AREN'T OURS. They belong to this fantastic and talented author, whom I have so much respect for, that I'm writing a story based on their characters" Okay, I get that some authors are against fan fiction. That's fine, it's your opinion, and I respect that and especially the fact that you, unlike me, have the drive to write stories for a living. That's why there's a section that everyone who makes a profile on fanfiction.net has to sign listing authors, such as Nora Roberts and Steven King, that do not want fan fiction written about their universes, or you can't make a profile. I understand that writers don't make a lot of money, but it's out of love for your characters that we write fan fiction, not out of some sinister, greedy intent to make money off of your ideas. It's the fact that every series has to end sometime and we're always left wanting more. And if we love your work that much, we've probably bought many of your books, thus giving you money. If you look at it that way, technically, fan fiction is a compliment.

Defending Some Common Misconceptions of Fan Fiction

I was idly surfing the web today and I came across this article about fan fiction and the legal issues that come from it. Here's the link to the article if you're interested http://www.whoosh.org/issue62/ecks2.html. It's kind of long; fair warning. The article is divided into different sections and in this blog, I'm talking about the section titled 'Fan Fiction Based on Novels'

For a little background, fan fiction has gained a lot of popularity in the last few years, so that of course leads to more media attention. The most commonly talked about issue that comes from fan fiction is the potential copyright infringement. This article cited various authors talking about their dislike of fan fiction.

Here's one from an author named Lawrence Watt-Evans:
"And the other thing, which might seem contradictory, is that written fanfic is too close to the original -- it's the same medium. It seems to be stealing some of the original author's market -- and given how little money most novelists make to begin with, that bothers me." (Watt-Evans)

I don't mean any disrespect to Mr. Watt-Evans, but I'd really like to know where he got that idea. Fan fiction is not taking away from the original writer's money. Legally, we can't publish our work even if we wanted to. All characters, etc. out there are protected under copyright, so if someone was trying to publish their fan fictions claiming that the characters are their own, they'd be slapped with a lawsuit. The majority of fan fiction have disclaimers saying that the characters and universes we're writing about don't belong to us to stop that very event from occurring. Granted I don't know how well that would hold up in court, but the proof that none of us are making or attempting to make money off of the stories we write is there plain as day. If anyone ever did try to sell a book using someone else's characters, I would completely agree with Mr. Watt-Evans and all the other authors that share his opinion about fan fiction. That's completely and totally not cool, but as it stands, none of us fan fiction writers are making any money off of our stories.

Fan Fiction vs. Original Fiction

I was reading this article: http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/is-fan-fiction-a-good-writing-practice-71953.html and I've got to say, the things that the author was talking about made a lot of sense to me, but one thing that really did was how she said that a con to writing fan fiction was the fact that you get so addicted to writing fan fiction, CON – I also found I tended to use my best "bits" for such a story, leaving the well dry when it came time to write something more serious".

Reading that made me stop and think; is the reason why I don't write many original stories the fact that I've spent all my time and plot ideas on my fan fiction? In many ways, I'm inclined to say yes. I've had a couple of decent ideas for original stories, but I've always lost interest fast due to a greater interest in writing fan fiction. Would I have more original stories had I not written as much fan fiction?

Realistically, writing has never been more than a hobby for me. I entertained the idea of being a professional writer for a while during high school. My parents' response: "Okay. What are you going to do for money while you're waiting for a story to get published?" So that deflated any inclination I had to try and make it as a writer. From what I've heard, getting published is a lot of work and few even make it that far. So if I had chosen to use my plot ideas for original fiction, rather than fan fiction, I'd have all these stories on my computer and no one to enjoy them, like I have with fan fiction. And generally, my plot ideas have seldom geared themselves towards original ideas, Like I said in my first blog, my ideas come from a desire for more after the credits roll.

While I may have more fan fiction stories than original fiction stories, it's not a big deal. I'm going to be a teacher, not an author. I'm not a professional writer, like this author (hence her worries), I'm a fan fiction writer. In my case, I'm in the right place. :-)

Patience is a virtue...

A few weeks ago, I was surfing some Lord of the Rings fan fiction. Here's the link if anyone's interested. http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3764208/1/Ill_Fortune. I was reading through the story, on the edge of my seat, when I came across something that kind of threw me for a loop. It wasn't even in the story itself, it was in the author's note. For those of you not-fan fiction savvy people, an author's note is just what it sounds like; a note written by the author about the story.

At the time that the author posted this chapter, she hadn't posted for a bit because she had been busy with other stuff in her life. Understandable, right? But she follows up this with a sentence saying "I am not trying to be mean or lazy, but I appreciate it if I stopped getting private messages telling me to update my story soon. I’m glad that you all like the story that much, but please understand that my schoolwork comes first." And that's what blew me away. Now, I love fan fiction, obviously. It's been a huge part of my life for ten years, but as much as I love fan fiction, it's never going to be more than a hobby for me. That's the way it is for most fan fiction writers. It's a fun, creative thing to do and it gives those brain cells a nice work-out, but what it comes down to is we've all got lives outside of fan fiction. We post for fun, so to be bombarded with messages urging you to update is a bit rude.

I've been on both ends of this. I've frequently been on the end of the reader, just getting into a story when all of a sudden, you're left on a cliffhanger, but I could never try to harass the author to update because I've also been on the other end; the end of the author leaving people on cliffhangers. My longest running fan fiction is a 30ish chapter story about the TV show M*A*S*H. It took me 3 years to finish it because, like this author, I was a high-school, then a college student, frequently too busy with schoolwork and other stuff to update as frequently as I would have liked.

Reviews are probably one of the most rewarding aspects of posting fan fiction, but not when they're like the messages that this author was getting. That's the sort of stuff that makes you almost resent writing the story in the first place. Like I told this author in my review of her story, it's more important for you to be happy with your work, then giving your audience a quick chapter that you're not proud of just to shut them up. Sure, the reviews are part of why you write and if you don't update frequently enough, people stop checking your stuff, but the impatient people of today need to realize that, just like they do, sometimes you've got other stuff to do. As important as reviews and the audience are, the main reason you're posting is because you have this story that you want to share with the world, right? It's your story. You need to be the one happy with it at the end of the day.

So to anyone who has ever sent a message bugging a writer to update their story, please remember that we authors aren't here solely for your pleasure. If you love our stories, great! We're so pleased to hear that, but we still have other things to take care of in our lives and sometimes, that might interfere with your next fix of our story, but that's no reason to get pushy. We'll be back, don't worry! But until then, your consideration, respect, and most of all, patience, is greatly appreciated.

Yes, I am a fanfiction writer and I am proud of it!!

So I read a blog where the author is a WoW player and her first blog was about her history with WoW so I thought I would emulate her example and write about my history with fan fiction. Show you all I have some credibility in this. Ohhh do I ever have credibility with fan fiction...

At the ripe old age of 21, I've been writing fan fiction since I was 10 years old. I don't remember if I knew it was called fan fiction at the time, but I'd always be making up some story in my head about some TV show or movie or book that I enjoyed. Soon, I began writing them down.

I do need to clarify one thing; when I say "writing a story", it's not like I've completed hundreds of individual fan fictions. Nowhere close. I've only finished 11, got a couple close to done and who knows how many in progress. My problem is I get distracted easily. And I go on hyperobsessions. Within a month period last December, I began obsessing over Back to the Future, started a story, then a few short weeks later, that movie was forgotten and I was obsessing over Lord of the Rings. When I hit obsessions, I'll watch the movie or TV show, read the book or whatever and suddenly, it's ALL I can think about. So I'll hop onto http://www.fanfiction.net/, and begin reading and writing fan fiction about it. Unfortunately for me, the obsessions never last quite long enough for me to actually finish a story idea I've been so excited about before I'm on a new obsession and getting excited over some new story idea, which is why I have so many unfinished fan fictions on my computer. But I'll work on all that and get all my stories done one day...

For me, what fan fiction is is this sense of always wanting more. I love watching movies, watching TV, reading; always have and always will. I'll see these great characters, I'll really empathize with them, really get into what they're doing and then the movie, show, or book ends and I'm always left with this feeling of wanting more. What's next for them? What would they do in this situation? And thus, I began writing fan fiction.

Have you ever felt like I have? Felt this strong desire for more with these characters you've fallen in love with? Have you even gone as far with these desires as to spend your time thinking about what the characters would do in certain situations? Then do yourself a favor and write it down! And post it so everybody can read it! That's probably the scariest part of all; letting other people read what you've wrote, but the feelings you get when you get a good review are well worth it. And it feels so good to see these words on paper (or a Word document) and know you wrote them. So in that spirit, I'm going to give you a link to my profile on http://www.fanfiction.net/, so you can read my stories. http://www.fanfiction.net/u/366530/AEM1. Hope you like them!