Okay, let's talk about Mary Sue...

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

Yesterday we opened a conversation about the ubiquitous Mary Sue: who she is and why she shows up at parties.  st_crispins added  some literary advice and hopefully an offer to keep an eye on the proceedings ;)  Her post is here
The original post that prompted so many interesting comments is here
So, there will be a Mary Sue Challenge, and I think we'll call it Mary Sue Slept Here.  Based on your responses (I'm listening rachaeljurassic), I'm thinking this will be open ended, an on-going challenge with no actual parameters of dates or content.  Simply utilize the Mary Sue tag when posting, and it will be welcome whenever it shows up.  If a writer is not really familiar with this literary figure then consider reviewing the articles listed in the first post, as well as reading the entry from St. C, that should be helpful.  We also would love to see any expository posts in which a story that matches the Mary Sue profile is taken apart for our benefit :D  Learning is a good thing.

Comments

[mrua7.livejournal.com]

Ok this sounds good. I'm looking forward to a few of these stories and hopefully "any expository posts in which a story that matches the Mary Sue profile is taken apart for our benefit." Yes, learning is a good thing and I'd like to learn more before I get my feet wet, if at all. (chuckle)

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

I think the article is very helpful, as well as entertaining. We have nothing to fear from Mary Sue :D

[renn.livejournal.com]

Hmm... could be a lot of fun. I even have a baby plot bunny hopping around....

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

Could be, should be... will be :D Round up that bunny and write!

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

It's not all applicable to Man From UNCLE, but you might like to take a look at: http://mhari.fateback.com/sues.html

An original female character, especially if badly written, can ber automatically taken for a Mary Sue (or Gary Stu); but can simply be bad writing. (As someone else said, some canons need to overpower original characters, for them to fit in.) Accusations of Sue-ness are easy to level at teenage writers.

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

Oh wow! I bookmarked this one :D We may need to have a class on this one page, with lots of discussion afterwards. Thank you so much.

[rachaeljurassic.livejournal.com]

A very excellent piece. I shall have to chose one for my story.

I'm certainly guilty of aspects of two of those...a long time ago. ;-)

Still, one of my favourite pieces of mfu fic might well be an example of yenta sue, but I don't care because the story is so good!

Thanks for listening!

[glennagirl.livejournal.com]

It's all about community ;) I think a lot of us scamper to get stories done and posted, so having a 'challenge' that is not time restricted will make for happier, more relaxed participants. I'm all for it.