Of course this had to be the Don't no 1, the ultimate character which can destroy your whole fanfic regardless of the plot or concept in just a matter of seconds.

What exactly is a Mary Sue?

A Mary Sue (if female) or Marty Stu (if male) is an idealized and seemingly perfect fictional character. Often this character is recognized as an author insert or wish fulfillment. Sometimes the name is reserved only for women; but more often the name is used for both sexes.

[Definition credits go to Wikipedia].

Now let me tell you my own definition for a Mary Sue or Marty Stu.

In my opinion, a character whose nature is not identified clearly, has infinite powers (control on elements, telepathy, pathokinesis, thunder control etc etc), is highly emotional (cries on everything, sensitive to the point of 1000/10, whiny wimpy wailing brat), and still saves the day all the time.

Also, I'm not referring to the characters found in troll stories because there is a difference between them. Even though the qualities of Troll characters and Mary Sues are quite similar, still I think troll characters are included for people to make fun of them while Mary Sues are those characters which are a bit cringeworthy but can be improved if the authors are given correct guidance and want to fix those characters up.

Character Infrastructure:

1. Is usually a love interest of any important canon character or a protegee of some sort (sibling, cousin, best friend) or both.

2. Is portrayed as the sweetest person to ever exist or rather the most innocent person to walk the earth.

3. Is described ravishingly. And by description, I meant physical description.

[Consider a few examples for instance,

Her eyes were like shining blue whirlpools of the ocean, glistening with the tears that had not yet spilled.

OR

Her beautiful tresses were the flaming hue of the sunset, rippling down her back like a cascading fire fall.

And a lot other stuff like that].

These descriptions that are very wordy or pain a picture of an out of this world scenario or character are referred to as Purple Prose. Later on we will be doing a chapter on how to fix purple prose and I will be elaborating more on these examples there.

4. Replaces whatever canon character was in a relationship with the main character.

For example, if it's a Bruce Wayne story then the Mary Sue would replace Selina. If it's a Superman love story then the Mary Sue would replace Lois. And not just replacing in the sense of becoming the love interest, by replacing here I mean that the Mary Sue steals all their shining moments, their dialogues, their dynamic with the main character and is portrayed as inevitably much better than that canon character she/he has replaced.

5. Is unbelievably clingy and sensitive.

6. But somehow she/he is also very very powerful, such that even the most powerful of canon characters lose in a fight against this unbeatable Mary Sue.

[If you're going to tell me that the Mary Sue is not a Kryptonian and is a human being but can still knock Superman out then no, I am not buying it. Usually, in stories we see this very overpowered character and then later on it is revealed that he/she had some unique genes that heled him/her achieve superpowers etc].

7. Like I just mentioned, Mary Sues are usually characters that have all the strengths known to exist, belong to any one or multiple supernatural categories such as werewolf, vampire, alien, mermaid etc and as a reader, it often gets confusing to figure out what exactly are they.

8. In simple words, this character is the best of all people and everyone in the story (both the protagonist characters and the antagonists) is extremely head over heels for her.

Non-Sueing:

If you have the slightest suspicion that your character is a Mary Sue, then don't be anxious. It's something which happens to all of us authors and even though it is best if the suspicions are removed, still if you are able to regard your characters with criticism that only means that you are a justified writer in the making.

By that, I do not intend to say that your book will start getting massive reads, votes and comments in just a week. No. It requires time. But keep it in mind that what you are providing to the readers is quality material.

Enough of the pep talk, let's begin with the Non-Sueing...

Number 1:

Make sure your character has a decent and believable name. Inventing names for fictional characters is exciting and creative but even if you are inventing names, make sure it isn't anything extravagant or frivolous. Keep it restricted to three to four syllables.

Having a character named Cynthia Aveline Wayne is way better as compared to naming her Cynthia Aveline Maria Grace Wayne. If you want your character to have middle names, it is better to assign one instead of four to nine middle names. If you want to have a signifying middle name, check other languages which mean the same as the middle name you have decided on in English.

For example Aveline is a Latin name and it means freshness, beauty and youth. The same word in German means little bird and in Gaelic it means hazelnut tree.

[Tip: check Latin names if you want your character's name to be unique and still not Mary Sueish].

Number 2:

Avoid giving long physical descriptions. I know that describing is an art and a great aspect of literature, but too much description bores the readers. Keep the description normal such as include the eye color, hair color, height but don't go on explaining the curves of her body, the dimples on her face, the porcelain/rosy skin blah blah blah.

If you get carried away with describing, your work turns into purple prose and if you have subscribed to Wattpad's channel on YouTube you must have come across their writing tips out of which one is to avoid purple prose. I'm attaching it below.

https://youtu.be/fExTAmOiSWU

Number 3:

Give your character both skills and flaws. Keep in mind that even though you are writing fiction, still it is much appreciated when stuff is kept realistic and close to normal.

If your character has no flaws at all it becomes really boring to read. Who wants to read about a hero who wins and always wins? How can there be any spice in the story if he/she doesn't fail at all?

So try and write about characters who have flaws just like normal people around you. I once had a very interesting conversation with my friends regarding character flaws that you can assign your characters and I am sharing a few down below.

Self sacrificial nature (hero complex), lying too easily in order to satisfy others (not like compulsive lying but to the point that it is ingrained into the character and he/she doesn't feel like it's lying anymore), being highly competitive to the point that it is self degrading(same goes for being overly ambitious), manipulation, naivety (but please don't overdo it or the character becomes very superficial to read about) and you can always find more examples on Pinterest and Tumblr. 

To me, tragic back story is not a flaw. That's precisely why I don't like Bruce Wayne's character personally because he is written to be this perfect person who has good looks, wealth, fame, can fight, is a detective, very well trained etc and has apparently no flaw. Now perhaps some of you will say that his lack of effective communication is a flaw but we can't deny that for a long time, he had been written as this character with his tragic backstory being the only flaw he had.

[All you Bruce Wayne supporters, try and convince me against it but I am pretty sure my thoughts will stay the same regarding him. This was also the main reason I disliked the canon interpretation of Damian Wayne too but it wasn't until I explored his character on my own that I started to like him more. But sorry not sorry, the same can't be said for Batman].

What are some of the character flaws you write about or want to read about? Let me know in the comments.

Now I am thinking that there should be a separate chapter for dealing with character flaws and if I get time, I will write it out for you all.

Number 4:

Give your character contrasting traits. If your character is outwardly a sweet and caring person, give him/her a dark side and vice versa. People are not all good nor all bad. Keep that in mind for the antagonists as well. Your protagonist may have a dark secret and your antagonist may have a bright side.

Having characters fitting into the black and white regions only can get too bland after a while. Try to write characters who walk the grey line, the thin separation between these black and white regions. These characters will turn out to be more complex and interesting to read about as compared to those who are just a cookie cutter version of good guy and bad guy tropes.

Number 5:

Make sure that your character serves a purpose. And by purpose I am not saying that you have to make your character rescue everyone or be in the spotlight or anything like that. A purpose can be small or unnoticeable but still be crucial.

You character does not have to be a superhero or a vigilante to serve a crucial role in the story (and this goes for both main characters and the supporting cast). Perhaps your character is a good friend of the main character, say Barbara Gordon, and helps her in solving a case by fishing out important evidence either intentionally or accidentally.

Perhaps your character is a lawyer who deals with these superheroes/vigilantes on how to not let them get caught up in legal issues that may arise due to their profession and the fact that they sometimes end up causing damage to the city while trying to protect it.

Or your character can be a person who has a very good bonding with the main characters and whatever they go through affects them so in that case your character can serve the purpose of being a shaper of events for the rest of the story.

[I know this sounds confusing but I'll try and explain in easier words. Suppose that you are writing a Tim Drake fanfic and this character who's not necessarily the main love interest works in a record shop and is on good terms with Tim. But due to some attack or some incident, he/she gets affected which in turn affects Tim and he might take up the investigation of that attack to figure out the culprit which then leads him to the climactic turns of the story etc].

Number 6:

Now I will share with you the most simple and important tip of all. The LOCK method. Have you ever read books in which everything seems perfect and well thought out? Nothing is out of place and the characters are well developed? It's a 50% chance that the authors who write as such are aware of this simple technique.

LOCK method stands for Lead, Objective, Confrontation and Knockout ending.

These four things are what are most crucial when planning a character or a story. When focusing on the Lead, follow the tips mentioned earlier. Objective is basically what your lead wants or what your lead wants to get away from. Confrontation is the internal conflict. Make sure the lead does not fulfill the objective easily. You have to set up hindrances. And Knockout ending is the final act of the story.

Think all these things through and decide before publishing your story on Wattpad.

Another little task you can do is fill up the Story Notes section for your books on Wattpad and you will find it helpful in keeping track of your character's goals and their motivations plus the logline of your story. But on Wattpad, you can do it only for one character per story so you can follow the format and make your own section on Google Docs or Word where you fill the story notes for all your characters. 

Number 7:

Remember when I told you about Confrontation? The internal conflict? The hindrances in achieving the objective? Yes, this is exactly what matters most.

Us authors create a character so lovingly, spend hours of effort and hard work on developing it and in the meanwhile we fall in love with the character and treat it as our own kid. This happens to a lot of us. And when we start caring for the character to this extent, we normally do not want him/her to suffer from any problems.

And this is exactly where the problem comes in. If everything is too easy for the character then the plot begins to lose its gravity. Readers won't be interested to read about some Martha Williams who gets everything and does everything and is perfect. No. Definitely not.

So place some obstacles in the character's path. Make him or her fail in some tasks, make him/her troubled or upset at not achieving the goals. In simple words, make the character as close to reality as possible with normal human emotions and capabilities.

***

And that is all for today. These tips are what I use to create my characters and I am sure you will find these helpful. You guys are most welcome to share your own tips and trick for making a character non Mary Sue.

The next chapter will be up soon as I get time to update.

Stay tuned for the next chapter.