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 out of which you may have heard of My Immortal. No Ebony Darkness Dementia Ways are going to be the topic of discussion today. 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 only the authors are given correct guidance.

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].

4. Replaces either Hermione or Lily depending on the era the story focuses on.

5. Is unbelievably clingy and sensitive.

6. Will use a Summoning charm but it is going to be so damn powerful that the closest person dies from the force of it. 

7. Has undecided nature. Can be a witch, a werewolf, a Vampire, a fantastic beast, a siren, a fairy, a demigod, a Veela or literally all of them rolled into one.

8. In simple words, this character is the best of all people and everyone 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.

And trust me, justified writers make great best selling authors.

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 Malfoy is way better as compared to naming her Cynthia Beauty Virtue Amiable Grace Malfoy. 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

If it doesn't work here, you can use the link for the video: 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 an spice in the story if he/she doesn't fail at 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.

[For example, let's take a look at Albus Dumbledore. He is not an all good character either. True, he may be the wisest person you can find in the book but still he has his flaws. And that's because he's human. And humans are not entirely perfect. Harry Potter is the one literary world where you can find numerous grey characters such as Narcissa Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, Ronald Weasley, Alastor Moody, Sirius Black and the list could go on forever]. 

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.

Your character does not have to get selected in the Triwizard Tournament but still he/she can serve a purpose. For example, what if Umbridge is imposing her set of laws in Hogwarts after Dumbledore isn't there to look after everything and your character comes up with the idea of starting a rebellion against her?

Your character may not have to steal Hermione's research on Basilisks but still he/she can serve a purpose by helping Professor Sprout in brewing the mandrake potion. There are endless possibilities of how you can use your character and you should explore them in order to make your story more interesting.

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.

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. I will be updating more of the tips as soon as I find some helpful stuff.

Stay tuned for the next chapter.