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I'd been meaning to write a post called "In Defense of Mary Sue" but I see that I was beaten to it
Fandom: where other people write meta so you don't have to.
Recommended reading:
boosette: Storming the Battlements or: Why the Culture of Mary Sue Shaming is Bully Culture.
Some of my own thoughts, copypasted from a comment elsewhere...
I think Mary Sue is a natural phase of a young writer's develepment. Not even writer, person. When I grew up I had this Mary-Sue of sheer awesomeness that I wrote stories about in my head for years, and I wouldn't have missed that for the world. (Wouldn't have shared it with the world either; it felt very private.)
Even if someone writes Mary Sue, dear lord, have the writer have her fun and get it out of her system. That kind of fic actually finds its fans and they have a right to read their kink of choice. What happened to don't like, don't read? Your kink is not my kink? I don't like Mary Sue fic either so I skip it.
And what always bothered me about the Mary Sue hunting comms is that it's essentially older fans, grownups even, bullying young writers, often kids and teenagers.
Then there's of course the part where the term has been watered down to mean something like 'every female OC'. And every canon character who doesn't come equipped with a penis runs danger of being called a Canon Sue which is then used as a way to legitimize dismissing her, or worse. People who argue in all seriousness how Sam Carter deserves to be called Mary Sue but Rodney McKay doesn't... loose about 100 respect points in my eyes.
And now we're at a point where writers - and not just fanfic, original as well!- are so concerned that their OC will get called Mary Sue that they rather change her gender to avoid that issue. I have seen that sentiment uttered by *dozens* of authors over the past years. And we end up with even fewer female characters than before. Awesome, fandom. That sure backfired.
I was pondering an original comic, and as I was thinking about the plot I noticed that I'd made my hero default male. I was thinking, why did I do that. No reason they can't be female. More female heroes ftw! Oh shit, but then people will call her a Mary Sue. How do I avoid that?? *frets*
^ that was my train of thought. And then I though, screw them all, I'll make her female for sure and the haters can shove their unchecked misogyny and go to hell.
I have no more patience for this stuff.
[eta: Rules of this journal: do not bash Jennifer Keller or Sam Carter (or other characters for that matter). Do not call any female character a Mary Sue.]
[eta2: anonymous comments are screened]
Recommended reading:
boosette: Storming the Battlements or: Why the Culture of Mary Sue Shaming is Bully Culture.
Calling "Mary Sue" in this environment is shaming women for empowering themselves.goldjadeocean: Also, one of these days I'm going to write up a big damn meta post on why the culture around Mary Sue shaming has huge misogynist overtones all over it
There is no substantive harm in writing a "Mary Sue" -- there is no substantive harm in creating a character, original or otherwise, who "warps the world around them", who is "adored by all for no particular reason", who wins the day.
There is substantive harm in bullying and shaming real people for empowering themselves through their writing. Words have power. Words cause harm. Words hurt, and the wounds they leave are deeper and longer-lasting than many physical wounds. I nearly stopped writing entirely, as a teen, after having my work and my OC called "Mary Sue". I have friends who did stop writing because of it.
Before anyone says: "Oh, they/you should just have sucked it up and grown a thicker skin! Learn to accept criticism!"
Think.
You are blaming the victims of bullying for their bullies' behavior.
That is Not. Okay. Ever.
Because when I was a 13-year-old getting indoctrinated into fanfic, it seemed to me that the takeaway lesson wasn't "write nuanced characters that make sense in their environment". It was, "don't write about women being awesome"Such stuff as dreams are made on
Mary Sue these days isn't a criticism of skill. It isn't a criticism of writing ability. It doesn't teach the writer how to build convincing character detail. It teaches her to reduce her expectations for her characters.niqaeli: on mary sue policing and why i cannot abide it
When she sits down to write, she thinks, "I can't have this character be too awesome. I can't have her achieve too much. I need her to fail, just a little bit, so people don't yell at me."
And then she never learns how to take risks as a writer, and eventually succeed. And she doesn't gain the skills or the confidence to eventually write a woman who kicks ass, takes names, and is a real, full-bodied character while she's at it.
I'm a fan of realistic characterisation but as much as I am one, I am NOT simultaneously a fan of hurting other people, of tearing them down, of saying, you are a silly and overwrought woman who needs to learn her place in life, you shouldn't have dared to even daydream about better.
Life's too short to read bad writing; it's also far too short for me to spend time and energy enforcing attitudes about writing that are on their very best days still deeply tinged with misogyny.
Some of my own thoughts, copypasted from a comment elsewhere...
I think Mary Sue is a natural phase of a young writer's develepment. Not even writer, person. When I grew up I had this Mary-Sue of sheer awesomeness that I wrote stories about in my head for years, and I wouldn't have missed that for the world. (Wouldn't have shared it with the world either; it felt very private.)
Even if someone writes Mary Sue, dear lord, have the writer have her fun and get it out of her system. That kind of fic actually finds its fans and they have a right to read their kink of choice. What happened to don't like, don't read? Your kink is not my kink? I don't like Mary Sue fic either so I skip it.
And what always bothered me about the Mary Sue hunting comms is that it's essentially older fans, grownups even, bullying young writers, often kids and teenagers.
Then there's of course the part where the term has been watered down to mean something like 'every female OC'. And every canon character who doesn't come equipped with a penis runs danger of being called a Canon Sue which is then used as a way to legitimize dismissing her, or worse. People who argue in all seriousness how Sam Carter deserves to be called Mary Sue but Rodney McKay doesn't... loose about 100 respect points in my eyes.
And now we're at a point where writers - and not just fanfic, original as well!- are so concerned that their OC will get called Mary Sue that they rather change her gender to avoid that issue. I have seen that sentiment uttered by *dozens* of authors over the past years. And we end up with even fewer female characters than before. Awesome, fandom. That sure backfired.
I was pondering an original comic, and as I was thinking about the plot I noticed that I'd made my hero default male. I was thinking, why did I do that. No reason they can't be female. More female heroes ftw! Oh shit, but then people will call her a Mary Sue. How do I avoid that?? *frets*
^ that was my train of thought. And then I though, screw them all, I'll make her female for sure and the haters can shove their unchecked misogyny and go to hell.
I have no more patience for this stuff.
[eta: Rules of this journal: do not bash Jennifer Keller or Sam Carter (or other characters for that matter). Do not call any female character a Mary Sue.]
[eta2: anonymous comments are screened]