ellenkushner: (FurCoat)
ellenkushner ([personal profile] ellenkushner) wrote2011-08-07 02:53 pm
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When is a Mary Sue . . . ?

"So when a book is about a girl who is the best at something and about the boys (and/or girls) that love her and how she defeats the bad guy, well, that's because she's the protagonist. It is good and right that she be at the center of the story."

My love for Holly Black / [livejournal.com profile] blackholly  ,  it knows no bounds.

[identity profile] keyan-bowes.livejournal.com 2011-08-07 08:07 pm (UTC)(link)
I am *so* glad you said this. I suspect the only people troubled by "Mary Sues" are other authors. As a reader, I *want* the protagonist to be special, otherwise why am I wasting my time spending so many hours with her? She's got to be more special than a real person, because she cannot be special in the ways a real person is.

- Keyan

[identity profile] vschanoes.livejournal.com 2011-08-07 11:44 pm (UTC)(link)
That may well be, but if she's the best at everything, especially due not to work and/or study but due to some innate specialness, and the most beautiful, and everybody loves her and/or wants to sleep with her, and she defeats the evil due to her special wonderfulness, then she's a boring protagonist and I have no intention of giving her more than 15 minutes of my time.

And before anybody asks, yes, I have precisely the same problems with Harry Potter, who is the single least interesting character in that entire series.

[identity profile] susanjett.livejournal.com 2011-08-08 11:35 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you for the link to the fantastic post (& follow-up comments.) Worth the click-over, folks, there's some fascinating, respectful debate going on over there!