What is a Mary Sue?

The widely accepted definition of a Mary Sue is a character who’s too perfect. Too powerful, pretty or smart. The type of character who’s never golfed before, but gets a hole in one on her first attempt. She’s naturally brilliant at everything, and even her flaws aren’t really flaws. She’s clumsy, but in a cute way. There is a name for the male equivalent (the Gary Stu), but he doesn’t get talked about as much. A lot of people just use ‘Mary Sue’, regardless of the character’s gender, so we’ll stick with that.

If you’re looking for tips on how to build a compelling main character, I have a post on that very topic! (What Makes a Good Character? 5 Things That Make the Difference). What we’re here to talk about though is how you can avoid a Mary Sue in your story. Of course, before you can avoid her, you need to know how to spot her.

Recognising a Mary Sue in your writing

If you’re suspicious that you might have a Mary Sue stalking the pages of your story, here’s what to do. Take the character in question and write a list of their traits. Include any skills or knowledge the character is revealed to have throughout the story. Now take a long, hard look at that list.

Are any of those traits negative? If yes, do they hold the character back in a significant way as they move through the story?

Is their list of abilities realistic for their age and experience? Is it comparable with similar characters? It’s fine for some of your characters to be more or less talented, but if one is overwhelmingly the most gifted you should be examining that. Look at the range of their expertise as well. It’s one thing to be a specialist in one area, but one character should not be an expert martial artist, and fluent in twelve languages, and a computer whizz, and a five-star chef.

Another thing to consider is their relationships. One tell-tale sign of a Mary Sue is that every other character in the story loves them. Any character who doesn’t think the Mary Sue is great is probably themselves evil. Are you finding that the only people who don’t like your character are the antagonists? You might have written a Mary Sue.

The last thing to weigh up is how your character interacts with your plot. A Mary Sue will typically not face significant struggle in the story, because of how good they are at everything. Obstacles they face are likely to be because somebody else is very actively working against them, not because they can’t do something. They’re unlikely to fail at anything of importance. They’re also unlikely to change or grow over the course of the narrative, because they were already just so great to begin with. Does that sound like your character? If so…

You’ve got a Mary Sue. Now what?

Don’t worry, it can be fixed! There are a couple of quick and easy ways to get rid of your Mary Sue. Or rather, ways to make them a more interesting and nuanced character.

Start by giving them a flaw. A proper flaw, not ‘doesn’t like maths’ or ‘can’t sing’. Give them a flaw that will introduce some conflict or difficulty. Make them too quick to jump to conclusions about people, or suspicious of acts of generosity. Make them selfish, or lazy, or a liar, in a way that will actually influence the plot. As soon as your character has something in themselves they need to recognise and overcome to succeed, you’ve made a major step away from Mary-Suedom.

You should also look at redistributing some of their skills. Give them a reason to rely on other people. For most readers, it isn’t that interesting to watch one super-brilliant character breeze through a story. The interesting thing is watching them struggle, seek help, and work to overcome their challenges.

It’s as easy as that!

Have you seen any Mary Sues in fiction that you found particularly irritating? Or that you think added to the story? Let me know in the comments!