Not-so-Radiant Arin Posted April 15, 2012 Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 [url="http://www.springhole.net/writing/marysue.htm"]http://www.springhole.net/writing/marysue.htm[/url] If at any time you feel like your main character in your story is getting a little bit too cliche, you can use this to take a short test to find out if your character needs work or not. I stumbled upon this when I was finding some resources for the game that I am making, and decided to try it out. Also, I think this could go into the Creative Writing Forum for aspiring writers, so that they can check it out whenever they feel necessary. In the meantime, though, disc. and stuff. Maybe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burnpsy Posted April 15, 2012 Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 Magnet scored 58. .-. Odd, since he doesn't [i]seem[/i] like a Sue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bahamut - Envoy of the End Posted April 15, 2012 Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 Did this test for Dai from YGO24. God it was a long old thing. Scored 27, so not too bad although needs to be kept underwatch. Which surprised me in a way because I was fearing bad things, but didn't feel I ticked that much. Think the good old 'cannot rememeber past might have significantly contributed' Good test, people should try it when testing new characters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fusion X. Denver Posted April 15, 2012 Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 Did this for Chris Denver from DEF. Got a 41... I can't tell if I exaggerated him badly or that I'm just a Sue in nature v3v Either way, he'll be redone differently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blake Posted April 15, 2012 Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 My most planned out character got a 9 => Maybe I should continue that Bleach fic, later... Vera always was the character closest to my heart out of anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~ P O L A R I S ~ Posted April 15, 2012 Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 I want to make a character with the highest score possible. Also, WTF does "xir" mean? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DARKPLANT RISING Posted April 15, 2012 Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 I tested this with a lot of famous characters. They all score 50+. I think something's wrong... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not-so-Radiant Arin Posted April 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 [quote name='~ P O L A R I S ~' timestamp='1334480926' post='5914331'] I want to make a character with the highest score possible. Also, WTF does "xir" mean? [/quote] xir pretty much means the same as him/her. It's a shortened version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catterjune Posted April 15, 2012 Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 Did this for Catherine Gibbs from Cleansed. Got 32. Apparently "Fanfiction authors beware - Mary's on the loose." A lot of these questions seem like sudden kneejerk reactions which makes the test itself stupid. The name Catherine is one I like (that I would like to give one of my kids some day, ten points) that I took from somewhere else (I didn't make up the name Catherine. Five points) so that's 15 points right at the beginning just for my main characters name? Why is my character's name "Chosen specifically because you thought it had a meaning appropriate for your character" a bad thing? Catherine means purity. Gibbs is some stupid uninteresting pun based on The Gibbs Free Energy Equation. It's also loosely based on the Katharine Gibbs School For Criminal Justice (she's a detective, which also scored me points in "unusual job"). I gave all my characters meaningful-ish names. Why is this a bad thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lunar Origins Posted April 15, 2012 Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 Took the test regarding a jerkass character who is the Creator of her universe. Got a 32. I found the test quite funny, but it's a terrible way to tell if a character really is a Mary Sue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cin Posted April 15, 2012 Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 Did with a character I used a little while ago and scored 3. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Not-so-Radiant Arin Posted April 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 [quote name='Verz Bahamut' timestamp='1334466036' post='5914229'] Think the good old 'cannot rememeber past might have significantly contributed' [/quote] It seems that "can't remember the past", "I'm a member of Royalty", and "I'm so attractive/sexy, no guy/girl can stand me" are the big 3 contributors, according to this test. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.Spock Posted April 15, 2012 Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 The best way to create a meaningful and well written character is by reading a variety of books. Reading fan fiction by unpublished authors will generally limit yourself in the worst way possible. The reason being is that they too, most likely learned to write from studying another unpublished author's work. My best advise is read and pay attention in English class, because let's face it; no point in writing if you can't spell 'riteing'. The stuff Crab mentioned isn't bad, he just didn't give any real ways to improve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vairocana Posted April 15, 2012 Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 How to create a non-sue character in 3 easy steps: 1. Have your character want something 2. Have your character need something (not necessarily what they want) 3. Have your character have flaws. Boom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Crouton Posted April 15, 2012 Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 Scored 27. Funny that I was rating the main character in my comic that mostly uses a "villain-of-the-week" format, so checking "Does your character single-handedly save the day [i]way[/i] more often than other main characters?" and "More than the other main characters combined?" made sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~ P O L A R I S ~ Posted April 15, 2012 Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 I ran myself irl through this and got 52. Granted, this was mostly because of the "does your character look like you, share your interests, etc" questions, but I still find it pretty funny that I'm too much of a Mary Sue to have been created. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tentacruel Posted April 15, 2012 Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 As much as I hate Mary Sueisms, this test is way too critical. It would seem the only way to not have your character be a Mary Sue is to make them a terrible person who is completely incompetent, has no individuality and has none of your interests. Also, I noticed in another test, (and this one to a lesser degree,) some form of bias against japanerds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enrise Posted April 16, 2012 Report Share Posted April 16, 2012 I took the test, and I completed it with answering questions based entirely upon myself and a currently used character in an RP (Premute: The World). No powers, or outrageous things. Just a completely normal being. With no outrageous backgrounds of being royalty, or violence, or anything. Born a normal kid, raised into a metal head. I get a score of 50 something. So, can someone explain to me how, a normal human being who is in a band, and tours across the world because he's in a band that's famous (so to speak), is deemed a Mary Sue? Even without the touring part and famous parts, I'm still considered a Mary Sue. [spoiler=This image sums up my opinion] [img]http://fuuu.us/179.png[/img][/spoiler] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agro Posted April 16, 2012 Report Share Posted April 16, 2012 So I made up a character with no name, physical traits, or history. Got a 0. YAY! HE'S NOT A MARY SUE! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bury the year Posted April 18, 2012 Report Share Posted April 18, 2012 @Crabs: You can like a character and indubitably have them be a Sue. It's all about the medium. Mary Sue tests are just a lump sum: they cannot tell for sure whether or not you've gone too far. It's up to the author to judge in that regard. They can, however, provide a bit of an objective reality check as to whether or not your character is cliched. While I still strongly believe that execution trumps originality in every sense of the word (it's even in my signature!), the more you drive away from one makes it more difficult to pull off the other. And, onto a rant. I despise the term Mary Sue: I feel that it has been appropriated by way too many people and has lost all of its original bite and meaning in the process. People on FF.net, aka "The Pit of Voles," will just randomly say DON'T FLAME MY CHARACTER'S NOT A SUE in their summaries and then go to thrown in half of the traits that one would most commonly identify Sue by, making it evident that they don't understand what the hell they're talking about. There are no "Sues" in my book. There are either good characters or bad characters, round or flat, dynamic or static. Using Sue as a label means that you're not willing to take the time to properly categorize whatever being you're looking at. ((Moving this to Creative Writing, btw. It would fit better there.)) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hydra of Ages Posted April 18, 2012 Report Share Posted April 18, 2012 Ah, Mary Sues. If there's one thing TvTropes ever did right, it was dividing sues into categories- because, and let's be honest here, no two people actually have the same concept of a Mary Sue beyond "bad character". I took the test with a character for a story I've been developing for the last year. 57. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Moonflowyr Posted April 19, 2012 Report Share Posted April 19, 2012 Took this for a char in an old fic that I had. Got a 9. Funny, cus there are 5 main characters in the fic.....most of the questions just didnt apply to him xD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Cakey Posted April 28, 2012 Report Share Posted April 28, 2012 12. [i]Winning[/i]. Now let's see how my intentional Mary Sue deuteragonist scores...29? What!? That's [i]it[/i]? Look at this progression of answers: [b]If your character wanted, could xe have sex with or date any or almost any character xe finds attractive?[/b] Check. [b]Could your character even have sex with characters who are normally explicitly chaste?[/b] Check. [b]With someone who isn't normally attracted to your character's sex?[/b] And yes, check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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