Wednesday, July 07, 2004

Mary Sue Litmus Test for Fantasy Fiction

This came up on a discussion on a gaming email list. I wasn't sure what it was, but I thought that it would be worth saving for a later point. It looks like it might have some use for character creation.

NaNoWriMo.org : View topic - Mary Sue Litmus Test for Fantasy Fiction

from http://www.subreality.com/marysue/explain.htm (the second result googling "Mary Sue")

"So you're scratching your head and wondering who the heck Mary Sue IS, hm? Well, "Mary Sue" is an unkind term used to describe a certain kind of character, a style of writing. She (or he) is created to serve one purpose: wish fulfilment. When a writer invents someone through whom he/she can have fantastic adventures and meet famous people (fictional or real), this character is a Mary Sue. (We don't have a name for the male version -- suggestions?)

Although storytellers have been rehashing Mary Sue since the dawn of time, she did not receive her current name until the early 1970s. The original was Lieutenant Mary Sue ('the youngest Lieutenant in the fleet -- only fifteen and a half years old') as immortalized in Paula Smith's 'A Trekkie's Tale,' which she wrote and published in her 1974 fanzine Menagerie #2. (According to Katherine Langley: 'Paula is still active in fandom and, to be sure, suitably bemused that Mary Sue lives on.')"