Richard's Animorphs Forum
Animorphs Section => Animorphs Fan Fiction & Art => Topic started by: NateSean on January 20, 2011, 11:57:52 AM
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http://www.springhole.net/quizzes/marysue.htm
Test your original fanfiction and/or RP character' with the Mary Sue Litmus test and post your score.
Sean of Chronicles of Sean
Score: 19, Probably Not a Mary-Sue, but it could go either way.
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I tried out Chad from Our Summer Vacation and--
30+
Fanfiction authors beware - Mary's on the loose. There's still a chance you can save this character with some TLC, though. Role-players and original fiction characters, you should also strongly consider giving your character a workover.
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Tried Ga Gut Hum from The Infestation of Ga Gut Hum and got a 4. It seems that this test isn't really made for fat alien telepath froggies. ;)
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I like this test because it's very broad and can apply to anyone's character. What's really fun is trying it on established characters like Duncan Macleod of Highlander.
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A character of mine in progress, An assistant Researcher in the Faction of Xenological Cultures named Macel Fitch, got 31. Are average joe characters mary sues now?
My second test was not suprisingly 56. It's fun to write about an incredibly dangerous bounty hunter, what can I say?
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You definitely shouldn't let it discourage you. Like I said, there are plenty of characters from well established fiction that are way above fifty on this test.
Sometimes the average Joe is too good to be true. Sometimes he's just right.
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My most recent character, Illim in the GESB, got a 7.
I've come a long way from my first-ever character (from a novel I wrote in 7th grade), who scored a whopping 75 points. Yeeesh.
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I've had some gems. I wish I could dig up some of the stories I wrote when I was in seventh grade.
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Alright, so I did it and, at first, I got a 36. I thought about it and said, "Well...I didn't think David Matherson was a Mary Sue...I made sure to make him as ordinary as possible." I mean, he has powers but it's an ANIMORPHS fanfic [for those interested, David Matherson is the narrator in my fanfic, "These Are the Wars"--my first real fanfic, too], so it's only natural that he gets powers. He's a soldier in a lowly resistance group based in New York and, through circumstance (and betrayal from one the his fellow renegades [too late for a spoiler?]) ends up in the clutches of a Visser in the Yeerk Empire.
Anyways, I wanted to go through the test, to see if I went anywhere wrong, and I noticed that I accidentally checked off the first question--is your character's name based off, or a variation of your own name (or something like thay) :facepalm:
So, apparently, that added ten points to my score. My name is obviously not David Matherson, so my score is 26, which makes a lot more sense than the first score.
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Alright, so I did it and, at first, I got a 36. I thought about it and said, "Well...I didn't think David Matherson was a Mary Sue...I made sure to make him as ordinary as possible." I mean, he has powers but it's an ANIMORPHS fanfic [for those interested, David Matherson is the narrator in my fanfic, "These Are the Wars"--my first real fanfic, too], so it's only natural that he gets powers. He's a soldier in a lowly resistance group based in New York and, through circumstance (and betrayal from one the his fellow renegades [too late for a spoiler?]) ends up in the clutches of a Visser in the Yeerk Empire.
Anyways, I wanted to go through the test, to see if I went anywhere wrong, and I noticed that I accidentally checked off the first question--is your character's name based off, or a variation of your own name (or something like thay) :facepalm:
So, apparently, that added ten points to my score. My name is obviously not David Matherson, so my score is 26, which makes a lot more sense than the first score.
I did the same thing for a character I have on a different site. So my 40 was really a 30. It's still not a great score, but better than it was. I think I may have answered some questions inaccurately though (or maybe my character really is very Mary Sueish :P ). At any rate, the test gave me some things to think about, for both my current characters and ones I may create in the future.
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Well, some of the questions they have on there aren't exactly what I consider to be "Mary-suish", exactly.
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I did the test twice, first for my main female character at her most powerful, then again for how she normally is.
First test was a 47, second was a 21.
Sounds like Sailor Moon, doesn't it?
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tropes are not bad though, and while its hard to write a mary sue character well, its not impossible
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82 for Josefina Woodhouse also from Our Summer Vacation.
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26 for fanfic character Tempever
Well, he is a Howler raised by Pemalites.
I should finish that story and put it up on here.
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Now running the main character from the story I'm writing. Ordinary, boring dude accidentally runs into magic. Much angst ensues. Score: 16, or 13 if I nix the amnesia angle--like hell I would.
Now running Caprice Quevillion, the otherworldly love interest from A Miracle of Science. Score: 34. I'd say that's pretty good for a hive-mind super-human with sparkling hair (http://project-apollo.net/mos/mos013.html).
Haruhi Suzumiya, from the series of the same name. The point is that she is a Sue, so she should score plenty high... Score: 20.
Is this thing broken?
Now running Tobias... 45. If we don't count things excused by the premise (shapeshifting, healing, etc.), that drops to 32
So, yeah, I take these things with a huge rock of salt (yeah, salt). Suism is not really a disease caused by the presence of character traits. Actually, I don't see Suism as one disease, but three:
Setting Suism--The Sue has excessive skills or positive attributes with regards to the setting, or that push the setting beyond what the reader can relate to. Impact: mild. Some people really don't like power-fantasy, some don't really mind. Personally, I think as long as exceptionalness doesn't solve problems when its introduced, it's not a problem. If it does, it's a case of Golden Suism and Deus Ex Machina.
Golden Suism--The Sue is so much more capable than his adversaries that the plot suffers. Impact: moderate. Definitely damages the plot--but in my opinion plot is overrated. It's a plus, a big plus when a story solves a difficult challenge in a satisfying way, but it's not everything or even the most important thing in storytelling.
Narrative Suism--The narrator falls in love with the Sue--and you will, too! Impact: high. Disgusting. In small doses, this can work with a first person narrator if he is in fact smitten with the Sue (who is someone else). Very small doses. Otherwise, well, this happens
The next day I woke up in my coffin. I put on a black miniskirt that was all ripped around the end and a matching top with red skulls all over it and high heeled boots that were black. I put on two pairs of skull earrings, and two crosses in my ears. I spray-painted my hair with purple.
In the Great Hall, I ate some Count Chocula cereal with blood instead of milk, and a glass of red blood. Suddenly someone bumped into me. All the blood spilled over my top.
:-X
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I mean, for the most part I just do it for fun. But like a calculator, this can be a good measuring stick for people who feel like their character isn't working out as well as it could and want a little help fleshing it out.
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I ran Ren from the Camp Half-Blood RPG here on RAF--she's probably my most original character. Scored an 18, so that makes me happy. :)
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Gymn got 25.
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My Animorphs Travels character got 53, which is a little higher than I expected, but not entirely surprising. The character is supposed to be me after all. I seriously need to rewrite part one... :facepalm:
:edit:
A couple of insignificant changes and I'm already down to 44! :)
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Well Sean is obviously my vanity character as well.
But I think what helps is that he's no more or less limited than the other Animorphs. Even though he knows the Chee and he learned about them sooner, it's not like that knowledge has helped him so far, except for a few minor advantages.
Personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with Mike or what you're doing with it. Except for the comments I made in your comments thread, I'm still eager to see where you're going with it.
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Thanks Sean, but I'm still planning on editing Ani Travels #1 at some point anyway. I think #2 is alright, but there are parts of #1 that are truly terrible.
I'm very interested in seeing how your character develops. Like you said he doesn't have any real advantage over the other Animorphs and since it appears he won't be interacting with them anytime soon, you avoid almost all potential Mary Sue issues.
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My Animorphs Travels character got 53, which is a little higher than I expected, but not entirely surprising. The character is supposed to be me after all. I seriously need to rewrite part one... :facepalm:
:edit:
A couple of insignificant changes and I'm already down to 44! :)
mine got a 52, i think there is a big bias for insert characters, mines not even based on me, nor is he based on how i would act in the animorphs universe. there are some questions in there that would bump up all the animorphs, ie "story told mostly from their point of view"
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Coincidentally, the writer of one of my favorite webcomics just wrote a very good post about Mary Sues. Here is the link (http://thepunchlineismachismo.com/archives/589#comments) (scroll up). I thought the people who participated in this thread would find it especially interesting.
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This is a link to a well written essay. It turns out the concept of Mary Sue has been around for quite some time.
http://www.merrycoz.org/papers/MARYSUE.HTM
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Sonia got a 23, which isn't too bad. She used to be a lot worst. (I found myself looking at some of the questions and thinking "Not anymore!") But there are a couple of things that keep killing my score, and they're things that other people probably wouldn't even know, so I might as well not check them off, but I do anyway. (Ex: Sonia is a common enough name. So without me mentioning it, would anyone know that she was originally named after Sonya Blade from Mortal Kombat?)
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Really? Awesome! Mortal Kombat was the first time I heard the name Sonya.
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Lol I tested my OC when from when she was a Yeerk and When she was an Andalite. She started out Andalite. Her Andalite score is 49! Her Yeerk score is 18. :XD: Turns out Andalites are a lot more Mary-Sue than Yeerks. :)
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They definitely rank up there. And I could see a Yeerk getting really high on himself - er, I mean, whatever else beside the male and female genders the Yeerks posess that wouldn't narrow it down to one very particular Yeerk - when it becomes an Andalite.
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I got a 74 for my character from a hogwarts/animorphs RP
The problem is that their was no realy story for him because that roleplay ended before it could even get started. So basically he had 7 years of magic schooling with nothing significant happening and then gets thrown into free for all.
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I got a 37 this time, but at least it's better than a 65+ :P
It's for an updated version of the 65+ charie.
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I tried my character, Grace, I got a 25.