In
Defense of Original Characters,
So the character is drop-dead gorgeous. Popular, too -- gorgeous women drooling over him and plenty of male friends. He's well-spoken, well-educated, and well-traveled. He speaks and reads several languages fluently, has accumulated money and enemies both. He knows fine wines, fine women, and good furnishings. He's a skilled fighter both with and without weapons. Yeah, he's got an occasionally wicked sense of humor, and a sharp tongue, but other than that.... Sounds like a Mary Sue? (Or Larry Stu, if you prefer the male equivalent?) Well, one, he's four hundred years old. And two -- he's canon. I'm talking about Duncan MacLeod, in other words. Double-edged blades do tend to slice into things, don't they? Bear in mind, please, that I'm working primarily within the Highlander universe (my primary fandom) for this discussion, although I'll also touch across a few other fandoms as I go. However I think the belief that 'Original Character = Mary Sue' is one, incorrect, and two, damaging to fanfiction and fandoms. This is, therefore, my attempt at refuting the first and pointing out the second. I do actually agree that Mary Sues are the bane of quite a few people's existence, including mine... for all sorts of reasons. Since I'm trying to handle this logically, or at least with some semblance of a rational progression of thoughts, I'd better start at the beginning: defining Mary Sue. Usually, a Mary Sue is defined as a character who's just too damn perfect to be real. Common complaints include: "They swoop in and fix all the problems." "They're always gorgeous and everyone loves them." "They warp the other characters' behavior around them." "They're the author, perfected." However, the other definition/complaint I hear about Mary Sues runs as follows: "Of course she's not perfect. She's based on the author." One. Do you actually know the author? If not, how do you know the character is based on her? Two. Have you noticed yet that, between the two sets of complaints, they've left no room for any character who didn't have screen time? What a Mary Sue is, folks, is bad writing. That's it, okay? Then again, so are two- or even one-dimensional characters, gratuitous 'dialect,' unbelievable dialogue, characterization so bad that you start wondering if the writer watched the same show you did, plot clichés in place of plot, or sex to hide lack of plot. I'm not knocking PWPs and vignettes, only fiction with delusions of plot, heavily coated with sex to keep you from noticing the aforementioned problems with plot. (Also, please bear in mind that I speak as a writer who will cop a plea on at least, um, two of those, plus a song fic. Mea culpa, and to quote Monty Python, 'I got better.') Here is what a Mary Sue is not: A Mary Sue is not, automatically, an Original Character (OC). Not to say some OCs aren't Mary Sues; some are. However, in the hands of some writers, canon characters can become Mary Sues. For an example of how it can be done, click here to read "The Mary Sue-ization of Richie Ryan." (Yes, I do know that's both deliberate and tongue in cheek, but it's too good an example to ignore.) One problem is that too many people automatically classify any original character as a Mary Sue. We didn't assume the guest star/visiting character of the week was going to be a Mary Sue, but for some reason, once it's net-fic, that assumption kicks in. Surprise! The original characters aren't always Mary Sues either. Quite a few are so damned memorable that if they're Mary Sues, I really want to meet the people they're based on... quite possibly to avoid them. (Gratuitous note, thrown in only because this is my essay-cum-rant: Despite Diana Tregarde's comments in Mercedes Lackey's Jinx High, making your original character a bitch does not make her more real. It just makes her a bitchy, two-dimensional character. Understanding why she's a bitch and explaining it if necessary, and working that into the rest of her behavior might make her more real, yes. This, however requires plot, and back-story, and the people who hate Mary Sues have already left and the people who think you read newspapers to see unsavory characters and fic to relax have done the same. Caveat author.) As far as appearances and the fact that original characters are frequently 'striking' or what have you? Take a good look at what Hollywood, or Vancouver, is putting on the screen. The actors are gorgeous or they're character actors whose character can be found, among other places, in their appearance. What do you expect to see in a fic? These new characters are supposed to fit into the universe/reality. A very few examples
of good OCs off the top of my head, and if you don't know who these
characters are, click on the links. Superb stories awaits you.
Now, do original characters frequently get used to mend a plot hole or difficulty? Damn right they do. However, why is that different from using, say, Darius or Sean Burns to fix it? Darius showed up because TPTB needed an older, wiser immortal to send Duncan a warning. Sean Burns appeared because they needed an immortal psychologist. (The scene that made him vividly, wonderfully (wickedly) human was excised from the American minutes of "Til Death.") And you know what? These two were, in those episodes, the wise, skilled, OC that was needed for plot purposes. Are you starting to see where I'm going? Yes. I know. It's called fan-fiction. Meaning it's supposed to be about the show. But does that mean it's only about those characters, or is it about that world? If someone writes a Smallville fic about a reporter trying to figure out what's making some of the inhabitants of that town so odd, if he never gets to meet any of the characters because of LuthorCorp guards... does that keep it from being a Smallville fic? Does that make it impossible for the story to be good? A fic that shows a very different, outside view of canon characters? I really doubt it. If you take the Highlander universe concepts of immortality and the Game and have someone from the FBI start investigating a serial killer who likes beheading his victims -- do you want to wipe out several of your favorite immortals from the show? (And does it have to be Mulder who investigates? Doesn't anyone else in the FBI deal with serial killers?) Does Duncan MacLeod always have to save the day or does the poor bastard occasionally get a year off? (Has anyone ever tallied up how many heads Duncan took over the six years of the show, or how many old lovers showed up on his doorstep, or how many friends he had to kill, or heard had died...? Rightfully, the man should be hiding on Holy Ground right now trying to regain his sanity.) Are there no other honorable immortals out there, despite the canon episodes that show otherwise? Kate Sutherland from "Two of Hearts" comes immediately to mind, along with the suspicion that anyone who wrote her would promptly get accused of creating another Mary Sue. Stories which require some knowledge of a show, and whatever the tenets of reality are there -- immortals, or sentinels, or a division of the FBI that investigates the supernatural, or a man who sees visions when he touches objects -- are fanfiction. Stories which use characters or events from a show are also fanfiction. A story does not have to use all of those, however, to be fanfiction. Sometimes, you need OCs, or at least new characters, for a specific plot purpose. Does anyone really think that the differing Defense Against Dark Arts professors in the Harry Potter books aren't designed to help drive the plot? I've already discussed Darius and Sean Burns in Highlander, and I'm not familiar enough with the Sentinel to point out an example there. However, if you want the truly classic walking plot device? Allow me to present Alex Krycek of the X-Files: graduate of Quantico while double agent for the Consortium; assassin and thief for the Consortium; hacker and black market source of classified information in Hong Kong; rising power in the Russian branch of the Consortium; source of information for Mulder, and the instinctive psychologist who kicked Mulder's ass into getting up one more time; and a desperate man shot down in a underground parking lot, despite having dodged super-soldiers for months. The amazing thing is that somehow, the actor managed to make it seem coherent. If you go back to the whole concept of 'the characters/events must work within the universe,' though, you can almost make Krycek fit. It might require making him a part of the conspiracy from birth, raised and trained to an obscene number of skills, and hidden under more masks than anyone can see through (well, except maybe Mulder, but that's if you want a slash setup) -- but you can do it. In the Highlander universe, if you want an immortal who's survived -- much less thrived -- for any length of time, they need certain traits. Can they fight? If they can't fight, can they run, or seduce, or beguile, or enchant? Did they make a fortune to keep their own private army around them? How have they lived this long? What skills, languages, and customs have they learned or picked up to blend in? There are reasons that opening description of Duncan MacLeod makes him sound like a Mary Sue, given that universe and his age. Anything else simply isn't believable. For that matter, reread that description at the top of this rant. (I'll wait. Honest.) Right. If you ignore the 'four hundred years old' part, I give you two words: James Bond. Look. Believing that the fic must take place in a familiar universe makes it fanfiction. However, believing that the fic must also contain the major characters, and must also be relevant to a specific episode, is why we have a thousand retellings of "Comes A Horseman/Revelations 6:8," or "The Sentinel by Blair Sandburg," or half a dozen other pivotal, angsty episodes in a half a dozen other fandoms. Frequently, those retellings blend into each other in your memory, too. Think about it. You know your fandoms. You know the dead horse that you never want to see beaten again, unless a trusted friend tells you, 'You have to read this! You won't believe the twist [fill in author's name] put on it!' Television frequently doesn't have the luxury of putting twists into stories, or letting the characters change. The writers have to keep the characters much the same from episode to episode so that new viewers who stumble in can understand what's going on and so that people who've missed a few weeks don't stare in disbelief, wonder what they've missed, and change the channel to something they can follow. I don't much like it, myself, but that's how they work. If they don't, you get something like Farscape, which was wonderful -- if you'd been following it faithfully. Otherwise, you wondered where the neat-looking blue-skinned lady had gone and who was the pale grey chick in the leather? If you want to read/write stand-alone stories, you can do strict canon universe/characters stories. However, if you want to do an arc, the characters are likely to change as events occur. People do that. If the writer wants to see how a specific event or emotion would change a character, s/he needs a catalyst. And if there's not one in canon, well, the show writers invent new characters. Why can't the net writers? Yes, sometimes you can do this with secondary characters from a show (or canon characters from another show, which can result in superb crossovers). Sometimes, though, you can't, and then you need an even further-out perspective. What I'm saying, essentially, is that at times we do need OCs to drive stories. By their nature, there are things that canon characters aren't going to do and stay in character. If the predominant reaction from the readers is, 'How dare you call this fanfiction?', we're going to lose some good writers who are just trying out new ideas, or who want and need to explore ideas that the canon characters wouldn't look at. (I'm referring here to writers who also refuse to warp the character out of true just to look at a new and interesting idea. You've all seen that, I'm sure?) I don't know about you, but there are never enough good books on the shelves for me; I'd like to see some of these people hone their skills with us and go pro. (Surely you've got a few writers you'd like to see do that? You know their names.) Well, writers write things they like or need to read. If you like what you're writing, chances are so will the readers. It's hard to miss it when a writer had fun writing a story. (I refer you Speranza's Chicago's Most Wanted. Do not eat or drink while reading.) Going back to original characters, however. Some writers shift from canon characters in canon universe to new characters in the canon universe. Speaking solely for myself, at times I just want a new viewpoint. I like the universe, after all; I wouldn't be wasting my time and energy writing about it if I weren't interested. I just want a different take on it. It might be a new student who's just training for the Game. It might be a Watcher trying to figure the whole thing out. It might be an immortal who's not involved in the grudge match going on in the abandoned park, but who's seen it coming for years now. Sometimes, bluntly, I just get bored with Duncan. Or Methos. Or Matthew McCormick. (Quit laughing, some of you.) Matthew is less likely to bore me than the other two, but I've read less fic about him. And, as I said, some questions just aren't going to occur to them, or won't be followed. Methos doesn't remember the first few hundred years of his life and doesn't seem inclined to probe; Duncan might. Duncan doesn't question what it would be like to live a life under a new name and a new identity that isn't concerned with honor; Methos might. Two reasons for writing about different questions or different characters. Also, if you can't find a canon character who might explore the question/subject that interest you, well, you develop a character who would. It's what the professionals do, after all. The big question is, are you missing out on good fiction because you've bought into the whole 'All OCs are Mary Sues'? I'll freely agree that some of them are Mary Sues. Hell, some of them are flatly ghastly. (Anyone else read "Nine Men and a Little Lady," the glorious Lord of the Rings parody of Mary Sue?) Others, however, as mentioned earlier and some are linked throughout, are superb. Please note well: I am not saying any plot, character viewpoint, or character evolution exists that can't be made believable. I'm well aware that the good writers can take something I've seen a thousand times before and make it plausible, realistic, and damned entertaining. I am saying that not all writers are at that level yet and that even the good writers may need to build an extension onto the box they're working in. Basically, I think my whole complaint here can be summed up as follows: Damned if you do: Given the differing definitions I've heard for Mary Sues, a writer is damned just for writing an original character, regardless of whether said character is in fact a Mary Sue. Damned if we don't: Judging from how many times I've seen the same characters doing the same things across however many dozen stories because they're not being allowed to change, or don't have a catalyst to let them change, our hopes for new stories/ideas in favorite fandoms are damned if the writers don't. It is, of course, entirely up to you. Read what you want. Expect, however, that writers will write what they want, and what they're interested in. Without some kind of positive reinforcement, whether that's 'Oh, neat' or 'Hmm, what about x?', they're not likely to keep looking for new things to explore in a fandom. (Yes, you'll hear that writers write for themselves. They do. But they post or publish for feedback.) In other words? Don't be surprised when writers keep moving to the Shiny New Fandom, in search of something different to write/read/keep their interest. I did say Mary
Sue was killing original fic on the net, after all. She's also
killing new ideas in fandoms.
Shiny New Fandom is a term Kai used in a muse piece which can be found here. Oh -- meae culpae mentioned? Enrique Alba in Sirocco I consider two dimensional at best; I'm still not sure why he doesn't feel real to me. And I'm sure I've got dialect in at least a couple fics; my apologies for that, too. Duncan's death count, by the way -- strictly in the modern segments of Highlander (not counting events in flashbacks, in other words, unless they fell between the show dates, such as Irena Galati) is appalling. 5 lovers or former lovers died or he had to kill. 54 enemies killed by Duncan. 8 former friends killed by Duncan. 14 old friends dead that he heard of or saw personally. And, the really telling number, 58 heads taken. In 6 years. Not quite a head a month. I did say he was overdue for a very long vacation on Holy Ground. AJ Hall, author of the incredible Lust Over Pendle, commented on the difficulties of having an OC who wouldn't immediately be dismissed as a Mary Sue in the interview found here. Recommendations of good OCs always happily
taken. If I've linked to your story here and you wish it removed,
please let me know and
I'll remove it immediately.
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