Kathryn wrote:
Don't put all the blame on fan writers. Fan readers are just as much to blame.
Agreed. I imagine the anti-Mary-Sue culture derives more from readers than writers.
And readers simply want to *read* about "no one else" but the main
characters.
And I can understand the sentiment, really I can -- because the point of
fanfic
is that one is using someone else's characters and setting, so if one
isn't going
to use them, then why is one writing it?
OCs: Because if one's interested in, say, Blake as a character, there's only a limited number of interactions one can get out of him with Avon, Jenna et al.
Setting: Well the repressive Federation setting on Earth or other Inner Worlds is far more interesting (to me) than an alien spaceship with food synthesisers, a wardrobe room and a treasury.
And yes, there is a reaction against Mary-Sues (and by extension, all
Original
Female Characters) -- but why shouldn't there be? They are*awful*. Bad writing is bad writing, and reading someone else's wish-fullfilment fantasy is going to be a bore whatever universe it's set in.
I agree I have little wish to read other people's wish-fulfilment fantasies, but dooming all original characters because occasionally people choose to publish wish-fulfilment seems a little OTT ? Maybe I've been missing out, but I've never read a non-humorous overt Mary-Sue. The closest I've seen is where I guess Cally or Blake is being used as the authorial projection, and fewer people seem to complain about this.
Tavia
From: Tavia Chalcraft tavia@btinternet.com
I agree I have little wish to read other people's wish-fulfilment fantasies, but dooming all original characters because occasionally people choose to publish wish-fulfilment seems a little OTT ?
Surely any piece of fanfic is a wish-fulfilment fantasy of sorts. All my 'serious' stories were precisely that - I was creating the kind of B7 I'd have liked to have seen.
Maybe I've been missing out, but I've never read a non-humorous overt Mary-Sue.
Oh, Tavia, you really have been missing out! I recommend Horizon #2. First you get a post-Gambit Travis story, that starts out as a well written angst piece but rapidly degenerates into a Mary-Sue, and then there's a wonderful wonderful thrilling adventure by Heidi Dennis which features a remarkably capable young lady called Em (if this is too subtle for you try spelling it backwards). This feisty little minx not only outsmarts every single member of the 3rd Season crew (except maybe Avon), but is also the original owner of the Liberator. I'd like to be charitable and think of it as a parody, but I've got this awful deep-down feeling that it isn't.
Mary-Sue comes in strange guises sometimes. Sometimes she takes over Cally or Vila. Occasionally she's an ocf from the series itself (like a Vega story where she goes by the name of Levett). There's even one in a Gambit zine where she takes the form of an alsatian dog helping Avon come to terms with being blind. Original, if nothing else.
Neil
Tavia said, in response to Neil:
Setting: Well the repressive Federation setting on Earth or other Inner Worlds is far more interesting (to me) than an alien spaceship with food synthesisers, a wardrobe room and a treasury.
Heartily agreed. Since fanfic is the unlived life of canon, it gives us the chance to explore background and material circumstances.
I agree I have little wish to read other people's wish-fulfilment fantasies,
Actually, even someone who is a lousy writer might have interesting wish-fulfillment fantasies.
but dooming all original characters because occasionally people choose to publish wish-fulfilment seems a little OTT ? Maybe I've been missing out, but I've never read a non-humorous overt Mary-Sue.
Harking back to the Deliverance discussion (which has now been running longer than Abie's Irish Rose) I bet that what people really object to are subconscious Mary Sues.
-(Y)
-
Dana Shilling -
Neil Faulkner -
Tavia Chalcraft