Mary Sue, sometimes shortened simply to Sue, or dubbed "Marty Stu" or "Gary Stu" for male characters, is a term used to label a character who is ultimately too perfect to be true. This can mean that she is breathtakingly beautiful, or unbelievably athletic, or impossibly nice and thoughtful and honest, or simply that much better than everyone else.

Everyone has made at least one Mary-Sue (or Marty-Stu) character in their life. They often pop up in role-play sites like this. You might make up a Mary-Sue (or Marty-Stu) by accident without even realizing it! If you are unsure whether or not you have made a Mary-Sue (or Marty-Stu), please contact Elwyse.

There are many different types of Mary-Sues out there. Let's take a look at one:

Perfect Mary-Sue: She might have beautiful, waist length red hair, beautiful sea green eyes that entrance everyone she meets, teeth that have never been touched by braces in her life and a model body. Every boy falls in love with her, because she is unbelievably nice, a genius, a good athlete and breathtakingly beautiful. She always has drama popping up in her life to steal the spotlight.

But then there's the people who go too far trying not to make a Mary-Sue (or Marty-Stu), they end up making a character like this:

Anti Mary-Sue has a tangled rats nest for hair, and is not beautiful at all. Nobody likes her and she is a coward. She puts herself down a lot and is really boring to play.

These are characters you just want to avoid. So, how do you do that?
Have your character have believable flaws.
Balance out the good and bad traits.
Let others have a turn in the spotlight

Drama is a good roleplaying opportunity, but too much of it, like ambrosia and nectar, is really bad and it just makes you seem like an attention-seeker. So balance out the drama as well as the flaws and good traits.

Trident Power,
Sirena