The Mary Sue debate
Apr. 21st, 2010 08:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
petroniaI have been staying well away from it. XD I don't want to find out that ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
canis_m and I started it all! This is probably overstating Kristin's and my significance, but not overstating Aja's.
My comment toxparrot's post (which is in the grand and beloved tradition of pointing out that people are using the same word to mean different things in an argument):
canis_m and I started it all! This is probably overstating Kristin's and my significance, but not overstating Aja's.My comment to
xparrot's post (which is in the grand and beloved tradition of pointing out that people are using the same word to mean different things in an argument):Actually, none of these types of Mary Sue bother me. They're too obvious, so I either look past them, or find them charming in the way of juvenilia. XD; The type of self-insert that bugs me is the one written by people (fan or pro) who "know better" - yanno, who're too old and sophisticatedExamples will NOT be provided upon request. XDDDand self-doubtingto even have retained the ability to imagine themselves into the setting as the beautiful violet-eyed plot-warping woobie heroine. Instead they imagine themselves in as a secondary character who is clearly stated to be Not Beautiful, but is obviously Very Intelligent, allowed to wander around in the background doing as she pleases, and (key!) is friends with the main characters but Definitely Not Crushing on anyone, and in fact Completely Unimpressed By And Resistant To Their Charisma, Really.
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Re: oh and also
Date: 2010-04-21 07:10 pm (UTC)Also, I won't lie, I write everyone in fanfic as self-inserts. Friends who know me offline have told me that my fanfic reads like me having a conversation with myself. This is also why I probably never successfully write 'ship fic, since it would be an exercise in narcissism. >>;;
Re: oh and also
Date: 2010-04-21 08:33 pm (UTC)Re: oh and also
Date: 2010-04-22 03:00 am (UTC)*takes notes to apply this genius idea to everything she ever writes in future* XD
no subject
Date: 2010-04-22 03:25 pm (UTC)But Orson Scott Card so perfectly exemplifies not only the original definition but also your secondary annotation with Ender's Game-Children of the Mind and then Ender's Shadow-Shadow of the Giants. It's like seeing the punctuated equilibrium of Mary Sue in process through a single author! :b
*bites*
Date: 2010-04-22 06:06 pm (UTC)