Is your character a mary sue?

[mutio]

These quizzes ask the dumbest questions.

 

[Eldoria]

Extremely so, out of the many unpublished stories I've trashed. I grabbed one of my earlier pieces of garbage where my MC was definitely 100% a Mary Sue. He had an extremely persuasive silver tongue and usually got his way. The quiz thought that the character was only 9% Mary Sue because I gave him a different appearance from mine and didn't give him fantasy powers.

I suspect the quiz maker created naive and careless operational questions, he couldn't distinguish what the essence of the Marry Sue character is compared to the general character.

He took the definition of Marry Sue at face value. Maybe he divided the questions into something like this:

"Marry Sue is a female character who has extraordinary talent, effortlessly, who is loved by everyone, and has no flaws."

So the quiz maker probably dissected the characteristics of Marry Sue: (1) female character, (2) talented, (3) does not try, (4) loved by everyone, (5) has no flaws. Then each characteristic is divided into 1 - 3 questions.

That's why careless questions like "is your character a woman?" appear in the quiz. This is very biased, the quiz maker gives Marry Sue weight just because the character is a woman. It's really ridiculous.

 

[Anonjohn20]

I suspect the quiz maker created naive and careless operational questions, he couldn't distinguish what the essence of the Marry Sue character is compared to the general character.

He took the definition of Marry Sue at face value. Maybe he divided the questions into something like this:

"Marry Sue is a female character who has extraordinary talent, effortlessly, who is loved by everyone, and has no flaws."

So the quiz maker probably dissected the characteristics of Marry Sue: (1) female character, (2) talented, (3) does not try, (4) loved by everyone, (5) has no flaws. Then each characteristic is divided into 1 - 3 questions.

That's why careless questions like "is your character a woman?" appear in the quiz. This is very biased, the quiz maker gives Marry Sue weight just because the character is a woman. It's really ridiculous.

Correct. We use the term "Mary Sue" in honor of the Star Trek fanfiction character that brought the trope to light. Before that fanfiction, few people were not talking about these awful kinds of characters, and after that fanfiction, we can talk about how some authors have gotten away with writing them for years (for example, if you consume official Star Trek content, both Kirk and Spock are Mary Sues). We don't need the second pointless "Gary Stu" term for a male Mary Sue, nor are only females Mary Sues.

 

[melchi]

I agree, I think some of the questions are more about 'self insert' than mary sue.

 

[Cipiteca396]

43%.

I may have erred in favor of being a self insert instead of giving entirely honest answers... But that just means it would take waay too much to get an actual 'bad' result. Like, you'd have to actively try to make your character 'bad' to get above 50%...

 

[Anonjohn20]

43%.

I may have erred in favor of being a self insert instead of giving entirely honest answers... But that just means it would take waay too much to get an actual 'bad' result. Like, you'd have to actively try to make your character 'bad' to get above 50%...

"Does your character have the same eye color as you? Bad author! Your character can't have the same eye color as 80% of the planet."

 

[Dawnathon]

Honestly, I'd give her at least a 15% myself, but I guess the quiz is just playing nice.

 

[LastMinami]

The cockroach survives one more night

 

[Escriba_Sombrio]

Kinda already know the result by reading the questions, but glad to know anyway.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Going with Strange Awakening got 35% Mary Sue. Which, honestly, is about right. Or more 20% Mary Sue, 15% Larry Stu... :D

 

[Tempokai]

Meh.