Why Your Main Character Shouldn't Be "Perfect"
If you’re not a part of the fanfiction community, you may have never heard the term “Mary Sue” before. A Mary Sue is a female character with no discernible or impactful flaws. If it’s a guy, some people call him Gary Stu, but the same concept applies. These characters, also called wish fulfillment characters, often times are a projection of either who an author wishes they were or what they feel the ideal man/woman is. Time and time again I’ve seen these characters pop up in everything from short stories written by friends to published works of fiction and absolutely derail or de-legitimize otherwise fantastic pieces of writing.
I’m not going to call up an example from a modern piece of work because I don’t believe in bashing other authors ever - especially other female authors. I’m firmly on team “if you don’t have anything nice to say…” but even without that I’m sure that everyone can think of at least one Mary Sue character they’ve read recently. Mary Sue’s (and Gary Stu’s) are often either an idealized physical portrait or have one flaw which in real life would hardly be considered a flaw.
Mary Sues are often either perceived as physically perfect by other characters regardless of their own opinion, or have minuscule flaws that might be played up - such as freckles or a small scar - on an otherwise perfect physical characterization. They might even have unique physical traits seen as positive and exotic, such as being the only character with blue eyes/dark hair/green wings etc. They often have “unique” names in a way that doesn’t suit the naming convention of the novel, such as a man named Romulus in a city of Andrews and Jasons. If set in a modern world, they might find themselves very wealthy but never stingy, instead using their money to help those less fortunate about them or at least believing that their money should be used to do so.
A Mary Sue might either be incredibly talented at one unique skill - such as a child prodigy in music or magic or the arts - or be fairly good at everything the novel ever asks them to put their hands to. They are often extremely well-perceived by the people around them as funny, adorable, charming, brave, kind, or any host of positive traits - and if they ever display behavior which should contradict their positive characteristics it is ignored. For example, a handmaid might pretend a princess is being funny when she’s being insulting, but a high school teacher typically wouldn’t just roll their eyes or chuckle if a student insulted them during class. Another major sign is that in any conflict, the Mary Sue is always on the “right” side - sometimes even when it wouldn’t make sense for her to be - and rarely sees true consequences for it. For example, consider an elf who has always grown up with other wealthy elves but somehow just knows that poor elves need to be treated better despite limited interaction, and yet never provokes a true fight or a dangerous reaction when she shares this opinion. Or consider A Southern Plantation owner in the 1700’s who because of the goodness of his heart inherits the plantation, frees all his slaves, re-unites them with their families, and brings his family to the West where he immediately becomes a successful gold miner instead.
I could continue, but the point is that these aren’t just characters that are pretty great, these are characters whose greatness sets them apart in the realm of whatever world the story has built for them. Now, I will say that I do think that there is a time and place for Mary Sue and Gary Stu characters, and that’s in children’s media. It’s okay if that thirty page children’s story doesn’t delve into how Barbie can sometimes be forgetful or how Fluffy the Doggy neglected to clean his room before he took that nap. But if you’re writing a project any longer than that, I think it’s an absolute necessity to know what a Mary Sue is so that when you’re writing you can be sure to avoid writing one. In order to help with that, I’ve outlined some of the main pitfalls in thinking that lead writers to turn their characters into Mary Sue or Gary Stu, and why these thoughts play out to be wrong and derail your writing.
Mary Sue May be Relatable - But Only at First
When I started writing fanfiction, I was familiar enough with the genre to know that in the fanfic world at the time, relatability was everything. People liked characters that were somewhat of an audience self-insert with enough personality to carry the story along but no strong traits that would make a reader say “oh, I’m not like her.” The most popular stories were literally written in 2nd person, with a 1st chapter telling you all the details you needed to know about “yourself” to follow the plot. No matter the story perspective, writing a character like that is very difficult even for the best of authors. For the rest of us, it tends to lead to the creation of Mary Sues.
In the absence of no personality, which makes writing a story very difficult, the tendency is to give the character all of the best traits - a mix of who the reader might be and who she definitely wishes she was. Someone who is beautiful in a girl-next-door type of way, someone who is vaguely funny, vaguely nice, vaguely smart. Someone who is good at just about every subject or, if she’s not in school, every task the novel calls for her to perform. And at first, writing like this may work. In the first few chapters your audience might focus on “oh she’s a great cook and she’s funny - like me!” or “Oh she has a good singing voice and she likes talking to friendly strangers - like me!”
However, this is only at first. As the story goes on, all of those positive traits that Mary Sue has that your reader doesn’t are going to creep into their awareness. They’re going to realize that unlike them, Mary Sue doesn’t accidentally burn her dinner ever, and she’s never accidentally told a joke that hurt someone’s feelings. She’s not shy about her singing voice - or if she is and people discover it she can instantly overcome her shyness when she needs to, and she’s always able to avoid talking to a stranger that turns out to be a creep. And as the story continues and these alienating traits become apparent, Mary Sue becomes the opposite of relatable.
Instead of focusing on the story that you’re trying to tell, your reader’s attention will be pulled to how perfect Mary Sue is and how unrelatable she is after all. In my next 3 points, I’ll dive deeper into the different ways that Mary Sues derail the story, but with this point I want to take some time to remind everyone that no book character will ever be, or is ever meant to be, relatable to every reader. There is no person in the world who is truly relatable for everyone - I mean, there are even people who hate Oprah! So similarly, unless you are writing a book for small children, it is not and never will be your job to make your heroine relatable to everyone. Instead, your focus should be on making them as real to you as you possibly can, and letting people in your book and in the real world decide for themselves whether they like your character or not.
Mary Sue Can Be Aspirational - Until She Becomes Unattainable
Often times, authors want characters in their novels to be better than a real person might be - either as an example of who we could become if only, or as a plot point for why they are unique. These characters are often meant to be aspirational, and I see nothing wrong with making a character aspirational. But again, real people - even the best people like Oprah and gorgeous philanthropist Amal Clooney - have flaws. A character with absolutely no flaws, or even worse a character with very fickle flaws, is only truly aspirational for so long.
If this is a side character whose actions we never truly see or who we as readers never truly encounter and interact with, it may be possible to get away with a Mary Sue. But for a main character, aspirational only lasts for so long before perfection becomes tiring. Horrible though it is, we see this in real life when, as a society, we go from praising celebrities that are held up as images of perfection to delighting when they’re torn down because of some mistake or scandal. But in the controlled world of your novel, if that perfect character is never brought down into the realm of realism, then he or she steps out of being someone your reader might look up to and into the realm of something absolutely unattainable.
If you’ve ever read a book that frustrated you because of the behavior and choices of the main character, then I probably don’t need to tell you that readers need to be able to make sense of what your main character is doing and why. Once a character becomes unattainably perfect, you run the risk of losing your reader. It could be that there’s no intrigue in reading a book where the character will always make the right choice and the best choice. It may be that the reader can’t relate to your character’s perfection at all and find themselves not caring what else happens to him or her. It could be that a perfect character has nothing to learn, and without anything to learn or anywhere to grow to, you’ve killed all chances of any good character development for the reader to explore. Whatever the inner reason, the end outcome is the same: the book stops being enjoyable to read. Once that happens, you’ve lost your reader.
Mary Sue Starts off Sexy - But End Up Boring
Sometimes, authors fall into the trap of thinking that by making a character perfect or almost-perfect, they’re making the character more attractive. This can be especially true of lead love interests in novels. Whether it’s your main character or their love interest that’s been made perfect in every way, it’s easy to think why this would work at first. Why wouldn’t your main character want to date the guy that’s tall and handsome and has a perfect body and is always kind to women and is intelligent and is the fastest and strongest of all of the men and masculine and intense but also gentle and patient and on and on and on.
Realistically - of course she would! So would we! And if he’s very sought-after as a partner because of these things, that means if our heroine gets him, she’s winning! And if somehow because of an insignificant flaw, like him being shy or wearing glasses, no other character seems to realize how absolutely perfect he is except for her, then she’s wonderful! Again, there is nothing wrong with a plot that centers around being with a desirable character or finding the value in a person others overlook - but when it dances into Mary Sue/Gary Stu realm, these characters are only exciting for so long.
For one thing, part of what makes relationships interesting is tension. And what often happens with Mary Sue/Gary Stu partners is that there is no real tension in the relationship because the partner never does anything to upset the main character. They are always understanding of why the main character is who they are, so anything the main character does is almost immediately forgiven. If we’re not talking about relationships, but instead the Mary Sue Gary/Stu appealing to us as the readers, then you’re back to the same issue of when aspirational becomes unattainable.
More than that though, particularly in characters meant to be attractive or sexy, what happens when a Mary Sue/Gary Stu character forms is boredom. If you’ve read more than 3 romance novels in your life, you’ve probably read one where the main character or their love interest is so perfect that their relationship falls completely flat. Sure, you might keep reading to see if he’ll ever save her from that gang of bandits or if they’ll be allowed to marry even though she’s his boss, but the dynamic between the characters is missing that continuing intensity and development that only flaws can bring. Experiencing two people working to be together by learning each other - or seeing a character work to grow and develop themselves - is entertaining. Without that, the characters are merely background noise; even with an incredible plot, the characters might be too dull to hold a reader’s interest.
Mary Sue Might Be Perfect - But People Want What’s Real
At the end of the day, it is possible in fiction to create a character that is flawless. From their looks to their intelligence to their disposition to their personality, a character in a novel can truly have all of the upsides and none of the down. It is so tempting as a writer to want to create that character, to keep tweaking him or her until all of the flaws that irritate us in the people around us or in ourselves are scrubbed away.
But truthfully, that’s not what people want. And it shouldn’t be what you want. At the beginning, it might hold a reader’s interest, but for the reasons outlined above and others’ I’m probably not even thinking of, people don’t really want perfect. What people want is what’s real. Part of the intrinsic joy of reading a novel is seeing how the main character is shaped and molded by the events that they go through in the plot of the story. Getting to see a headstrong but naive heroine realize the dangers of the world but continue to face them and learn from each challenge. Getting to watch an ugly duckling character who is generous and kind find someone who appreciates his worth and learn to appreciate that worth himself. A story is about much more than a series of actions and reactions. Mary Sue characters rob you as an author of the ability to explore that character development as you explore your novel, and both you and your audience suffer for it.
If you’re concerned that a character is a Mary Sue or Gary Stu, there are plenty of online quizzes that you can take to do a quick assessment. But I think a good litmus test can be achieved with just the 3 questions below:
Is there any other character in the world of this novel who is like my character in ⅗ of these metrics: perceived level of attractiveness, level of intelligence, natural abilities, universal likeability, unique features?
Can I easily name at least 3 major flaws in my character that are going to impede him/her from getting what they want in the novel unless they are forced to work through them?
What would my character’s biggest fan say about him/her that is true? What would my character’s worst enemy say about him/her that is true?
And if you have anything else to say about Mary Sue characters - let me know in the comments!
