Years ago, before I even knew people wrote in other peoples universes and had never heard of fandom, I critiqued a wonderful Star Trek manuscript written by a lady in my writing group. The main character could out-Spock, out-doctor Doctor McCoy, and definitely out-captain Captain Kirk. I'd never heard of a Mary Sue.
I told her over and over, repeatedly, how wonderful this story was (it was), but that she (the Mary Sue character) never suffered, she never struggled or had to work at anything. Women wanted to be like her and men loved her, and she was just so perfect--could she maybe not be so perfect?
I'd given her a Dick Frances book, and the following week, she came back to writing group, walked up to me, and hit me with this book. She said that this main character, written by Mr. Frances, was perfect, too, but that I'd liked him!
I told her that he sweated. He suffered. Terrible things happened to him, and that he made bad decisions, too. He got dirty, for crying out loud.
She stopped, and with the oddest look, said, "I had to make her like this. She's me, but I had to make her completely opposite or everyone would know."
And, of course, the woman died about six months later of Leukemia, and I'm like, crap, crap, crap, why couldn't I have just kept my big mouth shut?!, but the point of this story is that, to me, a Mary Jane is someone without flaws.
People argue with you about your reviews, really?! Tell them to go write their own reviews :-)
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I told her over and over, repeatedly, how wonderful this story was (it was), but that she (the Mary Sue character) never suffered, she never struggled or had to work at anything. Women wanted to be like her and men loved her, and she was just so perfect--could she maybe not be so perfect?
I'd given her a Dick Frances book, and the following week, she came back to writing group, walked up to me, and hit me with this book. She said that this main character, written by Mr. Frances, was perfect, too, but that I'd liked him!
I told her that he sweated. He suffered. Terrible things happened to him, and that he made bad decisions, too. He got dirty, for crying out loud.
She stopped, and with the oddest look, said, "I had to make her like this. She's me, but I had to make her completely opposite or everyone would know."
And, of course, the woman died about six months later of Leukemia, and I'm like, crap, crap, crap, why couldn't I have just kept my big mouth shut?!, but the point of this story is that, to me, a Mary Jane is someone without flaws.
People argue with you about your reviews, really?! Tell them to go write their own reviews :-)