| I have absolutely nothing new to add to this topic. Even my title isn't entirely original. I'm not even sure why this topic is so popular. Is it that people are actually reading a lot of cliches in urban fantasy? There does seem to be a lot of repetition in character (vampires, werewolves, faeries, dragons) but the same could be said of white women in literary fiction, or child abuse victims in memoirs. Oh wait, real people can't be cliches. Or can they? Many writer's seem to be concerned about writing a "Mary Sue," which I'd never heard of before setting up a livejournal. What's weird about the concept is that this cliched character is seen as a negative, some cookie cutter individual that ends up polluting every newbie or hack's manuscript, as though siphoned from a medical waste dumpster. It strikes me as ironic. Over the course of my other career as a psychotherapist, I must have worked with well over a thousand individuals. And the one thing that unified them (and us, really) was that human beings are surprisingly similar and ultimately predictable. I've yet to meet a unique precious flower. Mary Sues exist, people. They're all around you. They are you. So, as a writer, my character's reflect that belief. I guess that's what makes them unique, or at least unique from each other, or their own cliches. I say don't worry about it. Everything comes full circle. What is cliche was once original. Now people are flipping cliches inside out and playing with the results. So many people, in fact, that it's become a cliche in itself. Cliche is the New Cliche. Like I said. Or someone did. I've bored myself. |
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I am TOO a precious goddamn snowflake! I am not the same decaying organic mass as everyone else!
Great post. I think Jung would have a thing or two to say about character cliches, or "archetypes" as he calls them.
Anton - You go right on believing that, it's my Christmas gift to you.
Jaye - Proving the point.
I always want to ask people how to tell the difference between a Mary Sue and a not-Mary Sue. Is there a secret code? Are Mary Sue's just poorly written characters? Whenever the accusation arises, I'm usually like, "Can't you just complain about the grammar or style?" Mary Sue seems like a very "in" cop-out when it comes to critique.
I'll admit to reading chapter two of my WIP to my boyfriend and his response was "yeah, total Mary Sue. Instead of him swaggering around drunk and sexy like a romance hero, I'd rather see him puke and pass out -- that's real life."
And he was right. That's where I think the problems come in -- when we forget to make our characters actually human. Give them flaws and foibles and problems and someplace to grow from.
God, I wish I was a Mary Sue. Or Gary Stu, since the crossdressing might not go over well with the future in-laws.
I have encountered such characters in fiction, or on TV. The annoying ones who meet every challenge with a tenacious smile, unless they have the cute little foible of occasionally frowning.