that's ruined so many books for me.
I've had a hard time with many fantasy novels because of this one. I don't think I could read McCaffrey's
Dragonriders of Pern
series ever again, because so many of the characters seem like MarySues, even in retrospect. Then again, I didn't really read those books for the characters--I was far more interested in the dragons and the world that McCaffrey created.
Mary Sues are more annoying in fanfic, IMO, because the authors who use them tend to show a great deal of disrespect to the characters and stories that we love. In original fiction, having a Mary Sue as the lead character isn't as annoying, especially if other elements of the story are interesting.
The popslash fandom is both scary and hilarious.
And google is a formidable tool.
SA, I suspect I don't want to know what you found.
Although- I do have a kind of morbid curiosity.
It's funny how much more sensitive to this I've gotten since being immersed in fandom. I was rereading a book the other day that I've always really liked. Not great literature by any stretch but something I was fond of. I hadn't looked at it in a few years, but this time I couldn't get away from the extreme MarySueness of the female lead. I ended up basically skimming through all her scenes to get to the ones that featured other, more real characters. Kind of a bummer, actually. I don't know that I'll be picking that one up again.
Yeah, that happened to me with the Alanna books by Tamara Pierce. I loved the first one when I was 14, but when I went back and re-read them a few years back, all I could think was, "Good God! This chick is *perfect!*"
that happened to me with the Alanna books by Tamara Pierce.
Also the series after that, with the next young girl who wants to become a knight, and the series about the bird-woman, and the other series with
three
Mary-Sues and a Marky-Sam in, and...
She's a good writer, don't get me wrong. But there are some cases of Mary-Sues there.
I think it's more acceptable to write Mary-Sues for the young adult market, who as an audience tend to be able to get more whole-heartedly into a protagonist who is perfect. I mean, I'm speaking from my own experience as a young reader here. :-)
it's more acceptable to write Mary-Sues for the young adult market
That is the case- although I'm not sure it's an attitude I like. I suspect it contributes to the number of Mary-Sues at ff.n and suchlike places.
Wrod, Hobgobble, and also wrod, Theo.
Although my main urge, when I come and reread the Pierce books that I recently bought for my ten-year-old sister, is to write Pierce and ask her for a lesbian character.
Of course, it'd never happen, so I never even started writing the letter, but it amused me on the walk home from the train station for a few weeks. "Dear Ms. Pierce-- your books are so begging for it!"
My niece is way into Pierce right now. She loves them because, as she says, "they're not scary." Unlike the stuff I give her, which leans heavily towards Ursula LeGuin and Garth Nix.
Thirteen-year-olds love comfort-reading. And the Pierce/Lackey/McCaffrey novels supply that in spades. I guess I'll have to track down a copy of the Harper Hall trilogy for her now...
