There's a term in the fan fiction writing community, a dirty phrase no one ever wants to hear about their work. It's Mary Sue. What it means is that the writer has transparently inserted themselves into the story, usually disguised as an OC (original character). Commonly, the Mary Sue is a love interest for one of the main characters. Mary Sue-ing is bad form.
I'm not entirely certain why that's the way it is. Perhaps it prevents readers from putting themselves in the Mary Sue's proverbial shoes, which is really why we read romances in the first place. Or it might be because Mary Sues are often "perfect" versions of the writer, beautiful people with no flaws (read: really annoying!).
Publishing a story with a Mary Sue might not be the best idea ever. Writing one, on the other hand, could be good for you. Taking the time to imagine what the ideal you would be like, what you could be, or do, and how that version of yourself might interact with other people and the world could yield surprising results. Who would you be in a world with no limits?
Once upon a time I participated in NaNoWriMo, national novel writing month. The goal of NaNo is to write a 50,000 word novel in a month. That's less than 2000 words a day. I tend to be wordy when I write; it didn't sound hard. I had a vague idea for a story. With no outline or plan, I plunged in. I wrote 25,000 words the first two weeks. My story was about a person in difficult personal circumstances who had an amazing and vibrant alternate life in another reality that they could access through dreaming. The version of themselves they could see in the dreams had everything they could ever want. My character grew jealous of the dream-life them and set out to kill their other self.
Yeah, it was twisted. As a concept it's not bad. The story itself stunk. Really, really stunk. Like three day old beer vomit on a bar floor stunk. Why? The whole thing was one long Mary Sue from start to finish. A horrible, self-serving Mary Sue.
I could have rewritten the story, being very stringent about ensuring that no Mary Sue-ing happened. I didn't do that. Instead, I looked at that embarrassing piece of writing and tried to figure out how I could use to learn about what I really wanted in my own life. The idealized me had a clothing company, PhDs in several subjects, and was a competitive MMA fighter, among other things. She also had a beautiful home full of handmade furniture and many friends.
Looking at that list of accomplishments, I broke them out into actionable items. If I really wanted to have a clothing design business, I'd have to learn professional pattern drafting. That's do-able. I went to my local college and signed up for fashion courses.
Getting multiple PhDs is not something most people do. It's extremely expensive and labour-intensive. I pondered what the real motivation behind that fantasy was and came up with the simplest answer: I wanted my deep knowledge on many subjects to be acknowledged. I get obsessed with 4 or 5 subjects every year and take in everything I can on them. They tend to rotate on a three or four year cycle. Looking back in my computer files and old notebooks I can track my immersive fascinations with topics ranging from genetic engineering to political science. Does that mean I should invest the time and money in going back to school for those subjects?
Maybe it does. Maybe someday I will. I decided that was the least important thing on the fantasy life list and set it aside.
I signed up for boxing lessons and learned really quickly that I dislike being punched in the head. I took a closer look at the MMA fighter fantasy and found what I really liked about that was the physicality of it. I admire both the discipline and the physique of athletes. Therefore I started working out and running. Washboard abs, here I come!
Having a beautiful ocean front home is beyond my means. I can certainly create beautiful furniture for myself. Goal set: now I have a list of home improvement projects to whittle away at. Watching the incremental changes in my surroundings helps me feel more connected to my home. Seeing things I made on a daily basis reminds me of what I'm capable of on those days when my self esteem dips.
The last item was by the hardest. I don't so much have many friends as I have many acquaintances. I'm not bad at meeting people, I have a lot of trouble keeping up with connections. Randomly call someone and ask if they'd like to have coffee? That's beyond my comfort zone. Presumably everyone gets nervous extending invitations to new people and I shouldn't be scared. It terrifies me. For no reason; I'm generally of the attitude that if you don't like me, you can go fly a kite. That's not to say I want to know someone doesn't like me! Reading up on the subject, I found a lot of information about how to make friends seemed sketchy. Things like mirroring body language and feigning approval of misguided opinions is fake and wrong. It's manipulative and I want no part of it. Guess there's more research to do.
What can your Mary Sue teach you? Go ahead and write up a wild life! See where those daydreams will take you.
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