#marysue

Possibly these authors think that say, having a character acquire wings is an instant Sign Of Worthiness? Because fluffy wings are always angelic, right? Right? What they don't seem to realise is that anything, ANYTHING, which sets someone apart can be (re)interpreted as a Sign Of Evil. Angelic wings? Sure. "Those wings! They are an unholy union of man and beast!" Former normal-human now treated as a non-person. There are no Signs of Worthiness. (Personally, I think Mjolnir is a bit dodgy. What Odin might consider Worthy is probably not what the rest of us would...) I am reminded of the bit in "The Princess and Curdie", where Curdie asks the Grandmother to give him a sign that he might recognise her by, and she refused, saying that then he would learn how to recognise the sign, rather than knowing how to recognise *her*. It's a lot more work to evaluate a person than it is to evaluate a sign. Signs are easy. Signs separate the we from the not-we. Signs mean you don't have to *think*. #Fiction #Writing #Fanfic #MarySue

Looking at fanfic just now, I've realised there are two things in summaries which are an instant "skip this fanfic":

1. MCU fanfic where the author does not know the difference between "rogue" and "rouge".

2. Harry Potter (crossover or AU) fic in which Harry is renamed to something exotic, such as "Hadrian", "Hardin", "Harina" etc. This is a sure sign of a canon!Sue. I don't object to renaming as such -- you need to rename if you're gender-changing, for example -- but choose something just as plain-and-boring as Harry, such as "Harriet".

Do y'all have instant-skip triggers for your fiction reading?

#Fiction #Fanfic #CanonSue #MarySue

Which brings me again to wondering... why do some writers feel that giving someone an exotic name makes the character "special"? (And why does the character have to be "special" anyway?) And all those other... appendages and attachments which are given to Mary-Sue characters, like purple hair and wings and royal descent... I mean, why? Or maybe I'm just baffled because I live in a mostly-classless society where one's parentage is completely irrelevant compared to one's own achievements? Maybe the authors think that being born an aristocrat really is Something Special? #MarySue #Fanfic #Fiction #Writing