Monday, January 31, 2011

Writer's Wreference: Mary Who?

This is a link to someone else being smart:

Don’t worry guys, everything isn’t a Mary Sue, by Kelly "Coelasquid" Turnbull.

Kelly is a professional animator who also does the invariably-entertaining webcomic, Manly Guys Doing Manly Things. This essay not only deconstructs the currently-hip notion that any protagonist who bears any resemblance to the author is a "Mary Sue", it also discusses at length how to use Maslow's Hierarchy as a tool to write convincing characters and conflicts.

I thought it needed sharing -- and preserving for future reference.


Cross-Posted to LiveJournal: Mary Who?

1 comment:

SallyP said...

Tht was a very well reasoned article. The term Mary Sue does seem to get thrown around with very little regard these days. On the other hand, there really ARE some horrible examples.

I guess it's like porn. You can't describe it, but you know it when you see it.