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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/35743
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/35743
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

There are three things that make a Mary Sue. You want to avoid all three of them:

1. The character has a backstory that is desperately tragic, but doesn't encounter serious problems in the story. (This is frequently an attempt to compel readers to feel sympathy for a character without properly earning the readers' investment into the character.)
2. The character is always treated as being morally in the right by your story, even when they are being selfish.
3. The character never runs into a problem in your story that they must struggle to solve.

To avoid writing a self-insert Mary Sue, you need to avoid all three of those issues. Here are some specific questions you can ask yourself to determine whether you're writing a Mary Sue:

- Of the difficult experiences your character has had, do most of them occur during the events of the story itself as opposed to your character's backstory?
- Why do you think readers will care about your character? Do most of your reasons have to do with what happens to your character during the story instead of the backstory?
- Are there any friendly characters that ever disagree with your character's actions? If so, are these friendly characters portrayed as being right or at least having an honest disagreement of opinion?
- Does your character ever make a genuinely selfish decision?
- Do you have any conflicts that your character must struggle greatly to overcome?
- Do you have any conflicts that are resolved by your character becoming more mature or selfless as opposed to using a cool power or relying on an aspect of who they are that was already present at the start of the story?

You want to be able to say yes to all of these questions. If you can't, that's a strong sign that you're writing wish fulfillment, not a compelling story.

I hope you noticed how each of the questions I listed ties into one of the three marks of a Mary Sue at the top of this answer. I do believe that these questions are a practical way of determining whether you're writing a self-insert character. The specific reason these questions work is because they reveal the particular symptoms of a character meant to serve as a vehicle for your own fantasies, not a story with rich meaning.

Original score: 6