There is a name that strikes fear in the hearts of writers and readers alike. The mere mention of this trope has writers and readers hastening to justify their favorite characters. They explain the character's actions and are often desperate to prove a character isn't this trope.

     I am, off course, talking about Mary/Gary Sue.

     We have all heard of this trope before. Usually directed at female characters, it is used as a way to state that a character is too good at everything. For example, Rey from the new Star Wars trilogy has been called a Mary Sue due to the following: she catches on quickly to the force and nearly defeats a Sith Lord without any training, she is an excellent pilot though she is never implied to have flown before, she is a great mechanic even when fixing ships too old for her to know much about them, and somehow she finds Luke when the rebels and New Order have been struggling for quite some time. Put down the pitchforks and torches, people, I'm not here to attack Rey. Or any other kick butt strong female character. Well, maybe just a little, but only if they really deserves it, in my not so humble opinion. *Shrinks lower in fortress and holds onto book for dear life.* Look, guy characters can have this problem as well, but it has become attractive recently for guy characters to be flawed. Most people presume a flawed character cannot be a Sue. Therefore, most of the scorn is directed towards female protagonists, as few are willing to give their female protagonist flaws. This likely comes from the fear of being labeled a sexist, even if you are actually that sex yourself.

     For those worried about or wondering if their character is a Sue, I'm going to outline what a Sue is, what separates Sues from simply talented characters, why they're despised, and how to turn a Sue character into a non-Sue character.

     Most often, a character is called a Sue if everything comes to easily to them. Again, this is usually in reference to female characters. As I mentioned before, Rey from Star Wars has been criticized and labeled a Mary Sue due to her proficiency in pretty much everything. For those of you panicking, this is not actually what classifies a character as a Mary Sue. Officially, a Mary Sue is used to signify a character who, to quote OverlySarcasticProductions, "bends the universe around them." The original Mary Sue was a Star Trek fanfiction character named Mary Sue. She was better at everything than all of the actual Star Trek characters. All of the characters are written out of character to maintain the character of Mary Sue. Based on the original Mary Sue, a Sue is a character who is the central character for no real reason. In my opinion, if there is a reason the story has to have a certain character be the protagonist to maintain the story, then I don't think that character is a Sue.

The reason the Sue trope seems to pop up everywhere is because every protagonist is extremely talented at usually several things. Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender has the ability to use all four elements and the deus ex machina Avatar State. Is he a Sue, no? Consider Harry Potter for a moment. Harry Potter is definitely talented, but he isn't a Sue. He can't be a Sue because the story really has to revolve around him because he's the Chosen One and Voldemort is constantly gunning for him. If the events of the series remained mostly the same, the story would be boring if any other character were the protagonist. By story, I don't mean the literal plot; I mean that every main plot point (finding clues, fighting the bad guys, etc) is intact. If Hermione were the main character and everyone else (and her) was the same, the story wouldn't hold up. How would Voldemort find an apparently normal Muggle child to kill her parents? How would she even survive this without the magical sacrifice of love that serves as Harry's plot armor? Hermione would be a Mary Sue because she wouldn't just be the brain. Everything would happen to her for no apparent reason. Without Harry, neither Ron or Hermione would have done half the things that happened. Characters would have to be distorted for everything to still happen. This makes Harry the central character. Without him, the story really couldn't progress. 

Now consider Twilight. Bella Swan is pretty much incapable of doing anything interesting. Based on popular opinion of what a Sue is, most people would say Bella Swan is not a Sue. She has no talents. However, again based on the original Mary Sue, I believe Bella is a Sue because the story could be just as compelling (if not more so) if told by any other supporting cast character or protagonist. This is proven by the fact that Stefanie Meyer wrote Midnight Sun, a partial rewrite of Twilight from Edward's perspective. She was able to take her first book and, without changing the plot, write it from the point of view of another character. Personally, I enjoyed Midnight Sun way more than Twilight because the Cullen's are so interesting. Honestly, I was way more enthralled by Alice and Jasper's relationship than the actual focus of the book. (Alice and Jasper are my favorites!)

        Anyway, um, back to the article.

     By this definition, the Mary Sue doesn't even have to be the main character or--as I said before--a girl. Jace from The Mortal Instruments is not the main character, and he's a guy, but I feel he's a Sue. He excels at everything. The other characters--including Clary--do very little to help him. He is the central character. Everything interesting happens to him, and he accomplishes nearly every great feat on the story. Worse, like the original Mary Sue, every character is constantly discussing how great Jace is. Several characters are crushing on him, they all (including Jace) talk about how hot and good at fighting he is. Valentine and Sebastian--the villains--act like Jace is incredible. Sebastian even complains that Valentine always thought Jace was better that Sebastian. That is what I think makes a Sue.  Not the level of talent of a character, but whether they are always the most important/most focused on character in the story.

Often when there is a Sue in the story, no one else is allowed to do anything impressive. All attention must be devoted to the Sue. Back to Harry Potter, he has great supporting characters. His supporting is often allowed great feats, sometimes even more so than Harry. Sometimes even extremely minor characters (Kreacher and Dobby come to mind) save the day instead of Harry. As the central character, Harry Potter has to be the main character, but he couldn't have won without everyone else.

   For those of you still wondering if you've written a Sue, answer these questions.

1. Consider whether the character has to be the central character, by which I mean the character the story revolves around? Are they central because of who they are/what they do? Are they the chosen one? A lost member of royalty?

2. Is your character the only important character? As in, are they the character doing the important things (such as fighting the antagonist, saving the day, normal hero stuff)?

If the answer for number one is no, then you probably have a Mary Sue. Think of Avatar: The  Last Airbender. Aang is the Avatar, so he has to be the central character. Everyone is either hunting him or helping him. The story starts when it does because he wakes up and decides to train to take on the Fire Lord. On Avatar: The Legend of Korra, however, the story doesn't need Korra. Korra could go away and not much would change. Korra's decisions are not the driving force of the series. The story could revolve around any other character without compromising the story, so I think Korra is a Sue. Lord of the Rings revolves around Frodo because he is given the ring and he agrees to destroy it. Aang and Frodo aren't Sues because they have to be the central character. As such, we expect them to succeed. We also understand that, as the central or most interesting character, certain things are supposed to work themselves out for them. I think this is a big reason why stories with female protagonists are often criticized for having a Mary Sue as the protagonist. Girl stories often don't have chosen ones, lost queens, or characters who have to be the protagonist. It seems a little odd that Katniss, a random girl from District 12, has a lot of things work out in her favor, even things she and her allies couldn't control. For female protagonists, though, they solve this central character problem by having some rare ability or type of person (Divergent) be what makes someone the central character. That is perfectly acceptable as well.

If the answer for number two is yes, then you probably have a Mary Sue. A great supporting cast is an almost sure-fire way to ensure your character isn't a Sue. This is a big reason Rey in Star Wars is criticized. She is pretty much the main character. Kylo Ren (the villain) is the only other character who receives even close to the screen time and development she does. The original Star Wars had three central characters: Luke, Han, and Leia. Without each other, each would have failed. Luke destroyed the Death Star, but Han had to come back and cover him. Leia got the plans from the Empire and into R2D2. Even so, Luke and Han had to rescue her. They all needed each other. Even together, they would have failed if not for R2D2, C3PO, Obi Wan, Lando, the Ewoks, and the rebellion. Rey, however, seems to carry the entire Force Awakens by herself. 

The same goes for Calaena Sardothian. Even if your character has to be the central character for aforementioned reasons, they still shouldn't be the only important character. This is especially the case when another character would be better suited to complete this plot point. Again with Harry Potter, it wouldn't have made sense for him to solve the Wizard Chess challenge in the first book because he wasn't raised in the wizarding world, despite his being the Chosen One. Harry and Hermione needed Ron. Harry then needed Hermione to solve the Potions Challenge, as he was rubbish as potions. Harry's being the Chosen One really only affected his direct fights with Voldemort. Even then, often the sacrifices of others saved him so he could, in the end, vanquish Voldemort. In your story, it doesn't matter what sort of awesome powers your central character has, or any character has, no one should do it alone. They could, but it would make the story pretty boring. That's also why some deaths infuriate people in certain shows or books. In Batman V. Superman, Superman didn't have to carry the *massive spoiler* to kill the *massive spoiler*. He could have given it to Wonder Women. That's why when he *massive spoiler*, fans were upset. He wasn't only central character, which would have been fine, but they made him the only important character. It felt like a cheap way to manipulate audience's feelings. Then they don't even keep the consequences so it feels like a complete ploy.

Basically, a well-written protagonist should be the central character and shouldn't be the only important character. If both are true for your protagonist, then it's unlikely you have a Mary/Gary Sue. If either isn't true, you probably should look at why that is the case. Something to consider as well is whether the character drives the plot forward. This has nothing to do with a character being a Mary Sue . . . this is just about making an interesting character to read about.

Of course, don't change anything just because I said it makes a character a Sue. Lots of people love stories that happen to have a Sue in them. Most people don't even know what makes a Sue a Sue. The point of these articles is for authors to consider these tropes and, if they're interested, learn some ways to "break" them. Besides, I wrote most of this article in the middle of the night while binge drinking sweet tea, so I might be crazy. (I probably am.)

Okay, this one is from @Ellowyne

"So, we all know writing a first book is hard enough but what about its sequel? What if the sequel is a (mostly) self-contained story (so different conflict/villain/main character)."
As the author of many sequels (most of them self-contained/standalone), I think I'm  qualified to answer this. I'm not sure if you mean your sequel has a different conflict and villain and main character, but if so, my advice is actually pretty simple. Write it like a new book set in your world. My Rivals Saga has a lot of these kinds of sequels. Basically, go through most of the same work you did to write the first book, but don't worry as much about the world building. You've already done that, I hope, of this is a sequel. Now, if only one of those things have changed, it's a little harder. In a sequel with the same protagonist, you have to include any growth from the first book. There are some books or TV shows with static characters (most Disney Channel shows, Pretty Little Liars, and Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu come to mind). In most novels and shows for adults or young adults, though, growth is expected through every complete arc. So, in a trilogy with the same conflict, people expect a more gradual character growth/development than in a standalone novel. Of course, you might not have any growth for your character, which is absolutely fine. That makes it easier to write the sequel. You don't have to worry about having your character who learned a big lesson about pushing people away then not being able to push people away. You can write them exactly the same.

     If the protagonist is different, but the villain and conflict are the same (something I find incredibly intriguing), follow my first tip. Create a new character. Develop them. Write their story like a new book just in your world. If the conflict is a revolution or the villain is a dictator, have the events of the previous book precede this one.     

I really hope this was helpful! Remember, ask the writing fairy today to have your question answered!

Check out this week's top 5:

Siena by Zoe_Blessing

The Fourth Protector by BriBaker415

Dragon Tamer by EstherDramaQueen

The Hollow Ball by simranm17

The Talisman by ESJohnson

Favorite fantasy creature?

What inspired you to write your fantasy book? Was it a book, movie, your own life experiences, etc?

What or who did you base your main character's personality or name off of?

Coming up with your own fantasy languages, anyone?

Wizards, elves, fairies, oh my! Are they good or are they evil?