A while ago, I have noted a descending opinion on my OC Jessica.
Now, before I start raising myself to a defense position, and brace for impact, i wish to to address what this opinion was about in a more reflective fashion.
A while ago, the opinion of someone came to my attention, as he described my character to be a "Mary Sue." For those of you that don't know what a Mary Sue is (or a Gary Stu for the male gender), it is a character that has EVERYTHING a character could want or need for the sake of wanting or needing such a thing.
Is the character perfect...
too perfect?
Is the character the
sudden attention grabber to the main character in your story?
Is the character one
without flaws (personality or otherwise?)
Is the character one
without challenge (personal or otherwise?) etc. You know her this is going.
I have spoken back to the person about this, and he did bring in a noteworthy response that had be thinking - I MAAAAAAAY have jumped the shark when I made her in description. (Yeah... I'm going to admit that, and I will get it out of my system.) I will NOT hold this opinion against them, but he was RIGHT. In a way, the way how I described her - kind of bent her to a "Mary Sue" trope, and I feel like I should try to ween her down a bit. (Which contradicts mt previous matter of depowering her and the like - BUT I shall address that as well in the journal entry by what I mean with this.)
In my description, I had addressed my OC as "The Ultimate Macro Fantasy" and - I really should have carefully considered those words more thoughtfully. In my haste and delight, I ran a race that I didn't knew existed, and WON - by mistake (basically throwing out hopefuls of winning such a race. Right Analogy? o.o)
Any who, the premise is: I MESSED UP on this. Yeah, I fudged this up, and I feel like I should think of ways to carefully balance her out. See, I LOVE the Omni-Macro fantasy (basically, women that wish to become Gigantic - shouldn't have limitations to their size.) But... what about... TASTES? Personality... looks... etc? In a way, I created her to be MY ideal girl, but I'll be honest about this - I should have done my research, and recalled something called "opinion." Not everyone likes redheads with freckles and a huge bust.
(I do.)
Not everyone likes the idea of endless growth, size, or expansion...
(I do.)
Not everyone likes their girls t be cheery and light-hearted when it comes to being amazingly powerful in size and scale. (Some like them evil.)
(Well... grant it, I do like my share of evil Giantesses, I'll admit - BUT I DO like my girls to also be cheery, fun, and light-hearted.)
Where I'm going with this is simple: I should have considered my description of her. I like that people have enjoyed her debut, and would like to see more of her, but I should
actively try to find a way to ween her off her initial phase of a "Mary Sue." cause the last thing I wish for me to be titled as... IS such.
I did damage to her initially, and I apologize for this - so, hopefully, in the future, I could find a way that I could fix or ween the image a bit here and there (without completely crushing what makes her who she is.) A
start should be on her description first. Maybe I could turn that as something SHE says or describes herself as, instead of having ME (her creator) and basically disillusioning myself that I had created perfection. (Which I didn't.)
My Jessica may be powerful, and beautiful - but she's FAR from perfect, and it should reflect that. She has fears, she has likes, she can get angry, she can be helpful... she does... scare kids when they see a massive Giant Teen. It's the small things that we overlook as creators, and the idea of "Mary Sues" and "Gary Stus" are one danger - many of us should try to avoid. Sometimes it can't be helped initially, but it does help if you can address the problem one step at a time.
I may sound like I'm a condescending douche for speaking about this - but I am honest about this. I won't raise hell to the one that decided to put a mirror in my face, in fact - I shall thank him for saying such. It teaches me that I should explore more of her character before I do thing outwardly without a care. Mary Sues and Gary Stus are the LAST thing I want in my line-up of characters, but it does pay to LEARN from one, so this way, you (or in my case - I) can learn from the mistakes of their creative pasts. It's a small mistake that can have HUGE implications if I don't correct them in the future.
Not many people that get phased into reality say this, but...
I
thank you for your
opinion I won't raise hell, nor will I ask for people to raise pitchforks, torches, and your lynching. You did provide me with an HONEST opinion, and a great lesson to learn all over again.
It tells me that I should think better of my characters, before I send them out there to the world outside. (*I however DO apologize for two things: 1) Mischaracterizing the name of your OC. Really, Cut-and-Paste, even on an iPod, is a true friend. and 2) ... Those... SOUR exchanges you have with people quite often. Yeesh.)