rate_review Reviews

Heh heh... nicely done. Well, I found that incredibly amusing and quite funny. Good job!

Heh heh... nicely done. Well, I found that incredibly amusing and quite funny. I rather enjoyed it. Good job!

I have to admit that I also seldom read past a prologue or first chapter which introduces a flawless creature of a character - and nothing else. This is, because in 99% of the cases the creature turns out to be an insertion of the wanna be self of the author, which takes over the whole story, has no depth at all and is badly written on top of it - and not only the creature, but the story as a whole. Why waste my time? I don't think a well thought out original character is a Mary Sue. But usually, you can determine that in the very first chapter. Because non-Mary Sue OC doesn't take over the first chapter. The author doesn't rant the first three pages about her uncompared beauty and her godlike magical abilities. If you write porn, you can write Mary Sues all you like. Because porn doesn't care about plot. You want to read about two beautiful people going at it, call them Mary or Gary or Snape. If you write a story, that's a completely different matter. Readers (or at least me) want to read plot. I have no interest reading fifty pages of the author describing her private fantasies of shagging Draco Malfoy - or taking over the world with him as her sycophant. I like to read stories in which the canon characters stay in character - because that's the reason I read HP-fanfiction and not original stories. I once read a story which had Severus Snape hexing every stupid veela like creature which knocked on his door. Now, that was IC. Do you think canon Snape would shag Mellissa? Perhaps to discard her immediately after. But in a typical Mary Sue story he would fall in love with her, send her roses, marry her, have ten beautiful kids and live happily ever after - after she defeated Voldemort single handedly with their pure love of course.
Perfect characters are just bad characters, and even while your story was well written and amusing I would not want to read more about Melissa - except in a PWP. And isn't that the aim of an author - to attract readers to their story? Because if you can't attract readers, your writing is flawed. If I tell authors their character is a Mary Sue, it's not to discourage them from writing. It's to help them improve their writing and to nourish their talent. I think fanfiction is a big playground where you can challenge yourself to become a good writer. But you can only do that if your readers point out your flaws. For me, constructive criticism is ten times more welcome than any review which says "Great story! Continue!". Because this one will help me to write something worthwhile. The latter will stroke my ego, but tell me nothing about my talent.

Oh god, I love it. Apparently the only way to get the "Mary Sue Police" to shut up, is to beat them at their own game.

HA! I liked it! A wonderful little spoof on the grumbles out there.

If you\'d like to know, from where I come from, the \'creators\' of characters and such are called, TAA (The Almighty Author) In case you choose to ever satire again, or even to add onto this one, I\'d think it\'d be a hoot!

Ari

Loved this! :) I for one am sick and tired of Mary Sue\'s in the vein that your parody so eloquently mocks. This bit was overdue! Thanks for the relief!

I enjoyed this piece very much. I love your humor.

Howlingly funny! Not only did you state your case fairly enough for original characters, but you masterfully skewered the tendency towards overly purple passages of prose that haunt this genre. The only thing missing was a description of the Diet Coke as \"amber liquid!\"

I\'m not a big fan of Mary Sues, personally, because they\'re usually just replacements for Hermione or Ginny (or Hooch or Sinistra or Pansy or someone else we know - heck, why not give Susan Bones or Professor Vector something to do? They\'re open for interpretation and character development.). However, I have read some stories where an original character was inserted to great effect, usually as a supporting cast member to add some fresh angle that JKR had not supplied. rwisrwise, IMO, OCs should live primarily in their own world in completely original stories.

In any case, I am not a member of the M.S.P., and I will defend to the death your right to write whatever pleases you.

Rock on!

It\'s funny because it\'s *true*! BRAVO!

Good for You!!! It\'s about time someone stood up for good old Mary Sue. She\'s everyone of us that loves a good fanfic.