I too made a Stu (Who didn't in his past?), yet I managet to create a good character out of it with some work. It's Agent Sergio Turbo, if you want to check him out.

The old Sergio (character) was a detective and amazingly good rally car driver at freaking TEN years old, had nearly perfect aim, could use ant weapon and drive any vehicle, et cetera.

The current Agent is, well, a PPC Agent of an actually reasonable age (18 at the beginning of the spinoff), has a reasdonable aim (still on the good side, but nothing spectacular), and the only exception to "normal" skills is the "fighter pilot" thing, a little bit needed as one of my "patrol" continua is Ace Combat.

So, with a little work, Mimkana can reform and even become an Agent. You already did the most difficul thing, recognizing her as a Sue. The rest will be a piece of cake.

Welcome to the board! Have a sentient and possibly homicidal computer. They're great at parties.

First off: Welcome to the PPC, have a seat and enjoy the insanity.

Second on: I have, in the privacy of my head, created a few Mary Sue type characters. I would be surprised to discover a person with an active imagination who has never imagined a more perfect and popular version of themself.

There is nothing wrong with characters who Kick Ass, even ones who do so in multiple continuums. These characters, while they likely have at least a few traits in common with Mary Sues, are not neccesarily Mary Sues. It is possible for a good writer to create a character who scores highly on Mary Sue tests that is not, in fact, a Mary Sue.

This may help you feel better: http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20051212 At the very least I hope you will find it amusing. (I know I do.)

I've written/imagined at least half a dozen poorly characterized OCs and two author inserts, even after joining the PPC and constantly being told, "MARY SUE = BAD" twice a week.

I just don't publish them. They still feel like friends. And I still feel guilty.

And I still may try to publish one of them (improved, of course).


So even though I'm the least expert Boarder here, I'm going to say that if you love your character and you're willing to go through the painful "whipping into shape with very critical beta" bits, you could still write about her.

Welcome to the Board! Here, have some chocolate, won't you?

And don't worry about the Mary Sue thing, I myself might have created some... questionable characters. But I was young! Inexperienced!

Hence why I'm working on improving my writing skills... if partially to make myself feel better...

Welcome, new friend! Have a keychain!

Well met, rookie! Please enjoy this comforting goose down blanket as a welcoming present.

We love having new people!

As for the whole Mary Sue-ish aspect... there's actually quite a divide in the PPC about what constitutes a well-written Sue. Some of us here do in fact believe that it is entirely possible to write a Mary Sue character who is actually pretty interesting to read about to other people (though some would argue that she stops really being a Sue once you get there). I know one person who once wrote a character with a ton of God-mod Sue powers that she acquired over the course of a fic, but the powers allowed for a very nuanced characterization, and that was for the better.

I guess the optimist in me says that you could probably keep some of the powers, but make her characterization/reaction to said powers interesting. And when all else fails, hey, Sues stop being Sues when their flaws are explored a little further.

Anyhow... Here, have some Shostakovich for the road:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2W8kGdCwmA&playnext=1&list=PL30ADF3BB551A1AF3

And yeah, I think most of us have been there. There's no reason to be ashamed about it. {= ) There's absolutely nothing wrong with a kickass female character who goes on adventures, even with canon characters, provided she doesn't break said characters or the world while she's doing it. As galenfea says, how people react to the character and how easily she attains her goals is a big part of what makes a Sue, far more than what abilities she has.

As for me, I put my old avatar through character boot camp by putting her in the PPC—specifically FicPsych, where she's part of a team and has bosses, and is not allowed to be the center of attention and get her way all the time, and even the good things aren't perfect. Plus, she can only "fix" the canon characters to be as they are in canon; no redeeming the antiheroes on the side. It's done a world of good, I think. ^_^

~Neshomeh

First of all, welcome!

Secondly, I feel your pain. I also created a character who was a much awesomer version of myself when I was younger, and she went on adventures with all my favourite fictional characters. She was the daughter of a fighter pilot (Biggles, if anyone's familiar with the series) and he often took her along on his missions, where she made herself useful as a radio/radar operator, navigator and occasional medic. She was eleven (my age at the time). In years since then of actively hunting out Sues, I have never seen a worse example.

I still write that character. She's still named after me, still speaks numerous languages fluently, still kicks ass and is still a trained pilot and the daughter of a WW2 fighter pilot, so she's still Suish (she regularly scores as a bad Sue in litmus tests). However, I feel that she's made less of a Sue within her context because of the way others react to her. For example, I recently wrote her in a story where she screwed up and miscalculated several situations, got in trouble for her mistakes and attitude and just didn't have everything go her way. Others may disagree, but I think that makes her less of a Sue.

So I'd say that it's certainly fine that you once created a Sue (I'm pretty confident that most people here can say the same) and it's also OK that you won't drop her (I absolutely understand emotional connection to an old character) and that she may not be as Suish as she seems on paper depending on how you write her :)