Subject: Re: Ah, I see. I don't see anything wrong with this at all.
Author:
Posted on: 2011-05-04 18:45:00 UTC
Thanks and sure; I'll add "a further reading" section or sources cited section to TGD-SPC-MS101 on the next update.
I just put the standard that Tangodown! will be using as a guideline for what defines Mary Sueism on the website. I tried to make it a bit different from the typical definition, but still encompass it.
http://delta-mike-lima.webs.com/info/TGD-SPC-MS101.pdf
On the FAQs page , I have also written a brief explanation:
http://delta-mike-lima.webs.com/apps/faq/
[...]Thus, under the Tangodown! definition, Mary Sues can be of either gender, and can exhibit traits ranging from the exotic to the mundane; yes, it is just as possible to create a Mary Sue that's ugly, old, overweight, has nothing in common with her creator, is bumbling and can't do anything, and yet still qualifies as one just as much as it is possible to create a Mary Sue that's half goddess and half faerie queen, divinely beautiful, inhumanly proportioned, shares the author's taste in just about everything, and can solve every problem in the story with a flick of her finger. Sure, many people who write them choose to take the exotic, but by the Tangodown! definition, a Sue can be made to undermine the integrity of the story it's in regardless of the traits their author endows them with, can be written by either a fan-fiction writer or a canon author, and can appear in good and bad literature.
A deliberate loophole is left for the ability of the audience to enjoy the story on its own, or other merits. However, often times these are the very same factors that will directly affect the ability of the audience to enjoy the story.
Anyone have any questions or feedback?
My first thought: Redundant, because the PPC Wiki has a very very involved Mary Sue definition already.
My second thought: This is pretty much exactly the same as PPC standard Sue definition, and condensed into a different format from the wiki entry-- simplified for brevity, as well.
My third thought: You have an on-site reference to what is essentially the PPC standard, which is more of immediate glossary reference than redundancy, sort of like an official document. I see lots of these sorts of appendices in official docs I sort, so that almost has an inside-the-fourth-wall implication that just as your spin-off has more of a military spin, so does the supplementary material.
In other words: Just as most branches of the PPC are shaped like themselves (Anime division has tons of anime-like antics, video game division makes lots of game references, lit divisions use literary in-jokes) so is Tangodown! in that respect
Conclusion: Don't see anything wrong with the definition or having it there. You may want to link to the long-format Mary Sue entry on the PPC wiki-though. This is a spin-off, and thus isn't exactly self-contained.
But still, I admire the completeness of the definition, without going into the variation between many individual Mary Sues-- which is what the Wiki is for, anyway and you'd not want to post about in the first place. :)
Thanks and sure; I'll add "a further reading" section or sources cited section to TGD-SPC-MS101 on the next update.