Subject: If it makes sense in the setting...
Author:
Posted on: 2009-07-10 02:27:00 UTC
...it's not Sueish. A Sue is a character who warps the established rules and story of the universe the story is set in, not a character who has a certain amount of traits.
I'm currently working on an original fantasy story, and I'm kind of... I wouldn't say freaking out, but I'm definitely worried about Mary Sues and stuff.
To give you the short version, my story takes place during a really rather vicious war between two factions of people, one side of which is conceited to the point of being genocidal. Most of my main protagonists are from the side that is fighting to not be massacred. This catastrophic war has been going on for about a decade.
I know that an angsty past like being orphaned, enslavement, imprisonment, yadda yadda yadda, is one of those little urple flags that go up when it comes to Sueishness. But if most of my protagonists are from a group of people who are seriously in danger of being wiped out, I'd think readers would expect a little suckage in their pasts. What I mean is, does it really count against them, in terms of whether they're Mary Sues?
...it's not Sueish. A Sue is a character who warps the established rules and story of the universe the story is set in, not a character who has a certain amount of traits.
...but I don't really mind characters with angsty backgrounds - depending on how they're handled. I think some of the main problems come from when the angsty past is being used to say either 'no-one has ever suffered like she has! Because she is just that Speshul!', or 'look at how much horrible stuff she's been through! You should all love her and feel sorry for her!'. But I don't think that bad things in a character's past are automatically a sign of Sueishness.
If you're looking for some more detailed advice, you could try checking out limyaael's fantasy rants on Livejournal. She did a number of rants on angst (http://limyaael.livejournal.com/tag/rants+on+angst), including one on how to handle abused characters.
too many, too many, too many. All good, but too many...
I agree on the Sue issue. No worries are required. As long as you get the angst down right, anyway.
If one would expect him/her to not be the only one with that sort of background woe in this sort of setting, it's not Sueish.