How to Avoid Writing a Mary Sue Character
She’s beauty, she’s grace, she’s just another pretty face… in other words, she’s a Mary Sue and she’s ruining your story, dude. Sure, you want to avoid creating a Mary Sue. But how can you avoid this trope if you don’t know what actually defines a character as a Mary Sue? If you’re not sure, you’re def not alone. See, the ‘Mary Sue’ title is slung around so much, the term itself has lost its true identity. So what is a Mary Sue/Marty Stu trope and, most importantly, how can you avoid creating one in your story? I’m getting to the core problems of the Sue/Stu character, without mentioning names. Why am I avoiding showing an exhibit of examples? Because a big issue the Mary Sue trope is facing is the pointing of fingers. We lose the sense of the term the more we point and say “LOoK AnOthEr mArY sUe!” Simply disliking a character does not a Mary Sue make. The point of this article is to help you identify Sues/Stus without playing to the surface. We’re going deep, people. Getting to the real issue with this trope. So put on your diving masks and let’s break this trope wide open. The Mary Sue/Marty Stu Breakdown First of all, let’s talk about what a Mary Sue/Marty Stu is NOT: A Mary Sue/Marty Stu is not a typical, basic or repeat looking character. Now, I know some peeps would say run-of-the-mill looks would fall under the Mary Sue category, but that’s where we start losing the meaning of the word. Sure, having a basic looking character may not be...
8 Creative Outlets You Can Try (Besides Writing) to Help Bring Your Fictional World to Life
Doesn’t it feel sometimes like the more you put pressure on yourself to write, the less you seem to accomplish with your story? Sometimes it’s necessary to walk away and give yourself a little break from smashing the keyboard. But what if you don’t want to lose that connection you’ve built with your story? What if there was another creative way to bring your fictional world to life that didn’t require writing? Well not only is there another way, there are eight other creative ways to keep that connection and bring your fictional world to life. Today I’m sharing those eight alternatives you can try as well as a few suggestions from teen writers like you who share their own creative alternatives and why they love them. So roll your sleeves up and break out your craft bin, because it’s time to bring your story to life in a whole new, exciting way! 1. Painting/Drawing Painting is a relaxing and even therapeutic way to express yourself creatively. From oils to watercolors, you have a variety of mediums at your disposal to have fun with. Drawing also can be a great way to bring the world you’ve imagined to life. But how can painting/drawing keep you connected to your story? Painting/drawing is an awesome way to enhance your world building process. You can paint a map of your world in epic watercolors or draw a scene in your story. You can paint that sick monster that lurks in the ocean near your fantastical city or sketch your main character. You can also paint/draw something your main character would paint/draw if...
Why Every Teen Writer Should Write a Short Story (and How to Write your Own!)
When I first started getting into writing at age eight, I dreamed of writing one big novel. You know the type: hundreds of pages, thousands of words, countless imaginative worlds, a bundle of characters and one big super idea that shared a powerful, totally unique message with the world. I imagined a novel so fat that it could be used as an anchor for a ship. You know what happened to that story? I started it. Never finished it. But, yeah, I started it, and it’s still somewhere in my attic collecting dust. Poor novel. Never got to live his dreams of being an anchor. So why did I give up on my big, ambitious dream novel? Because I started too big too soon. As a young writer yourself, you might have the same ambition: write an epic novel. And honestly I believe you can! But don’t make the same mistake I made. Don’t start your writing career by writing that epic novel. Why not? I want you to picture that novel like a video game: if you skipped ahead to the boss battle, you wouldn’t have the tools, the upgraded weapons, the boosts that you gain from defeating lighter bad guys. Those lighter battles prepare you for the big guy and are just as important as defeating the main boss. By starting out with such an ambitious project, you could unintentionally intimidate yourself into giving up– or worse– lose faith in yourself. You can’t hop into a massive novel without writing a few short stories first. WHY Write a Short Story Neil Gaiman said about...
3 Reasons Why you Must Allow Yourself to Write a Crappy Story
Your goal?: to write THE BEST STORY THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN. But you’re not going to write the best story the world has ever seen. Not yet anyway. Before you DO write the best story the world has ever seen, you have to write not one- but MANY- crappy stories first. Chuck Jones (famous for animating dudes like Bugs Bunny and Wiley Coyote) said, “You have a million bad drawings in your pencil, your job is to get them out so the good ones can follow.” This fundamental truth can be said about ANY creative process– including writing. But why write crap if you want an amazing novel? Shouldn’t you just write your best work all the time in order to achieve greatness? Here’s the Problem: Society believes in burying the crap and sharing only the gold. So all we see is gold and we don’t believe crap exists, period. But that toxic process teaches us to fear failure, even to hate failure. The “bury crap, share gold” mentality subconsciously trains us to avoid mistakes like the plague and only produce perfection– all the time. So, we hiss and scorn our ugly duckling projects and hide them until they are beautiful swans. And that’s just bogus! Today, I’m smashing that concept because I’m sick of it. I’m instead talking about how producing crap (and embracing it) is the best thing you can possibly do for your writing career today. There are, not one, but three reasons why making mistakes and writing a crappy story is the most important goal you should have as a young writer. So...
3 Fundamental Storytelling Techniques Teen Writers Can Learn From One Amazing Video Game
Wouldn’t it be awesome to just plug ourselves into the wall and write nonstop for 24 hours a day 7 days a week? First of all, NO because that’s crazy and secondly, I’m glad we don’t run on batteries because I’m happy to run on tacos. But when you’re not writing, there are other creative outlets that inspire you to brainstorm and get back to writing. For you, that creative outlet might be Monopoly (you monster), or maybe it’s reading (you nerd, I like you) or maybe you’re like me and you like to play video games. Now, some look down on video games like they’re nothing more than brain-dead, button-mashing, obesity-inducing competency traps that suck the potential out of all teens. But those peeps would be wrong. DEAD wrong. Why? A) Because these peeps swear every video game out there is either Call of Duty or Fort Nite. B) And because these peeps don’t understand that video games have advanced so far in the last couple of years, that writers like you and I have much to learn from their storytelling techniques. Maybe you’re one of those peeps who still feels turned off by the very word “video games” and are ready to write this article off as a joke. But again, you’d be wrong to do that. Brian McDonald, author of Invisible Ink, a sought-after instructor and storytelling consultant, has instructed video game companies, like Sony Interactive Entertainment, to build strong storylines into games: Brian shared his priceless insights with a team determined to create, not a brainless button-masher, but a truly...I’m Rae Elliott: Author, Blogger, Geek
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