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LeighSabio Mate Griffon To Mare from Love party! Since: Jan, 2001
Mate Griffon To Mare
#1: Jul 30th 2011 at 10:07:25 AM

In the Books and Authors section, there are many wannabe authors asking if their stories are good. I reckon they could use some help from the tropers.

"All pain is a punishment, and every punishment is inflicted for love as much as for justice." — Joseph De Maistre.
jewelleddragon Also known as Katz from Pasadena, CA Since: Apr, 2009
Also known as Katz
#2: Jul 30th 2011 at 10:55:57 AM

Yes, but then we'd have to go on Yahoo Answers.

LeighSabio Mate Griffon To Mare from Love party! Since: Jan, 2001
Mate Griffon To Mare
#3: Jul 30th 2011 at 11:00:04 AM

This one girl had a Mary Sue Classic in the works:

A christian 18 year old girl lives with her old aunt in California. Later on, she discovers that she is diagnosed with a stomach disease. Her parents are dead and she is totally broke and have no insurance. She has no money for any treatment and knows that she wouldn't live very long. Summer arrived and she lied to her aunt that she was going to a summer camp. She gathered up the only money that she had and decided to live her last wish: meeting her favorite actress. While running into her celebrity, she of course have no food or shelter. She ends up staying with the actress. At first, their relationship is pretty tough due to the hectic life of the star. As time passed, she begins to change the living style of the celebrity and leading her to Christ, making the actress realize that life can be simple and still enjoyable. Their relationship became like the relationship of a mother and a daughter. Towards the ending, the protagonist becomes very ill and her actress discovers her sickness. ( She becomes very desperate to find treatment for her fan.) Sadly, time passes by and she takes her last breath leaving her actress continuing the new life that she had begun.

I urged her to Deconstruct the story and not portray the protagonist so perfectly:

t you're in danger of making your main character too persuasive and idealized. There needs to be a plausible reason why a celebrity would take in and be converted by a random fan, and it can't be that that fan is always right or naturally persuasive. Maybe the celebrity is gullible. Maybe the fan is manipulative.

Secondly, why doesn't the celebrity return the girl to her aunt? That would be the more sensible course of action than taking someone in who you don't know. And, for that matter, why doesn't the story show more sympathy with the aunt? Isn't she worried?

This story could be interesting, so long as you don't portray your protagonist as a paragon of virtue. Because she isn't. Judging from your premise, she's reckless (leaving her home without making arrangements for food and shelter), stubborn (trying to convert others to her way of thinking), and a bit manipulative (concealing the fact that she is dying from the actress). Show her to be so. Have others call her out on it. Have her be wrong because of it, and have her change, too, instead of just the actress.

"All pain is a punishment, and every punishment is inflicted for love as much as for justice." — Joseph De Maistre.
CaissasDeathAngel House Lewis: Sanity is Relative from Dumfries, SW Scotland Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
House Lewis: Sanity is Relative
#4: Jul 30th 2011 at 11:25:14 AM

Got a link to this? I need to share so more people can laugh at it!

My name is Addy. Please call me that instead of my username.
Five_X Maelstrom Since: Feb, 2010
Maelstrom
#5: Jul 30th 2011 at 11:42:16 AM

Aww, don't be mean like that! Every good author has done some crap work in their past, and it's all about moving beyond that and improving.

I write pretty good fanfiction, sometimes.
jewelleddragon Also known as Katz from Pasadena, CA Since: Apr, 2009
Also known as Katz
#6: Jul 30th 2011 at 2:46:39 PM

It's just like C Me Dance! Does Satan then show up to thwart her converting plans?

Roboyoshi18 Aren't we clever? from the center of the mind. Since: Jun, 2011
Aren't we clever?
Night The future of warfare in UC. from Jaburo Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Drift compatible
The future of warfare in UC.
#8: Jul 30th 2011 at 7:04:50 PM

[up][up][up] There comes a point where I'm not sure a work can be saved, much less that it should be. I have job/wife/ownwritings so at some point I simply have to cut my losses.

This applies to Yahoo Answers in general at this point, much less most of the work on it.

Nous restons ici.
LeighSabio Mate Griffon To Mare from Love party! Since: Jan, 2001
Mate Griffon To Mare
#9: Jul 31st 2011 at 6:18:17 PM

Wasn't trying to be mean; I was trying to salvage the story, as it seemed it was headed straight down the tubes. Of course, it was probably going to wind up as her Old Shame, as my Mary Sue Classic now is, but she'll never get better if she doesn't get criticism.

Another plot that, while not Mary Sue, is a bit of a Cliché Storm:

A boy and girl who grow up together, as neighbour, quite obviously in love, as they get to the later stages of their teenage years their feelings grow stronger. Although neither wish to ignite or pursue the love as they don't want to risk their friendship. During their teenage years the young girl is always in and out of relationships that don't often work, including an abusive relationship, in which she completely loses trust in herself and her ability to love, which she later gains again as she grows, with the help of the young man. The young man tends to be in not so serious flings that usually start and end within the same weekend, always searching for someone whom resembles the girl he desires. As they leave high school the girl pursues a career in nursing and the boy one in the army. Still neither is willing to admit their feelings until the now man after several marriages and the woman after an extremely tiring marriage and are in their mid 30's are saying farewell once more as the man will be leaving for war the next morning. The woman admits her feelings, and they have one night filled with passion. Three months later the woman hears of the mans death, and cries herself into a dreamless sleep.

I urged the author to put a twist on the story to make it fresh, and warned that it would seem cliche without it:

I think the plotline is similar to those I've seen a lot before. The author would really have to work to make it fresh...there needs to be a twist somewhere.

Some twists:
- The boy is a pacifist. He wants to be a nurse, too, but he's being pushed into the army by overconservative parents, or drafted.
- One of them has a secret fetish, and is unfulfilled without a partner who will be open to it. The other character is the only one who knows. - They both share an interest/obsession with some topic, which becomes a motif in the story.
- Also, it's kind of a gender stereotype that the female romantic lead will have trouble trusting after abuse, and the male will have trouble committing after a bunch of shallow flings. Maybe you could flip that on its head. Make the male character the abused one who can't trust, and the female the one who has shallow flings.
- One or both of them has autism or asperger's, which makes understanding and relating to people hard for them.

edited 31st Jul '11 6:18:36 PM by LeighSabio

"All pain is a punishment, and every punishment is inflicted for love as much as for justice." — Joseph De Maistre.
Five_X Maelstrom Since: Feb, 2010
Maelstrom
#10: Jul 31st 2011 at 6:20:25 PM

You weren't being mean, you're pretty much the only person being polite. Keep it up.

edited 31st Jul '11 6:20:29 PM by Five_X

I write pretty good fanfiction, sometimes.
FallenLegend Lucha Libre goddess from Navel Of The Moon. Since: Oct, 2010
Lucha Libre goddess
#11: Jul 31st 2011 at 9:03:21 PM

I am a Christian and I agree that was a Mary Sue can I help?

Make your hearth shine through the darkest night; let it transform hate into kindness, evil into justice, and loneliness into love.
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