How do you know whether you're writing an escapist character or a Mary Sue?

I want to write an escapist character but I have no way of knowing if it's like the description says "the audience's fantasy" . I don't know who my audience is so I just write as if I'm the audience.

But then it occurs to me that sounds like Mary Sue. So I try to make sure and give her some more flaws and weaknesses, a big part of the plot is her giving up something that means a lot to her and then having to face a challenge of something she's bad at to get it back.

How can you write an escapist character without it being a Mary Sue?

It really depends on who your intended audience is. A Mary Sue is someone the author made implausibly flawless or as an idealized stand-in for themselves. It does not matter how flawed a Mary sue is, it's the story they're placed in.

An escapist character however is an ideal that is common enough for its audience that they see themselves in it, hence the escapism.

"An authors first main character is always themselves, either as Jesus or Faust."

Is your main character a pure, spotless angel who can literally do nothing wrong and only the Big Bad doesn't like her (read: kiss her feet just for existing)? If she has no flaws (or token flaws like a colicky temper or overeating) and to see her is to love her and to know her is to worship her, THEN she's a sue.

Edited by dvorak on Dec 2nd 2019 at 10:01:50 AM

Another common factor is that Sue characters make the entire story revolve around them. Nobody else can have the spotlight, nobody who disagrees with them can be right or good, everyone either has to love them or hate them, but either way it's always about them.

Give the other characters their own lives, motives, feelings, abilities and moments, and don't shy away from making the main character wrong sometimes.

She isn't really perfect and a few of the people in the club she's in don't care for her. And a few are neutral to her.

She's kind of a brat sometimes and she nearly gets in a fight when someone calls her "attention seeking" because of her hair. She is manipulated into doing something foolish tho the manipulator is more magically powerful than her.

She's good at a lot of magic but terrible at fighting magic which at one point is a hurdle to the plot.

And technically she fails at a big goal of hers in the story but ultimately realizes/decides it doesn't matter.

Doesn't sound like a sue at all, then.

Indeed, as described that sounds like a potentially interesting character, I think. ^_^

I think writing comes first. No matter how you write your story, you can be a sue. Since the standards for suedom can be subjectively applied to every main character that has even existed. Some of the most valuable and well known characters count as Sues/Stus (Iron Man and Captain America, Star Wars Rey, Elsa and Anna, Hermione, etc) and anyone can list off traits that will condemn your characters as Sues.

Ultimately it's just best to discard "suechecking" until the first draft is finished. Otherwise you'll be doubting every trait you give your characters until they boil down to an inoffensive self-nerfed nobody who drags through the story out of fear of coming off as self absorbed. Some of the Sueiest traits are also the best when executed in a manner your intended audience likes.

escapist character are to a sense idealized and the line that divide the two is VERY thin, is why superman for example is hard to write because he is a) too powerfull and b) too damn nice, but people lach on the wishfull fulliment aspect of him being this pseudo good god.

I will said the diferent is hard, but mary sue is more about praising the character than anything else, to the point she/he can do all it wanted and suffer not repercution.

In short, if you want a escapist chararter, ask yourself: what is general feeling you want to show with this chararter? badassery? moral rightness? after all ideal chararter are the one you love ironically.

I've been worrying about this myself a bit as of late with my own work. I'm glad someone addressed the question. After reading the feedback, I feel less insecure about my character being a 'Mary Sue'.

Also double-thanks to all the discussion on streamlining the explanation of a Mary Sue.

Isn't it also very subjective whether a character is a Mary Sue or not? It seems to me like people often use it for characters, which they don't like.

Edited by Kickisan on May 18th 2020 at 3:23:56 PM

Easiest litmus test I have:

Is your character meaningfully challenged?

As long as you can reasonably see your audience asking "How will they get out of this?" on a consistent basis, then you've avoided a Sue.

Thank you! I'll have to remember that.