Mary Sue Tests

[Daring Dylan]

This is the place to boast how low your score was, wangst about how high it was, or have other author's make you feel better if you go a high score.

Take the test here.

That being said. I just put my character Daryl through the test.

He got an eighty-****ing-three. Excuse me while I bawl my eyes out over that terrible ****ing score. Here's things I took note of while taking the test with him.

-I do find him highly physically attractive, as do others in the story. But it's not because of his looks, but rather how he holds himself with (false) confidence and that's why people are physically attracted to him.

-He was sexually/emotionally/physically abused (as was his twin brother and little sister) by his eldest brother and father.

-He has an identical twin, but his twin dyes his hair white/silver so they don't look completely alike in the story. Their personalities are also very different--MC is a complete and utter dick to everyone but his boyfriend, brother and sister and his brother tries his best to be nice to everyone unless they don't deserve.

-Yes, my character angsts about what he goes through. However, he only tells his boyfriend, brother, and he only angsts internally most of the time and it's usually once in a while when everything hits him really hard or right after another bout of abuse from father/oldest brother.

-He learned how to draw quite easily when he was in the sixth grade. He has a lot of other talents, but he worked hard to learn them. The same going for all the languages he speaks (he taught himself guitar, baseball, singing, German, Spanish, French, and American Sign Language so he could stay at school/the park longer so he wouldn't have to go home).

-He becomes physically handicapped after some crazy guy bashes him over the head with a baseball bat, and it messes up his left hand. But since my MC is ambidextrous it doesn't mess with his art skills too much.

-He is in a committed open relationship (is that possible?) with his boyfriend up until the last book and he has a child for the last two books in my series he has from sleeping with a friend one night while drunk.

-My MC has little sympathy/empathy for others. He only cares about his boyfriend, brother and sister, and (later) his daughter(s).

-We do hold some of the same interests, mostly music wise, but I did that because the type of music I like just fits with his personality better than, say, pop or classical rock.

-He and I are both Atheist, but, again, it fits his personality better than being religious.

-He's bullied for being gay, but a lot of kids in the real world are. I'm bullied for being trans. By my own friends who just call me a 'wannabe boy' and a 'butch lesbian' even though I am dating a guy who considers me his boyfriend. So it's not hard to think a guy would be bullied for being guy by people he doesn't know.

-He's based off of Brian Kinney from Queer as Folk who is my favorite character from the US version.

- I am upset by negative feedback on my character. But I've poured my heart and soul into him for four years and it's basically insulting my child. I don't get up in people's faces about, it, though. If it's legit feedback, I'll thank them and work on making my character better. If it's 'oh, he was stupid for doing blah blah blah' then I'll thank them, but won't change it because that was the exact reaction I was going for.

(Example, his boyfriend's little sister kills herself and he tells his boyfriend to stop trying to 'wake her up' because he can't do anything. While true, that's not something you say to a guy who just walked in on his baby sister bled out in the bath tub)

-I do wish I was more like my character. Just because he handled his abuse better than I ever could and I admire that about him. While he didn't handle it well, it was still better than what I ever did.

I always thought I was good at making believable, realistic characters, but this test makes me think otherwise.

Daryl does suffer the consequences of his actions, though.

Examples
-He develops a drug habit, and sells himself just to afford it. He ends up getting HIV, not from the sex since he's always safe no matter what, but from sharing needles.
-He can't say 'I love you' to Derek, flat out denies he feels that way (even though it's obvious he does), says Derek's nothing but a ****, and Derek leaves him because of it.
-He has ****ing disgusting scars on his right wrist from cutting.
-He gets into fights at schools (it's pretty down the middle if he wins or loses) and gets suspended for it.
-He gets caught high and having sex in the bathrooms and school and almost gets expelled.
-Lots of people don't like him because he acts like a self-centered prick who's better than everyone.

And even though all of that happens, I'm still freaking out of my head because his score is in the Irredeemable Sue category.

Yeah, so... Do you guys love or hate the test? Have some stories to share?

edit: i mean he almost gets expelled not suspended. derp P:

 

[Meg]

I think it depends. Tests are spot on if you read them right. Some questions can be worded weird. I think what it really comes down to is how well you write the character. Even if they have some Sue-ness if you write them well and balance the Sue-ness with Average Joe-ness you'll have a realistic character regardless of what the test says.

Oh and I got a 16 for my character.

 

[Vergil'sBitch]

Nite somehow scored 59. But she isn't someone that i would class as a Mary Sue. TBH, as sad as it sounds, I wouldn't change Nite. At least she is more easy to write for than my new character.

 

[Dante's Stalker]

BOLLOCKS!
Joe got a whooping 122. Haahahahahahahaha!
But he's not a Gary-Stu in the slightest. The questions are misleading and I wouldn't take the results to my head if I were you Dylan. It's like, you tick the box but you don't get another option later on to show that it's NOT a cliché. I think this test is, as it is put, a test to see how much of a Mary-Sue your character is. I think it'd be more encouraging to find a test that gives you results on how anti-Mary-Sue your character is. All characters will be Mary-Sues and Gary-Stus in one form or another.

Like, this question:
Is the an angel or fallen angel?
Yes, but I only picked this option because you didn't give me the friggin option of 'fallen god', thank you very much!
And this one:
Is the character exceptionally powerful, even by the standards of her/his race?
Yeah, but he became exceptionally powerful because he stole something forbidden to his kind. Before that he was just like everybody else trying to claw and kick his way through life. Plus he ends up getting rid of his exceptional powers. So now you tell me, WHERE ARE THOSE OPTIONS?!
And:
Is the character a fashion plate (this applies to any style of dress, from preppie to goth to Western to Elvish, and so on)?
WTF, really, maybe I should let him just be butt naked throughout the whole friggin book, but then that in itself can be seen as a 'fashion plate', especially if it's acceptable dress in the story. :S
And:
Does your (mortal) character appear to be much younger than she/he really is?

Does your (immortal) character appear to be much younger than she/he really is?
He's an immortal turn mortal. Where's THAT option? That's not Gary-Stu, if you ask me (Thor and Damon aside)
And:
Is the character fluent in more than two languages?
More than four languages?
Yeah, but he doesn't actually use them or show off with them in any of the books. Besides, his language vocab only stretches as far as mine does, and speaking four different languages is bloody brilliant if you ask me.
And:

Does the character possesses the following skills, with or without the aid of charms, spells, etc.):
Teleportation
Telepathy
Telekinesis
Pyrokinesis
Prophecy
Healing
Animal communication
Empathy
Shapeshifting abilities
Invisibility
Invulnerability
Flight
The ability to pass through matter
General magic or sorcery
Time travel
Transdimensional travel or communication
Photographic memory
The ability to see auras
Summoning
Power of seduction
The ability to shrug off minor wounds
The ability to kill people with her/his bare hands
Super strength or speed
Skill in martial arts or hand-to-hand combat
Sharp-shooting
Sleight of hand
Computer hacking
But he can only shapeshift and time travel while he's got his powers. When he abandons his power, the only reason why he can still heal and communicate telepathically is because of his blood relation to his brother, whom remains an immortal to the very end of the series. How is THAT Gary-Stu?
Plus, anyone can kill people with their bare hands, and hack a computer, if they put their mind to it, so I don't know why those are even in the list.
Anyway, so my character is according to this test incredibly unoriginal. Yay me! I guess that means I aced the test, considering it's to see how much of a Mary-Sue my characters are, and I got the highest score. You guys should envy me

Sorry some of this is in black, it won't let me change the colour D:
-EDIT-
It didn't copy the checked boxes. This post is turning out really really badly formatted.

 

[Meg]

Try this test:

http://www.springhole.net/quizzes/marysue.htm

Its more fair and gives "De-Sue" questions for you to balance it out.

 

[Dante's Stalker]

^ I got 104 for that one.
What do these people want, a DRONE?

 

[Meg]

^ I got 104 for that one.
What do these people want, a DRONE?

Would it help if I explain the character I put through both those tests and some of the things I counted/didn't count?

 

[Angelo Credo]

^ I got 104 for that one.
What do these people want, a DRONE?

And this is just the thing with the whole Mary Sue label.
People view it as this immediate, inherently bad thing which must absolutely be purged with holy fire, nuclear missiles and low orbit ion cannons.
Thing is, characters can be interesting and fun because of Sue like tendencies, as well as in spite of them.

Dante, for example, is laughably Mary Sue, yet it can more or less be agreed here that he's a fun, interesting character, no? He's basically unkillable, he has no real weaknesses, he probably has endless latent powers and can take on god like demons without so much as breaking a sweat, yet he's still got a very well developed back story, there's still plenty of room for development and he's still an entertaining and enjoyable character to be involved with.

Granted, there are definite points where characters simply cross a line and become eyes roll out of your skull levels of cheesy, but it takes a lot to get to that stage.

The term Mary Sue is horrendously overused and, by extension, the tests are absolute bull.

 

[Meg]

Well since my previous post has been liked by two lovely people I guess I'll do what I offered and explain.

....however I'm leaving soon, so you'll have to wait for my magical explanation.

 

[Ronan]

Well, before Meg offers her magical explanation, I'd like to take the chance to throw my opinion in on the matter. Granted, Mr. Credo has said a big chunk of it, but I still want to throw my hat into this ring because it makes me feel important and intelligent and all of the other wonderful adjectives that go with a post I actually plan in my head.

I remember taking my very first Mary Sue test with Clark. Naturally, with the setting of my novel and the super amazing powers everyone is capable of, she scored high. I can't exactly remember the test, but it rocked my 12-year-old world. I abandoned the work for a little while and began to mope. That's when greatest person in the whole world and my hero noticed, and after putting up with many minutes of "baw", she told me something that stuck with me.

Mary Sues are inevitable. There are always decent, special people that everyone WUVS or FEARS, and anyone who is perfectly balanced is either not of this world or is putting on an elaborate ruse to steal your muffins. My favorite example of the unrealistic expectations is where Bono scored within the Sue range.

Personally, if my character scores as a Sue, I tip my hat and move on. I can make my Sues work.

But I still take these tests so I can read about how Z is a horrible, horrible Sue. ^_^

-gives muffin to any who read!-

 

[Meg]

Would it help if I explain the character I put through both those tests and some of the things I counted/didn't count?

Going off of that (and this applies to the first quiz, not the one I posted),

I used my FAVORITE OC EVER!!!! Whom I have been developing and tweaking for a few years now. Zu'Coni. Love her. *ahem* Anyway.

Names. One of the questions asked if my character had any unnecessary apostrophes in her name. Yes and no. Yes, she does have an apostrophe in her name, but its not unnecessary. Its a cultural thing. Put it to you this way, there are three regions in Zu's story; Region A, B, and C. Region A has normal names like Maira, Fred, Andrew, etc. as well as some normal names with alternate spellings like Derik. Region B uses Js as a vowel like Njn (pronounced "Jin") and Zu comes from Region C where apostrophes in names are common. So I didn't select that option because the apostrophe in her name is not unnecessary, its part of her culture.

"Is your character the last surviving member of their family/race/etc?" She's the last surviving BLOOD member of her family since her father died and he didn't have any siblings. So I didn't pick that one either.

"Is the character a minority?" Yes she's a woman, but I'm to much of a feminist to deny women their rights in my stories. In the world the story takes place in men and women are on more equal footing. So she's not at a disadvantage from being a woman, so me no select that either.

"Is your character educated in a time/place education isn't wide spread?" Eh, yeah she's "reasonably" educated and no its not "widespread," but it isn't a novelty either. People who live in/near cities, like Zu, go to school.

I think you guys get the point. Be sure to pay close attention to the wording of each question and don't think you have to say "yes" because it kinda fits. These tests ask you to take different aspects of your character out of context. Don't do that. Keep it in context and you'll get an accurate score.

Zu'Coni: Or maybe you all just aren't very good at building characters.
Meg: -_____-
Zu'Coni: Oh no! You're making your Lightning face.
Lightning: -_____-
Zu'Coni: Lol
Meg: Shut up, Zu...
Zu'Coni:

-----

That help?

EDIT: I work on my characters a lot and am told they are all really believable and well thought out, so if you guys ever want a second opinion don't hesitate to ask.

 

[Angelo Credo]

-Snip-

-consumes muffin with great gusto-

Wall of text incoming.

Like I said, this is why I don't like the overuse of the term Mary Sue, it's an effectively bastardised term with oh so many negative connotations that people immediately start hating their own creations because some person, or some inaccurate test deemed that this character could be classed as one.
It's impossible to strike an effective balance with every character in a world, some characters are ridiculously powerful because they have to be, some characters possess plot armour which renders them unkillable for most of a story because that's how the story has to play out, some characters are zealous paragons of virtue with nearly no personality faults and some characters are conniving, backstabbing scum bags who are evil for evil's sake because they have to be.

Mary Sue characters inevitably exist in almost all forms of media, but it doesn't necessarily make that character bad. Take movies, take books, take video games, all these forms of entertainment have certain characters that follow certain tropes which are considered Mary Sue-ish and, more often than not, it actually works in the story's favour.

Discworld books, numerous hilariously overpowered/unbelievable/over the top characters, yet it does no harm to the story.
Mangas like Death Note, Blood+, Monster, full of 'em, yet they're still great characters and great stories.
Doctor Who, textbook Sue, still stands as an amazingly well developed, well written, well loved character.

I think you guys get the point. Be sure to pay close attention to the wording of each question and don't think you have to say "yes" because it kinda fits. These tests ask you to take different aspects of your character out of context. Don't do that. Keep it in context and you'll get an accurate score.

This too, context is always important, of course your character that is the last surviving, minority, well learned, well read, educated, intelligent person of your family/race/country/planet/any other denomination is going to sound eye rollingly cheesy out of context, but in context, it all makes sense.

Just because some test calls your character a Mary Sue, doesn't mean that they are if their character makes sense in the context of the world you're writing, and even if your character is a Mary Sue, it's not always a 100% terrible thing.

 

[Dante's Stalker]

Dante, for example, is laughably Mary Sue, yet it can more or less be agreed here that he's a fun, interesting character, no? He's basically unkillable, he has no real weaknesses, he probably has endless latent powers and can take on god like demons without so much as breaking a sweat, yet he's still got a very well developed back story, there's still plenty of room for development and he's still an entertaining and enjoyable character to be involved with.

I just had to quote this. Don't mind me. /fangirl-fangirl

 

[Vergil'sBitch]

Just taken the test from Meg's link.
I got 34 for Nite.
I've noticed that they've included Vulcans. And the only Vulcan's I know are the ones from star trek who have pointed ears. They ask if your character includes traits from their ancestors or parents, well if a vulcan has pointed ears then yes. Its an illigitimate question.

As for Dante being a gary-stu, i agree. But then again, what video game characters aren't?

I like to think that writers put a little bit of themselves into a character, so no matter what way you look at it, a character is going to have a mary-sue element from it's creator.
(If that makes sense, could've been verbal diahorrea for all i know.)

 

[LordOfDarkness]

I took the first test and got 35. I'm pleased with this result

 

[Shadow]

Shade got 90. I LOLed. It went and sobbed in its keg.

 

[Ronan]

Took the test for giggles.

Gabrielle got a 20
Clark got a 21
Alistair got a 17. I'm proud of him!

Honestly, I was expecting a much higher score, especially for Clark. But I still stand by what I said ^_^

 

[Daring Dylan]

I put my other two main characters through the test (and I'm being lazy so I didn't take notes, I may put them through it again over the weekend and do notes).

Derek - 74. He and Daryl are perfect for each other because they're both Irredeemable Sues! Most of the points come from the appearance part. Daryl's the POV character and takes every chance he can to mention Derek's hair or eyes.


Mickey - 52, which is a Mary Sue, and I can apparently save him and still make him a good character. -eye roll- At least it's not as bad as Daryl. One thing that bugged me was the accent thing. He lived in New York for thirteen years, of course he's going to have a bit of an accent from there even though he live in California now. >.<

 

[Meg]

One thing that bugged me was the accent thing. He lived in New York for thirteen years, of course he's going to have a bit of an accent from there even though he live in California now. >.<

Context, man, context!

 

[Drakkar]

104...... <.<