I took the first test on a vampire character I'm going to write about and got a 33 I don't know if it is bad or good. But I was kind of happy she is nothing like me!

I have sueaphobia.
I wrote this god awful fanfiction when I was 12-13 and the main character was basically the definition of a mary sue. I've ran her through that litmus test for fun before (in recent years) and she got like, a 91. XD
GODAWFUL.

I ran one of my newer characters through it earlier today - my most questionable one with the most sue potential. He got a 12. XD
On the other quiz, he got a ten.
Both quizzes say I need to flesh him out more. But really, they're just not asking the right questions about him.

My mary sue from four years ago on the other hand.... XD

Wow, a 91? That's... actually kind of awesome. XDD

When I was in elementary school, I wrote several EPIC self-insertion fics. I wonder, can you even qualify a fic version of yourself with superpowers as a Sue, or does it get its own, very special category?

Yeah. There were a few de-sueifiers about her that weren't mentioned on the test. Like the fact that she fucked up a lot, and had a few nervous breakdowns. But she was still a flaming sue.
Her name was a variation of my name (My name is Christy and hers was Crystal); she was WAY too young to be in the job she was in; it was a fanfic and all the main cast knew her, and one had a crush on her (the character I had a crush on); she had the raised-by-adoptive-parents-but-she-didn't-know-that thing; her parents died tragically, which she witnessed, but had repressed; she had a bunch of the same likes as me; had a vindictive villian and rogue organization after her; etc. etc.
It was bad. XD
Not to mention that the whole story came to be after me daydreaming about being in the show I was fanficcing. XD If that isn't self-insertion, I don't know what is.

And I think it gets its own category. Things like that and what I just talked about... Those are Super Sues.

It's horrible, but now I want to make an illustration of this Super-Sue. XD She'd have rainbow-hued hair, gem-like eyes, alabaster skin, some kind of badass weapon, and of course, modest-- but alluring!!-- clothing. Sparkly magic shoots from her hands as she flies gracefully over a crowd of her admiring (and hot) male fans.

Yay!
I got 16 points for Melantha in my Hellboy II fan-fiction.
^^

-dances-

I'm happy with my characters. I'm actually surprised that some of them got low scores.
The main character for my book got a sixteen or something on the first test, I don't really know what it'd be on the second.
My ranger got a sixteen, which pleased me :3 All her mental illnesses and such helped de-sue quite a bit.
Cornelious...Well, I'm just a little surprised he got a negative four. -pats his head- Poor Lorefaun.

Well, actually don't like using those things because... well, a lot of the questions aren't exactly the same meaning for me. Like the whole would you date/be friends with your character as a point towards Mary Sue-ness. Yea, I've been friends with all kinds of people and if I make them human, I usually like them, even if they're villians of other people would hate them.

(That and most real people if they take the test, ignoring the 'character like the author' questions, are Mary-Sues, Myself included, and I'm not a 'I'm so great' sort of person. Most of my points come from 'traumatic' events and my own weird quirks.)

Basically, for the most part they work great, but there are a lot of circumstances that wouldn't make them Mary Sue-ish or would be fitting in the environment, which is seriously why I've given up on them. I don't write stories where the Mary Sue tests would be accurate.

I did one for a side character I was writing in a story and got a 30. However, I just started the story, and does it count when all the other characters have a feature? They all have a certain tattoo, weird names and speak three languages. It's sort of a job requirement... I also couldn't decide if she had a temper but decided she was actually VERY even tempered later.

Originally Posted by fairywaif

I did one for a side character I was writing in a story and got a 30. However, I just started the story, and does it count when all the other characters have a feature? They all have a certain tattoo, weird names and speak three languages. It's sort of a job requirement... I also couldn't decide if she had a temper but decided she was actually VERY even tempered later.

If your character has these skills as a job requirement, then they aren't Sues. Honestly, would you chastise someone for being competent and knowledgeable in their work field?

"Mary Sues" may be good or bad depending on what you mean by that. There are only 4 personality types after all, and every real human being is either one of the four, or else a blend of them. In that sense, every human being on earth is pretty cliche.

The failure comes in where people simply copy characters from this or that story (or movie/tv series), or else when they make character TYPES instead of full fledged characters. (Such as the moody stoic. That, my dear writers, is a character TYPE. If you call that a character, give yourself a slap on the wrist, and try again.)

This is reason #856 why writing is something that not just anyone can do successfully or well. It actually takes skill (to say nothing of real-life knowledge) to make deep, realistic characters. If just anyone could do it by throwing a bunch of traits and incidents together, we'd all be rich authors.

But to say that the cliche is bad or that this or that set of traits is bad... you're just passing the blame for lack of skill. A good writer could make a good character out of just about any cliche. A bad writer could mess up the best of them. Knowing the difference (between good and bad characters) and placing the blame where it belongs without making excuses, is vital.

Inner critic: -taps stick in hand with menacing look-

Me: -points to the critic- You've got to get yourself one of these... ^.^

I have a peeve here about the whole Mary Sue phobia anyway in addition to my hatred of these lithium tests...

Your original characters are NOT "Mary Sues" unless they are being put in someone else's universe. If they are in the universe you've created they're "Darlings".

Additionally, to me a Mary Sue isn't a Mary Sue unless she "overshadows the canonical cast and becomes important or loved to every canonical character".

I agree. I think many good books could be considered Mary Sues, but they're original characters, or so well liked people overlook it.