A few days ago, someone (no, you won't get names because I protect my sources) pointed me to a story where I still don't quite know if it's absolutely hilarious or horrific. It's Stargate, and it probably contains the worst Stargate Sue (or maybe even Sues) I ever came across. Okay, usually, I steer clear off Sues in general (with a very special exception... the person in question knows who I mean ;)), so that's probably not saying much but seriously... Worst. Sue. Ever.
However, I felt quite content with simply reading it and oscillating (isn't that a great word?) between laughing my ass off and visibly flinching in horror. But then I came across a detail that played into one of my areas of expertise (well, hobby expertise) and that's everything that has to do with characters with a military background. I tried to tell theperpetrator suethor aspiring author that if she includes characters with a military background she should damn well do her research right but she kept telling me stuff that didn't have anything to do with my observations and dared to tell me I didn't pay attention to her excuses explanations. And yes, I couldn't help getting a little bit acerbic in my last reply (yes, a little... when I flame, it looks totally different, believe me).
Today... I got called on by a mod that "everyone could write as they please and GOD FORBID SOMEONE CRITICISES SOMEONE ELSE INSTEAD OF FALLING ALL OVER THEMSELVES WITH PRAISE (okay, not in that exact wording but you get my meaning, right?). People... what happened to growth as an author? What happened to accepting someone's exhaustive advice and maybe even asking for more information on a matter I obviously am not quite as firm in as I thought (or simply abandoning a part of my characters' background that doesn't interest me instead of stubbornly going on as if I knew everything about it when I clearly don't)? And what happened to first go through your Sue phase and then start publishing?
Anyway, with that in mind... let's see what I can think up to the next "30 Days of Writing" question.
The first three were:
1. Tell us about your favorite writing project/universe that you’ve worked with and why.
2. How many characters do you have? Do you prefer males or females?
3. How do you come up with names, for characters (and for places if you’re writing about fictional places)?
And here we go with the new question:
4. Tell us about one of your first stories/characters!
( "A Mary Sue (sometimes just Sue), in fanfiction, is a fictional character with overly idealized and hackneyed mannerisms, lacking noteworthy flaws, and primarily functioning as a wish-fulfillment fantasy for the author or reader." )
However, I felt quite content with simply reading it and oscillating (isn't that a great word?) between laughing my ass off and visibly flinching in horror. But then I came across a detail that played into one of my areas of expertise (well, hobby expertise) and that's everything that has to do with characters with a military background. I tried to tell the
Today... I got called on by a mod that "everyone could write as they please and GOD FORBID SOMEONE CRITICISES SOMEONE ELSE INSTEAD OF FALLING ALL OVER THEMSELVES WITH PRAISE (okay, not in that exact wording but you get my meaning, right?). People... what happened to growth as an author? What happened to accepting someone's exhaustive advice and maybe even asking for more information on a matter I obviously am not quite as firm in as I thought (or simply abandoning a part of my characters' background that doesn't interest me instead of stubbornly going on as if I knew everything about it when I clearly don't)? And what happened to first go through your Sue phase and then start publishing?
Anyway, with that in mind... let's see what I can think up to the next "30 Days of Writing" question.
The first three were:
1. Tell us about your favorite writing project/universe that you’ve worked with and why.
2. How many characters do you have? Do you prefer males or females?
3. How do you come up with names, for characters (and for places if you’re writing about fictional places)?
And here we go with the new question:
4. Tell us about one of your first stories/characters!
( "A Mary Sue (sometimes just Sue), in fanfiction, is a fictional character with overly idealized and hackneyed mannerisms, lacking noteworthy flaws, and primarily functioning as a wish-fulfillment fantasy for the author or reader." )