Okay, so. My story? Basically, it's three Mary-Sues traveling with one non-Sue in a world where Sues are a protected species - where they're assimilated into the general population. This is because there had been a disease a few years back, where if a Sue got all 'perfect'-feeling, she suddenly had the urge to kill herself (and did). So now the King of the land has sort of 'banned' Sues. The three MC Sues popped up one day in a city (or village, whatevs), and the non-Sue decided to travel with them to keep them safe. They're off on a quest to get to the bottom of the illness, make Sues not-banned, and ... y'know, find pretty boys and be perfect and pretty and stuff.
Which is all well and good, except...I can't think of anything ... funny... *fails* Is there any sort of lifeline anyone could throw me? I'm drowning in serious and fail over here :(
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~~**~**~**~~
2007: The Mary-Sue Miracle - ?k
2006: The Justice of Time - 50k
2005: Untitled - 14k
0 / 50,000
oct. 3, 2007 - 02 58
Lovely idea! But. Mary Sue parodies are very difficult to write, because you can easily fall into the trap of basically writing a Mary Sue story and not bringing anything new to the world. Maybe you should have your MCs be different, um, breeds of Sues? A Gothic Sue, a Farmgirl Sue and Biznizzwoman Sue, or something like that. And and and they could be all homicidal about their differences and constantly bicker and drive your Not-Sue insane?
You might want to have them interact with Real People - like the nerdy boys who develop huge crushes on them and a local priest who used to be head of the Antisue Inquisition and fat old ladies who wanted to be Sues once upon a time. Just, emphasise the clumsiness of humans trying to deal with perfection and you'll be fine!
9,882 / 50,000
oct. 3, 2007 - 03 06
Real People: That's an awesome idea, and it would work hilariously awesome - the Sues trying to act Real, and failing miserably, and the Real People doing ... what you said up there... XD
Different sues? Yeah, I was sort of planning on that - I have the nerdy (yet really hot and beautiful and everyone loves her) Sue, the streetkid/warrior (who had a really hard life and sad childhood so she's totally verified for whatever she does) Sue and the perky/mage (who is secretly the daughter of the King [...woops, just gave away the twist] and is the cutest, and everyone's her friend and animals love her, and she's pretty, and ....etc) Sue.
And the somewhat attractive, somewhat overweight, somewhat easy-going (except where Sues are concerned) Non!Sue. Hurrah for her.
Yeah, the old 'i iz wriitin a parodi of b@dness, lulz' trap. *shakes head gravely* I must be careful. *cocks plotting rifle*
...does one cock a rifle?
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2007: The Mary-Sue Miracle - ?k
2006: The Justice of Time - 50k
2005: Untitled - 14k
0 / 50,000
oct. 3, 2007 - 03 48
What you could do is have each of the Sues meet their own Real-Life version - an introverted, somewhat-pathetic-looking, bullied and lonely nerdgirl, a streetgirl battling with drugs and pimps and serious psychological damage from childhood... not sure about the perky mage thing, maybe a slightly-deluded zoologist with Father Issues. It would make the whole thing a bit less funny and a bit more satirical maybe, but I think it's off-pullable!
Animal-Sue makes me thing of Shrek 3, by the by, which I hated except for the Fluffy Forest Animal parts. *snickers at the memory*
I don't think you can cock a rifle, but I've found garlic works against Mary Suedom better than firearms do. You just have to imagine your MC having a strong, strong garlicy breath and concentrate on the image.... you'll find yourself physically unable to write her as perfect after that.
9,882 / 50,000
oct. 3, 2007 - 04 14
That's an ... excellent (and hilarious) idea. Alright, garlic breath it is! XD
Ooh, Real Live versions - that would be interesting ... hm...I think I can even work that in ^_^ Hurrah! Thanks :)
----------~~**~**~**~~
2007: The Mary-Sue Miracle - ?k
2006: The Justice of Time - 50k
2005: Untitled - 14k
50,060 / 50,000
oct. 3, 2007 - 06 51
Ooh! This sounds similar (ish) to my story, which is going to be humorous primarily Science-Fiction but based on... an army of android Sues taking over a planet. All of them have "amethyst" eyes and their names are a variant in some way of Mary-Sue (thank you, Behind The Name site) and, well, since they're Mary-Sues, some of them have to typically 'break their programming' and become independent - one of my MCs, Voirrey, broke her programming meaning she was no longer much of a Mary-Sue, but she still has her moments.
One of the main ways I'm going to make it funny is by making jokes out of the stereotypes of Sues, for example, one of them humming a tune and getting lots of 'charmed' insects and animals following them. Your non-sue might have to whistle something to get them all to run away, they could rely on her for stuff like that.
Anyway, it should be interesting to see how this goes for us :) Yay for Mary-Sue based stories!
40,152 / 50,000
oct. 3, 2007 - 07 51
I'm not sure I entirely understand this. Are Mary-Sues the same as Sues? Do you just mean that if parents name their child Mary-Sue (or Sue, I am not clear) they will die? How are they protected?
Playing against type is often funny. If there is a stereotype of how all Mary Sues are supposed to behave, it could be funny to have one who does not act the way others expect her to. This "perfect" feeling you describe could be a source of humor too, people often view perfection in different ways: for some people, it would be a feeling of peace and contentment; other people, though, are only happy when they are very busy; still other people only ever seem happy when they are miserable. What people view as "perfect" could tell you a good deal about them, and it could be funny.
It sounds as if this story will have a fantasy setting. There are many great fantasy novels out there which are also quite funny. If you like your plot, write about it, but don't feel that you have to make it a comedy if you can't think of anything funny. A story can be funny and have many light touches while still being in another genre.
9,882 / 50,000
oct. 3, 2007 - 17 22
Yay, Mary-Sues! Ooh, sounds interesting - and yeah, stereotype-Sue jokes...I'll probably be relying on them (and just them - I suck at being funny) by the end :D
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2007: The Mary-Sue Miracle - ?k
2006: The Justice of Time - 50k
2005: Untitled - 14k
9,882 / 50,000
oct. 3, 2007 - 17 41
Mary-Sues - a typical perfect female character in a story. There are many types - the 'so beautiful that everyone who sees her falls in love with her' type, the 'has a dark, sad past and everyone hates her and she's so alone, and only she understands the pain of ' type, the 'perky and bubbly and forever happy and optimistic' type, the 'naive, innocent virgin', the 'wild street girl', the ... yeah, there's a lot. I can't even begin to name them all. If you want to check them out - check out some of the fic on fanfiction.net. They often have names like 'Raven Moonchild' or 'Amethyst' or 'Sunshine' or 'Darkwind' or... yeah, again, I could go on forever.
The disease thing? If a Sue starts feeling like she's perfect, and everything is going her way (and yes, this will be different for the different Sues, never fear), she feels the need to kill herself. For example - if everyone in the town professes their love for a specific Sue whose aim it is to have men (or women, whatevs) to fall in love with her, she'll feel all perfect and happy and yay. And then she'll kill herself.
The protection thing I didn't really explain properly, true. It works like this: There are these special agencies located all around this crazy, Sue-infested world, and when they see a Mary-Sue, they take her in and explain about the disease. Then they attempt to remove her Sue powers - for example, if the Sue in question is pretty and perfect, they might give her a gross haircut, give her a bad dye-job, give her burn scars and some terrible clothes, and then let her back out into the public. They can't actually remove the powers, but they make it so that the Sue in question can't exactly use these powers, making her more of a Real Person, and so people don't fall randomly in love with her, she doesn't feel perfect, and she doesn't die. Hurrah.
..stuff like that. ^_^
It's not even so much a 'comedy', as a parody. Sure, I could write it as just a fantasy, but I'd be losing most of my underlying themes.
----------~~**~**~**~~
2007: The Mary-Sue Miracle - ?k
2006: The Justice of Time - 50k
2005: Untitled - 14k
22,555 / 50,000
oct. 4, 2007 - 06 48
Hooray for making fun of Mary Sues! The basic plot of my novel is this: There is a world full of interesting, realistic, and dynamic characters. They live and function happily until one day a strange creature gets trapped in their world. Faced with this crisis, the Author reveals herself to her characters, explains what a Mary Sue is, and impresses on them the gravity of the situation. The Author and the MCs set off (with the Mary Sue) in an attempt to get her back to her own world. But the entrance of the Mary Sue caused a rift in the continuity of the world, allowing various terrible cliches to creep in as well and threaten the world's relative uniqueness.
This will be so fun!
50,060 / 50,000
oct. 4, 2007 - 07 00
Wooo, never thought there would be more people doing Mary Sue based stories. Your plot sounds brilliant, and fun to write :) Good luck!
9,882 / 50,000
oct. 4, 2007 - 07 41
Oh, I love the title! XD
So far, my MC Sues are: J'w'l (pronounced 'Jewel', but she doesn't know that - that's actually for one of the dares I'm doing) who's the nerd/beautiful chick that everyone loves, Anastasia (but she likes to be called 'Starbeam') the perky mage Sue, and Raven, the streetkid/warrior chick with a sad sad past.
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2007: The Mary-Sue Miracle - ?k
2006: The Justice of Time - 50k
2005: Untitled - 14k
6,159 / 50,000
oct. 4, 2007 - 17 26
Oh, joy! I spend a lot of time Sue-bashing. Hello, my soulmates.
I had a Sue-spoof idea that I was going to use from NaNo, but my idea has since changed (like eight times, but whatever).
Hm. Suggestions. I'd say have all the bad Sue cliches happen, even the things that would cause the Sues to kill themselves, but the NonSue must save them from it. Like if there's one Sue that is supposed to have everyone fall in love with her, if too many people start loving her, the NonSue must convince them to fall out of love with her. Something along those lines.
Oh, and their thought processes would be interesting to see. Heh. That'd give you a ton to work with.
----------Screnzy 2007: What She Did (14,000 words-- no go)
NaNo 2007: To Love and To Loathe (too few words to even bother)
Screnzy 2008: no idea... well, too many, now I have to choose...
This isn't going to end well, is it? *sighs* I thought not.
4,006 / 50,000
oct. 4, 2007 - 18 34
Heh. Sues . . .
----------Reminds me of a parody/satire-thing I was writing a while back. It was something like "The Truth: Mary Sue Tells All" and was basically written as an expose of her side of the story. Somehow her character came across as sympathetic . . . her authors not so much.
"I've lived a thousand lives in the comfort of my own, I'll live several more, but as what remains unknown."
2005: Stumbling Down & Untitled - Fail
2006: Gruesome Girl: Tales of Sad Susan - Fail
2007: Today's Tuesday - In Progress
15,625 / 50,000
oct. 12, 2007 - 10 47
Maybe I'm sheltered, but I've never heard of Mary Sue jokes/parody/stereotypes before. That said -
What if your Anti-Sue agencies employ psychiatrists who deliberately counsel the Sues to implant insecurities, self-doubt, and the like. You could even have Anti-Perfection Devices (APDs), which would be based on the same premise as an IUD, except instead of hormone-controlled contraception, an APD would release hormones that cause acne, mood swings, constant PMS and bodily changes (boobs shrink, butt grows, waist thickens, etc.)
40,152 / 50,000
oct. 12, 2007 - 12 50
Wow, OK, I really had never heard of this concept before and I was really REALLY confused. Thanks for the explanations everybody. When I realized it was actually a character type and you weren't just inflicting a disease randomly on all people given the name Mary-Sue, it made much more sense. I actually looked it up. If anyone else is confused, check out the reference on Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sue
I think that one scenario which could be quite funny would be a Mary Sue who knows about the disease, who intentionally sabotages small aspects of her life to keep her life from getting too perfect. However, the more things she does wrong, the more good things that keep happening to her.
Eh, in reading this, I'm realizing how hard it is to describe a funny idea without actually writing it. They lose a lot in translation.
1,060 / 50,000
oct. 16, 2007 - 21 18
There's an episode of the T.V. series "Red Dwarf" that effectively spoofs Mary Sues (or their male counterparts, Gary Stus). One of the show's regulars, Arnold Rimmer, is a pathetic, self-centred git. He meets a Stu-ish version of himself, Ace during the course of the episode.
Ace is an over-the-top Stu--all the Stu-ish traits are cranked up to maximum volume. He's brave to the point of foolhardiness. After finishing a dangerous mission, he heads to a hospital to visit a sick boy. Both the male and female characters are sexually attracted to him. And everybody except Arnold loves Ace; as he walks away they sigh "What a guy!"
Ace's saving grace is that he also brings out Arnold's (big honkin') insecurities and generally makes Arnold a more human (and, surprisingly, sympathetic) character.
The specific episode is called "Dimension Jump" and it aired during the show's 5th season (which I think is out on DVD).
42,305 / 50,000
oct. 22, 2007 - 02 47
My last novel ventured partially into Trek Parody Land -- and so it had to have a Mary Sue that my MC/villain had to somehow get out of the way.
Her nickname was "Marisu", and she was the daughter of a certain ship's doctor...
Had great fun with the whole thing. :-)
----------2005 - Array Wars Episode 1.0: The New Hope Strikes Back [60522]
2006 - Array Wars Episode 2.0: Return of the Phantom Menace [73689]
2007 - Array Wars Episode 3.0: Attack of the Stiff [?????]
59,950 / 50,000
oct. 22, 2007 - 15 23
I predict that our non-Sue becomes this story's Mary Sue.