Editing Mary Sue (section)

==So, what's this "Mary Sue" thing got to do with /tg/?==

In short: [[NPC#Gary-Stu/Mary-Sue DMPC|GMPCs]], [[Elminster]]-types, [[Matt Ward]]-types, and [[Elf]]aboos. 

# GMPCs have their own section in our [[NPC]] article, so we'll direct you there.
# Settings have a tendency to grow Sue-level characters if they have a sufficient number of high-powered NPCs. This is because an author needs ''somebody'' to impose some stability to the setting, and so you usually wind up needing a character that has many traits of the Mary Sue. And from there, it only takes a few writing mistakes to go into Mary Sue territory head first. ([[Elminster]] is a notable example here, but plenty of others exist.)
# Certain authors (and any setting with many authors will probably eventually find themselves with at least one of these) want to include Perfect Heroes or Perfect Villains in their settings. The problem with Perfect Heroes is that they tend to be just one or two steps from Mary Suedom, and these authors are usually bad enough writers that the resulting "Hero" goes veering off into Suedom like a plane that loses both wings goes veering off into the ground. (Matt Ward is merely the most /tg/ notable example here; more and worse examples exist, ''trust us''.)
#* A somewhat common subspecies of 3 is the "[[Waifu]]" Sue author. He wants to create his perfect Waifu, and the result is usually among the Suiest Sues Who Ever Sued. (Husbando-perpetrating female authors exist, as do gay and lesbian authors who do it for the appropriate sex, but Waifuing male authors are the most common subset to get called out, for various subtly obvious reasons.)
# When imagining a species or race, some authors lose sight of the concepts of competitive balance and competitive advantage and make one race superior to all the others, forgetting that the rule in good storytelling is [[Sanderson's laws|that flaws and limitations are more interesting than powers]]. <ref>For example, any given Superman (the character, not the book) story is generally not that interesting unless you either introduce an equal (or more powerful) and opposite threat (such as General Zod or Darkseid), or lean heavily on either his morality, secret identity, or kryptonite, all of which act as constraints on his power.</ref>  The most common race to get this treatment are [[Elf]]s, but [[Chakat|other examples exist]].
#*Humanity gets both ends of this frequently: Depending on the bad writer in question, we can either be [[Humanity Fuck Yeah|the best thing ever]], or utter shit compared to their perfect Mai Waifu Master Race.

(Points 2 and 3 overlap, but are distinct enough in cause that they're worth separating.)