Writing 101: Mary Sue

I was asked and interview question that brought this character to mind, but I've thought about her a lot. The interviewer asked me how I avoid writing a Mary Sue character. I told her I'm not sure that I do, because that's the truth. Sometimes she sneaks in...whether we realize it or not.

Mary Who? 

Mary Sue a literary term named after an actual character that appeared in some 70s-era Star Trek fan fiction. I'm a huge fan of all pre-JJ Abrams Trek, so I have no problem with sweet little Mary Sue. In the original story, she was a very young and yet amazingly adept officer who had adventures in which she invariably saved the day. Now, a certain type of character is known as a Mary Sue, and she's not always female. Many have likened another Star Trek character, Wesley Crusher, to a Mary Sue.

Generally speaking, a Mary Sue character is there in place of the author. She's quite normal or very young, yet somehow has amassed an amazing amount of skills that allow her to come up with solutions to problems in the nick of time. She is well-liked by others, particularly her superiors, and becomes integral to the plot. She rarely, if ever, does anything wrong and she usually doesn't fail.

It's a broad definition, and that's because the term is very broadly applied. Mary Sue has many variations, including Marty Stu and Einstein Sue. The term is so widely used, in fact, that many authors are terrified of adding a Mary Sue to their stories. Critics will verbally lambast writers whom they believe have created this type of character.

But I think Mary Sue is actually in every story, and I'm going to tell you why. At its broadest, the term applies to a character the represents the author. I propose that all main characters represent their authors, at least in part. How else could the author create the three-dimensional main character that feels real to the audience?

So don't be afraid of creating a Mary Sue. Embrace it instead. Don't ever write for critics, or for fear of them. Write for yourself...and then Mary's going to end up sneaking in anyway, so go ahead and welcome her.

Writing 101: Teasing The Reader

Foreshadowing, hint-dropping, a little tease here and there -- these are time-honored literary techniques that keep the reader hooked and wanting more. But you can get to a point where you've just pushed the reader too far. If you tease, and tease, and tease, even when you deliver you won't get the reaction you wanted.

Looking Into the Future

Foreshadowing is a fancy literary term for hint-dropping. When you allude to the reader that something is about to happen, or if you say so outright (which is generally what I do in my writing), you're foreshadowing. You are, essentially, dropping teasers about upcoming chapters of the book. And like any good literary technique, it can be over-done.

In other words, you can't drop too many hints. I read a book, once, with a main character had a very extensive backstory. Now, this is not unusual. The fact that the author teased this backstory, without revealing it, and for a good 80 percent of the book, was unusual. And frankly, I no longer cared about the backstory when it was revealed in very anticlimactic fashion. 

Ever pulled on a dryer sheet? It's resilient up to a point. You can pull it, and stretch it, but only so far. Keep pulling, and it will rip in two. The patience of your readers is a dryer sheet. You can pull and stretch, but only a little. Take it too far, and their patience is going to snap. They're going to stop caring, and that's not where you want your readers to be. 

Tease once, and you're building anticipation. Tease twice, and you're drawing out the suspense. Keep doing it, and you're playing with fire. Like all literary techniques, foreshadowing should be used in moderation. When writing, please remember to tease responsibly. 

Writing 101: Acts of God

When insurance companies use it, they've got a great excuse. When writers use it, they're called lazy. But the deus ex machina, known in some circles as acts of God, can be a viable plot twist...especially when all other possibilities have been exhausted. Snub this literary technique if you will, but it's been used by some of the greats -- everybody from H.G. Wells to J.K. Rowling.

Here Comes the Calvary

We've all reached that point in a story, whether it's one we're reading or one we're telling, when it seems that all hope is lost. When the situation seems so dire, it's impossible to see any light at the end of the tunnel. When that happens, the writer has a few different options for untangling the mess. 

The most controversial is arguably the deus ex machina. Loosely translating the Latin, this actually means "act of God." Through this technique, a heretofore unexpected event is suddenly thrust into the story from out of nowhere to solve or resolve a situation which was completely unresolvable only moments before. Picture this to get the general idea: A tense 60-minute chase has led us here, the Two Tails saloon. Hammerface McGee and his band of local rowdies is on one side of the bar, Sherriff Bullitt O'Neal is on the other with his trusty deputies and of course, Ramblin' Nell. It's a standoff, with everyone's gun pointed at everyone else. Nothing is moving in the room except the sweat on Hammerface's forehead. And somewhere, a clock is ticking away the tense seconds. There's only one way out of this: start shooting. And this is just what Bullitt is about to do...when suddenly, the bottles behind the bar begin to tremble. A glass totters along the top of the bar and falls to the ground. The entire room is shaking. Earthquake! Everyone dives for cover, and the standoff scatters. 

This is an act of God, and many critics complain that it's a lazy writing technique. They argue that such interventions are unlikely. The officer who shows up to rescue the children in Lord of the Flies, the eagle that appears at the end of Lord of the Rings, the resolution of Jacob's feelings for Bella in the final Twilight book -- all are deus ex machina. Critics can call it lazy if they like, but this is one of the oldest plot devices known to writing. It originated with the Greek writers, who needed big moments with which to end their plays. The sudden and unexpected intervention was as good a choice as any, and still is. When used the right way, this plot device (like any other) can be quite satisfactory and believable (I can't fault it in Lord of the Flies). At other times, it's a bit silly (Stephen King wrote that the Hand of God detonated a nuclear warhead in The Stand, and this is not a joke).

But when something comes out of nowhere, it's bound to draw a certain amount of criticism. The beauty of writing a book is that you can always go back and change something. If you've written yourself into a tense situation, come up with a believable way out and link it to something that previously happened. If someone is going to suddenly appear and save the day, write a scene in which that character specifically references the place where he or she will later appear. Bury it if you like, make it hard to find and impossible to remember, but add it in. 

Because there's nothing wrong with an old-fashioned dues ex machina every once in a while, but don't rely on it. Always be willing to explore many literary techniques and write in different ways. As you get better and better at creative writing, you won't need to rely on acts of God.

Writing 101: Cutting Away

Some of the most dramatic moments in stories are abruptly halted, cut off in the middle. When the rest of the scene is finally revealed later in the story, it's pretty heady stuff. Cutting away can be a great writing technique to make any story more thrilling. But it can also be done too much, and poorly, in ways that will simply wreck your story. 

Scene, Interrupted

"There is no more need for questions, Inspector." The interruption halted the room, and all eyes turned to him. "I believe I know who killed Mr. Monroe." 

Two weeks before that fateful night, Phillip was in Tangier...

Cutting away from a scene at a pivotal moment has a number of different effects on a reader. It heightens the tension and draws out the suspense of the story, certainly, but it's also frustrating. When a reader is caught up in a scene and they feel themselves edging close to a conclusion that isn't delivered, it can be incredibly annoying. 

The secret of great writing is annoying your readers just enough to keep them reading. Cross the line and you'll alienate them. Readers give up on writers quickly, and for lots of reasons. If you fail to deliver, they have every right to put your book aside. The trick is to continue to make the reader bend, and bend, without breaking them. 

The crux of it is that you have to finish the scene, and don't wait too long about doing it. If you cut away from an important scene and then come back to it later, you have to make it satisfying. Be sure the scene delivers vital information to reward the reader for their patience. Do it well, and they'll reward you by continuing to read your work.

Writing 101: The Backstory

Not all characters enter into the story fresh and pure. Dickens had a habit of starting his books with the birth of the protagonist, but not every author goes all the way to the very beginning to introduce a character. Sometimes, they've got a past. And if you want me to know about that past, you're going to need a tried-and-true literary device: the backstory.

The Story So Far...

The story-within-a-story is a well-used writing technique. When that story is a backstory, however, you've got to be careful. Many authors create a backstory for certain characters. I do it all the time to help make them seem more real; a character with a past is much richer. But when the audience needs to know that backstory, you've got some stuff to think about. Presenting a backstory is pretty tricky business.

• Prologue: Some authors like to show the backstory right up front at the start of the book, in the prologue. This is a very efficient means of presenting the past part of the story before the real action of the plot begins, but it's been done to death. Other authors try to mix it up a little by presenting the backstory in other ways within the meat of the novel.
• Flashbacks: Looking for an easy way to time travel back in the past? Flashbacks are well-used technique for doing this. Anything's acceptable inside some italics. With a flashback, you can easily insert backstory in the form of entire scenes right into the middle of the narrative.
• Dialogue: Need to reveal some past events? Pull out a character who wasn't involved in that past and put them in a room with someone who was. Make the character start asking questions, and draw the backstory out through dialogue. This is a great way to make the reader feel like a part of the story; the character who doesn't know what's going on is easy to identify with and relate to, because I don't know this mysterious past either.

The way you present the backstory is important, but the timing is essential. The reader needs to have this information, but when? Keep a few tips in mind while you're writing it. Don't offer too many hints or draw the suspense out for too long. If you keep a reader on the string for an extended period of time and stretch their patience, eventually they will break. They'll get to a point where they no longer care about the backstory. Tease it just enough, make them wait just long enough, and reveal all.

A good backstory makes characters even more interesting, and adds another layer to the story you're telling. Use it the right way, and that story will be a lot better. Use it the wrong way, and it's only going to take the reader away from the story you want to tell.

Writing 101: I Seen

Some grammatical errors become so common, they are integrated into language. Words like forever and alot are prime examples. But some mistakes are still wrong, no matter how often we hear them. I seen is the one I hate the most.

On the Grammar See-Saw

I don't care how you phrase it or use it, I seen is incorrect one hundred percent of the time.

The verb to see is irregular. It has several tenses, like any other verb. The present tense is simply see, as in I see you reading that blog post. The past tense of see is saw, i.e. I saw another blogger writing about that last week.

And then there's seen. It is the past participle of see. This means it's only used with another word, like have. For instance, I have seen better blogs. The word seen only works with other verbs, but it doesn't get along with nouns. To use it properly, it's got to have one of its friends. Words like have and has make seen a possibility. Without them, you've just got bad grammar.

Writing 101: Wrist Health

I've always used the computer mouse with my right hand. It's a little weird, because I'm left-handed, but I guess I was just confronted by two many computers with the mouse on the wrong side. So now I always use my right hand. Because I practice good wrist health, I always can. But if you don't, you're going to find yourself in a diner pressing a hot coffee cup against your hand at the age of 20. I know, because it happened to me.

Carpaling a Tunnel

Yes it's true. I used to order coffee, half-full, while hanging out with my friends in restaurants. I did not really drink the coffee; I pressed the back of my right wrist against it. As it cooled off, I instructed the waitress to pour just a little more in there to heat it back up. This is why I had to order it half-full, you see. I did this for a few months before I finally learned a few things about good wrist health...and carpal tunnel.

Everyone has a carpal canal, a small passageway inside the wrist that connects the palm to the arm. It's filled with connective tissues and nerves, not to mention a few tendons. When your wrist is habitually bent at an angle, this tunnel may narrow in size. The tiny bones in the wrist, the carpals, begin to move and shift. As a result, the main median nerve might become trapped in the tunnel. This causes terrible pain.

That said, it is possible to overcome the pain. I successfully manage mine. The secret? Good wrist health.

No Limp Wrists Here

If you're a writer, and you live in the modern age, you're going to be typing...a lot. This makes it highly likely that your wrists are going to be bent, instead of straight. If you want to avoid carpal tunnel syndrome, and the pain associated therein, you want to keep your wrists straight. 

But you're typing, so it's just not always feasible to keep them straight during your waking hours. So do what I do. Make sure they stay straight while you sleep. If your wrists are habitually bent during the day, it's not at all unlikely that when you sleep they resume this same hunched position. You want to keep them straight and flat instead, all night long whenever possible. This can be done with a special brace, but it can also be done by shoving your hands beneath the pillow. Remember you want your fingers out and splayed, and your wrists straight and flat. Make it a habit to sleep in this position. Otherwise, your fingers may curl inward automatically as you sleep and exacerbate carpal tunnel syndrome. 

Please note that I am not a doctor nor a medical professional. If you believe you have carpal tunnel syndrome, you should seek professional help.

Writing 101: Original Ideas

Want to write a story about two young lovers who fall for each other even though their families are at odds? Shakespeare already did it. How about a grittier tale, where one jealous brother coldly murders the other? Sorry -- that story's so old, it's in the Bible. There's a theory of belief out there that there are no more original ideas...and I happen to agree. If you're waiting for an original idea before you start writing that book, stop.

It's All Been Done

When it comes to basic plot, every single sort of love story has already been told. Every drama and comedy was written long ago...most of them by the ancient Greeks.  And mysteries? They're already solved. After all, there are only so many ways to kill. 

Read the Bible, the works of the ancient Greek playwrights, and Shakespeare...and you'll see that there's really nothing new in the world of fiction. It isn't your plot that needs to be original, but your take on it does. When you write, you should be doing so with your own unique voice and style. That's something that can never be duplicated by anyone else. Even Shakespeare didn't always write original ideas (you'll see it after you read the Greeks), but his work is revered because it's good. It's distinct because he made it his own. 

When you do the same, it doesn't matter how unoriginal your best ideas might be.