(Image: Menagerie)
Hollow Perfection, my work-in-progress novel, is about thousands of overpowered, ridiculously beautiful characters living in a society where ego is the most valuable currency. Only one can be “the best”. Xo has been filling the role as the world’s most perfect woman, and somehow, she’s kept her crown without dispute for years. Her world is inspired by the controversial concept of Mary Sues – fictional characters who can do no wrong and never have a strand of hair out of place, among other traits. They are often comical caricatures of actual humans and other living creatures.
Mary Sues are often found in fan-written fiction derived from an existing media, or fan fiction. The actual character named Mary Sue first appeared in a 1973 short story, “A Trekkie’s Tale”, which parodied female protagonists often featured in Star Trek fanfiction. Mary Sue the character is beloved by popular canonical characters from Star Trek: The Original Series, demonstrates ability and skill far greater than most canon characters, and is universally recognized for those abilities by other characters. Such “Mary Sues” have been written time and time again in fanfiction, crossing fandom and genre borders with reckless abandon (or with mesmerizing and graceful leaps and bounds, like a trained ballerina).
Controversy arose when the Mary Sue label was slapped onto an original character introduced in the other “Star” media franchise, Star Wars: Rey, who first appeared in The Force Awakens (2015). Simply Googling the term Mary Sue brings up actress Daisy Ridley’s portrayal of Rey in the results. The term “Mary Sue” has since been deemed overused and weaponized. Critics believe the Mary Sue label has been abused by commentators who aim to dismiss well-written female characters. Said Mary Sue-labeling commentators are frequently oblivious to the double standard – male characters with the same traits as their female counterparts historically weren’t acknowledged as “Gary Stus”.
Unfortunately – or fortunately, since I may never have become a writer of original fiction without this background – I wrote heaps of fanfiction beginning in elementary school. Harry Potter, Pokémon, Super Smash Bros. – you name it, I probably wrote absolutely horrible fanfiction of my favorite characters from that media. Yes, that fanfiction featured a Mary Sue in nearly every story. While Mary Sues are a controversy-ridden concept whose application can be dismissive of strong female characters at best, to flat-out sexist at worst, I owe a thanks to my cringe-characters for kickstarting my writing career.
How exactly does Xo, a single Mary Sue, out-perfect thousands of other Mary Sues? Sounds impossible, doesn’t it? Find out in my future novel, Hollow Perfection, by H.M. Serotta.
Further reading:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/these-women-coined-term-mary-sue-180972182/
https://www.vox.com/2015/12/28/10672628/star-wars-force-awakens-rey-mary-sue
H.M. Serotta 
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