Chapter 1 - Mary Sue Traits Part I

After getting a review from someone, I decided to move this to another story as it is and SHOULD be a separate entity from the Misadventure's story.

Make sure you guys put it down in reviews on what trope you hate the most and notice! Also if you put a story with that trope then you get a random honourable mention in the next chapter.

Inspired by Svane's Fanfiction rants before I began to do my own research! Will be doing a discussion of all the traits of Mary Sues in these Trope Discussions!

Go read 'Svane's Angry Rants and Writing Advice' for some shits and giggles!

I have also created the forums 'Tropes Discussion and Bashing'! Join up and let's talk!

The link won't post completely so just add the following link to the default fanfiction website. myforums/Minipa/5465876/

These tropes will be geared towards these stories in descending order of priority: Fairy Tail, Naruto x Fairy Tail Crossover, and Naruto.

We will cover cliché story lines, common mistakes, and general themes that apply to those if not all fandoms.

NOTE: FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT ARE WANTING TO LEARN HOW TO WRITE A STORY (INSTEAD OF SEEING ME RANT), LOOK AT CHAPTERS 9, 10, 12, 13, and 14!

January 3, 2018 Update: The trope discussions have been reread and many grammar errors have been fixed. Please let me know if any of you have spotted something noticeably irritating.

January 5, 2018 Update: Many of the sections are actually dependent on the reader's opinion. Therefore, a tag of (SB) will be added to signify anything that is story breaking regardless of opinion. For example: grammar, dialogue, and incorrect word usages. As of this date, the trope discussions is under another edit after certain relevations. Unnecessary hate speech directed to authors and stories will now be removed - the undirected vulgar humour however, will stay.

May 3, 2018 Update: Also, I am starting a YT Youtube video series for the Trope Discussions - my channel: Panda Inspirations. First video will be out by the end of this week!

May 7, 2018 Update: Part I of Video Series is out! Go on youtube and put the following in the url: watch?v=FyMKFVSZCLM

September 1, 2019 Update: Trope Discussions discord! (https):/discord.(gg)/7c4gJST

When we read fanfiction, there are many 'Tropes' or clichés that we see in stories. Now, for the most part, the fandoms I am well versed in are: Fairy Tail, Naruto, One Piece, and Bleach, with the first two being the most prominent of my 'fanfiction' expertise. Cringey? Good.

Now what I will be talking about is all the different types of tropes, why people write them, ways to avoid them, and how to not encourage them.

This chapter is going to be focused on the more general tropes that are used in many fandoms! The specific Fairy Tail ones and Fairy Tail x Naruto crossovers one will appear in the next discussions!

Let us begin!

For this discussion, we will be covering the general definition of Tropes, Clichés, and the different types of Mary Sues!

Now, I won't be using the official oxford dictionary definition for anything. I will be using fanfiction's best friend, urban dictionary!

Trope: Despite the erroneous definitions already published here, trope on the internet really refers to an often overused plot device. It can also be described as another variation on the same theme. TV shows, movies, comics, games, anime', & books are full of tropes & many rabid fan-sites now name & track said tropes with a self-explanatory title for each one.

So in simple terms, a trope is an overused plot device. Keep in mind, tropes aren't necessarily 'bad'. If you're a shit writer, then you're a shit writer. No amount of different story lines will fix that. However, overused tropes can be done decently.

Let's take the 'Ice Dragon Slayer' trope, or IDS for short. For the most part, the IDS trope users are often new fanfiction writers that lack experience and - more often that not - imagination.

A story I liked particularly (I read it about a year ago, back in a time when I wasn't so anal about stories I would read), was a story called 'The Rise of the Leviathan' - where an ice dragon slayer named Joseph was introduced. I do not think it is on fanfiction anymore but I believe it is on another website.

Now for clichés. I can't really find a good definition so I will just define it myself.

Cliché: A word to describe an overused expression and/or plot device. Those who would use expression or storylines consider cliché are often unimaginative and predictable.

Now again, clichés aren't necessarily bad; but, there are some clichés that are straight in the please-drink-bleach zone of writing and should be gutted and thrown straight into Chernobyl by a radioactive octopus. I shall speak of them in their own categories later - I pray for your sanity then.

A good example of a cliché in general would be a 'Mary Sue'. A Mary Sue is basically the pile-driven rotten egg stew of bad writing all blended together in a horrid combination of personalities, or the lack of - in a character.

Why Tropes and Clichés?: Many people who write stories using common tropes and clichés are usually people who have no imagination and want to go for the simplest plot. Keep in mind however, some people don't know the tropes before coming in. This is because new writers tend to think similarly when it comes to a story line.

How to Avoid when Reading: To avoid tropes when reading, you can either read all my intermissions to become experienced on what to not read. You should certainly not encourage such tropes with reviews such as 'UPDATEEE', 'MOAARR', etc. The other way is to read so much fanfiction that you become so well-versed that you know every different form of unimaginative textualized waste before you even read the first chapter.

How to Avoid when Writing: If you are a first-time writer - as this is mainly the reason why Tropes and Clichés are used - then you should consider world building and getting a beta. Instead of saying 'Hey! I thought of a story I want to write let's just write whatever comes out of my ass and post it without proof reading!' (Please guys, this is a cliché by itself), you should start making notes for world building.

I too, had these issues when I first started writing my story. I would often have grammar mistakes, plot holes, unanswered questions that directly relate to how my story works, etc. Of course, it was through asking several betas as well as studying myself that I was able to fix it. The reason I am writing all of this is to allow people to understand why doing things I am going to talk about is not good story telling, and how authors can avoid such writing.

When it comes to world building, you should be asking yourself many questions relating to writing your story. As in, what is the plot? What is the goal of the character(s). What abilities do they have, what are they like, etc. Essentially, for any story you write, unless its like a humongous pile of rotten duck penis that is 'The Nothing Dragon Slayer's Misadventures in Fairy Tail', then you should build the skeletons of your story before continuing. You should plan out at least 1-2 arcs ahead of where you are writing now, so you can pick out plot holes and fix them before you discover them too late, and end up having to rewrite a 300,000+ word story.

One more thing: BETAS BETAS BETAS BETAS. Always seek a second, third, of even a million pairs of eyes! Okay not that many, but you might think 'this is the best story ever written!' when you look at your own story; however, keep in mind that, you are blinded by your own excitement - I call this author bias (not to be confused with author's bias).

You should always have a beta to proof read for grammar (I understand some repeated or missing words may be forgotten as I do that often). A good beta reader will also see the plot holes in your story. If it is your first story and the beta is like, 'no issues!', then the beta is not a competent enough beta and their only story is a 1,000 word author's note.

If you DO have grammar mistakes, it is important to edit the chapter and get rid of them if and when they are spotted. Sometimes when I upload a chapter, I might have a wrong pronoun or erroneous tenses in my story - simply because I overlooked them. If someone points them out to me, I fix them right away so other readers won't have to deal with bad grammar. Many authors don't have the courtesy to do this even with MANY people pointing them out.

This is just bad practice in general and aspiring authors such as yourself should not do such a thing. Sometimes, if someone tells me I have bad grammar in general, I would reread all my chapters and fix sentences that simply do not sound right.

Now, keep in mind that clichés and tropes AREN'T story breaking or necessarily 'bad'.

Overused plot lines and phrases can get annoying and predictable. However, clichés and tropes could have their own twist and spin to it, where your story could be set apart from the rest of the repetitive drabbles.

Ex. Let's take the ice dragon slayer route for example. This has got to be, hands down, the most overused magic in all of Fairy Tail OC fanfiction. Not only that, many of these type of stories tend to be a female OC that ends up with Gray

Instead of doing that, you could have the Ice Dragon Slayer join a different guild, or be older than the main cast - putting him on the level or close to the level of Laxus.

The Ice Dragon Slayer Games by Kopaka777

The above story is a good example of a different twist on a trope. The OC is a member of Sabertooth, NOT a female OCxGray, and also not some asshole named Kai.

He is a member of Sabertooth and was previously unaffiliated with Fairy Tail. I do not remember the rest of the story other than that but please feel free to give it a read.

Tropes and clichés can be done in a way that is less predictable or annoying to read, you only need to be more creative!

Now let us move on to Mary Sues!

Mary Sue: A Mary Sue is a character that is not vulnerable to their own problems. This could vary in terms of personality but the general image of the Sue is meant to make the readers look up and respect them - but not relate. There are many types of sues, where the subcategories will outline the more popular personality traits Mary Sues could have.

Now, some of you might remember the swarm of internet critics that called Rey a Mary Sue from Star Wars: The Force Awakens. One of the greatest reasons is that any vulnerable moments she had, example: self-doubt, times of turmoil, etc., was solved rather abruptly. While I do applaud an attempt to create a vulnerable moment, if the problem is solved too quickly, it might actually prove to make the character more of a Sue as opposed to not writing the scene in the first place.

Here are some examples of Mary Sue stories off the top of my head:

WotC: Fairy Tail by BrxenArrow

Twin Dragons of Fairy Tail by Wolf Rodriguez

Fairy Tail: Auberon, King of the Fairies by FreedonNadd

Now keep in mind, there's actually quite a lot of people who like Mary Sues stories. Sometimes, readers don't really want to read a story as some sort of epic journey with a relatable character. Some people simply just want to read something to pass the time, and I don't fault them for that. Despite that, I believe characters that are Mary Sue are a bad practice and is a general disservice to fandom.

Now that you guys have a basic understanding of Mary Sues, let us move onto to the subcategories! YAY!

I know what you're thinking. Just saying the words Mary Sue is like filling a Fiat Multipla with horse semen and ramming it straight into your bathroom while you're trying to take a dump; but Subcategories? That's far too inhumane to even discuss.

Types of Mary Sues

Now, after the definition of Mary Sues, I will be expanding into different types of sues. A Mary Sue doesn't necessarily need to be happy-go-lucky, all-knowing, or omnipotent. They can have various personalities and appearances; but, all of them will fit into the simple definition of being not vulnerable to their flaws.

What if they have ZERO flaws? You can't be vulnerable to what you don't have.

Anti-Sue: Anti-sue is a character that is created when someone is scared of making their character a Mary Sue. Instead of creating an actual character, they start adding numerous amounts of informed flaws to eliminate ANY possible thought that their character is a sue. They make their characters the complete opposite of a Mary Sue! They have more flaws than the guy who wrote the new Berserk.

This type of character tends to be someone who gets betrayed by everyone, has PTSD, has every tragic backstory available, is a 5'2 manlet, has some sort of cancer diabetes joint problem, and also has type-6 Parkinson's at the age of 4. Also his entire family are slaves.

Characters are meant to be RELATED with. People in Syria don't have access to the internet so if you make a character like someone growing up beside ISIS than it won't be possible.

Sometimes, the informed flaws that the authors add aren't necessarily flaws as well. These include but are not limited to: freckles, being humble, wearing glasses, or even being average looking is not a flaw. A realistic flaw someone may have on their appearance is the lack of confidence despite being objectively decent looking.

So what exactly am I saying?

People in real life have flaws, definitely. However, it is important to recognize what are flaws and what aren't. While everyone struggles with their own issues and may have insecurities with how they look, etc., creating a character that would appear at the absolute lowest on the social ladder is not the way to write a relatable character.

Victim Sue (direct definition from urban dictionary): The Victim Sue is your whiny, wimpy, pathetic female character who can't seem to do much of anything except cry and get herself into trouble that the romantic interest of the fic has to rescue her from.

To expand on this definition, a victim sue is characterized by a perpetual state of victimhood. These characters are often filled with angst. These victim sues are often extremely unlucky and basically the plot of the story is 'how to screw this guy over.' The circumstances or plot points are often absurd and unlikely to the point where many specific events occur for the sole purpose of increasing angst and the reader's pity.

While it is reasonable to sympathize with a character dealing with many unfortunate circumstances, it actually becomes more and more difficult to relate to a character that is victimized because of their own refusal to do anything to prevent them - often having a love interest to bring them out.

Keep in mind, there are many people in real life that deal with insecurity, and many more who are unable to escape from a spiral of depression and anxiety, especially on their own. So why is it a Mary Sue if people may have the same stories in real life? I would say it is the miracle upbringing that tends to happen in these stories that bring forth a happily ever after.

I personally do not like these type of stories as it teaches people that simply dreaming about a better future will cause a saviour to occur. Such things do not happen in real life and only through the determination to be happy, can people escape from a seemingly victimized existence.

Not a Mary Sue: Someone who makes a character borderline Mary Sue but puts in the summary 'Not a Mary Sue'. This is written by someone who doesn't want to be called out that their character is a Mary Sue, or basically wants all the readers to know that their character is a victim sue.

Here is an example excerpt from a story's summary below.

Corporation Princess and the Frat Boy by Alimackajac

'A corporate princess runs from her father's plans to follow her dreams that lead to a Magnolia University. Will fraternities like the Dragon slayers, Elements and a sorority named The Bodies keep our high society princess from achieving them? AU Rated M for later chapters. Only minor OC's No Mary Sues.'

Personally I thought the story wasn't long enough to actually see enough of the OC's. However, the summary said 'No Mary Sues.' Why? There are a couple reasons for this: one of them is that the character DOES have Mary Sue traits but not to the point that it is story breaking. Sometimes, these not-Mary-Sues can actually be acceptable characters depending on the situation.

It is also understandable that authors who want to do this because they are afraid of potential flaming that may come IF their character is an obvious Sue. However, like real life, characters are various shades of grey on the Mary Sue scale, and different numbers could be accepted depending on the situation.

My main issue is that 'No Mary Sues' are put into the summary. If you are confident that your character is NOT a Mary Sue, is there even a need to do this? If you are writing a story with a MC that you KNOW is Mary Sue, etc., then why write it so?

Fanfiction is made in a way where you can edit the stories if you need to. Instead of leaving the previous chapters unchanged or your character the way they are, it is easy to simply reread your own story, revaluate the choices you made on the story, and simply correct them.

This is not necessarily 'bad' or story breaking, but I feel doing such is an attempt to 'prevent' the readers from giving criticism when they know there are flaws in their stories.

Definitions below are from Urban Dictionary, with my own examples and understanding.

Warrior Sues: This type sue is usually loud and obnoxious (yes, sues don't have to act like some 60-year-old Kung Fu master meditating in Tibet). This type of sue usually has a tragic or mysterious past that made them become a warrior.

Example Excerpt (that I pulled out of my ass).

Kai was just a six-year old boy. Far too young to have just lost all those he loved. Mother, father, sister…all have perished from the dark mages that came unannounced, and unprovoked into his village.

He could not see anything, for the fires and smoke covered his vision. There was nothing left, all that he loved, was destroyed. But he would not stop here, because he would continue on. For them.

"I WILL GET STRONGER, SO I CAN PROTECT THOSE I LOVE!"

See that? This is a very common warrior sue past. Keep in mind this particular back story isn't a bad one, it's just that whoever uses this often gives 'Kai' 60239480 different dragon slayer all magics where he can beat Acnologia by pissing on him.

This type of past is NOT a bad thing, but it is often a precursor to a very common type of 'Lawful Good' protagonists that tend to be overpowered beyond reason.

Magical Sues: Basically just like a Warrior Sue with the tragic past what not. However, the Magic Sues are often calm and collected. They are wise beyond their years and can often use a million different types of magics. All elementals, slayers, illusion, some random seal magics, and everything else! A good way to find OC's that belong in this category is to look for OC's while they are still children, then see if they make comments about life and general that are FAR beyond their years. Basically things you would expect to hear from a 40 year-old philosophy professor.

There are many examples of Naruto being a Magical Sue.

Punk Sue: A punk Sue is usually written by beginning female authors. Which is actually a large portion of the Fanfiction Demographic. This type of sue is loud, obnoxious, annoying, and basically someone you would want in a Juvenile Correction Center. This type of sue has angst following them like a plague, however, they aren't necessarily a bad person. They are basically just angry at the horrendous tragic past gladiator slave war rape or the other possible backstories in that category given to them by the author.

This type of Sue is like the edgy shit that teenagers go through as a phase and write then post stories based on what they think is 'cool' at the time.

Example of one story I can think of off the top of my head.

One's Road to Remembrance by Insane Dominator.

The character above is betrayed by MANY of his 'friends'. Friends that do not betray him are often condemned to horrible fates simply to add to his back story. Then he has angst bleeding from very orifice of his body to create this Nazi Schnitzel of sympathy milking.

This story also is in the category of Jerk Sues, which will be talked about below.

Jerk Sues: Jerk Sues is the tendency for darker and edgier writers to create a bitter, ill-spirited, confrontational, and downright asshole while still managing to make them perfect.

These characters in stories will often get away with being a bullying fuck head. The other characters tend to tolerate such tactics, and are often described as 'tough', 'rugged', with some sort of 'charm' that probably doesn't exist. In real life, these jerk sues would be unintelligent, unlikeable chads that get onto everyone's nerves.

You might be asking, what's the part where these characters are perfect? Easy, the part where they are untouchable. Often times, nothing will actually get past them and they often stand off against authority figures who would 'praise' them for their boldness - especially true in Naruto council bashing fics which is completely retarded by the way.

Canonical characters often lets these sues walk all over them despite them being annoying, loud, arrogant, and usually powerful enough to be some sort of second coming of Jesus with horrible anger issues.

Jerk Sues also often have a tragic or edgy past pushed to the point where war orphans in Syria would burst down in tears just to comfort them.

Misfit Sue: A misfit sue is a Mary Sue who start as geeks, nerds, social outcasts, but 100% not the realistic untalented, can't do anything, can't even talk to a fucking girl/guy, authors that write them. Now, this type of Sue doesn't start out fucking drop dead please have my babies gorgeous. But then, they actually get a makeover and all of a sudden, HAREM.

These sues are often told they have some sort of 'secret power,' 'hidden talent,' or 'massive potential' that the character never knew about.

Although a comedy, the movie 'My Super Ex-Girlfriend' has a pretty good example of a Misfit Sue.

Neo Mary Sues: Neo Mary Sues are perfect in a different way than Mary Sues. They are usually Punk type sues that wear shit like skinny jeans, combat boots, high tops, band t-shirts, beanies, etc. They probably have some asininely retarded hair colour and weird eyes.

Ex. Orange, pink, violet, or fuck even Heterochromia eyes - the one with different coloured eyes.

Basically, this is a character every edgy fucking teen wants to be and imagines themselves being. These characters usually have a 'dark or mysterious past' with 'flaws' that people can't actually relate with.

These are a very common type of Mary Sues that people tend to go with when they try to avoid being a Sue but fail spectacularly. Imagine yourself as a character and change some things based on their backstories - this is a great way to begin an OC instead of putting in imaginary qualities like the fucking god-forbid OC maker.

Mary Sue Traits

After the types of Sues, here are some features or traits that sue type characters might have.

Weird Hair: Seriously, there are people with absurdly senseless hair that aren't natural. There is no purpose of this type of hair other than to make the Sue stand out. If your hair can make Pennywise look normal than you got to take rethink your life choices.

An acceptable reason to have unnatural hair is if your OC has a long line of people with that colour hair in the story.

However, if mom + dad = brown hair then all of a sudden you got white/black/rainbow ambient hair. What? The fuck is that shit.

When it comes to hair colour, instead of what is considered 'regular' hair - you know, black, brown, blonde, red? They will have shit like rainbow highlights, zaptastic super Saiyan 3 hair that makes Yugi Moto feel ashamed of himself on a hair style contest.

Does the hair colour play an important part in the story? Ex. The Targaryen white hair that is a symbol of their bloodline.

Note: If you want an entire royal family line with hair and eyes colours of the rainbow, sure go ahead. All the above traits can be pulled off but Mary Sues tend to have these traits just for the purpose of making their character look better.

Irrational Abilities: Jesus Christ this is an actual fucking thing. OC's with that use 9001 different magics with reasoning that defy the physics or rules already set in canon. What's the point of having a magic for EVERY possible moment and just keep adding more? Stick with a few main ones and just do that. Unless its dragon slayer magic as that's a cliché that should just stop happening. It's not a contest for the most retarded element people, there are more magics than slayer magics.

Example of a story with ten million different magics and one with some bloodline shit.

Fairy Tail: Auberon, King of the Fairies by FreedonNadd

Path of a Wizard from Alvarez by Warmachine375

This particular trait is one that is most common in superpower, magic, or fantasy type stories. A world with different types of abilities such as Fairy Tail or even My Hero Academia have a easy trap for authors to fall into.

The Fairy Tail canon has mentioned that it is difficult for mages to learn multiple types of magic that is not related to their own, ex: Mirajane can learn transformation magic because she knows the basic steps from her takeover. However, learning multiple elemental dragon slayer magics before the character turns ten is irrational.

While every author wants their character to be amazingly powerful despite the scaling issues that come with having a million magics. It is important to make sure that the character does not break preestablished boundaries set by canon. Some amazing abilities and bloodlines can be made for characters WITHOUT being a Mary Sue. Having ten different magics just to have no magical power to use them would be a type of Mary Sue.

Names: Some outlandish name can also be a trait of Mary Sues. Something like 'Xylanderphoria' or some impossible, completely out of the norm name. Keep in mind, EXTREMELY common names can be Mary Sues - basically just authors that try to use simple names to not be Mary Sues but fail spectacularly. Kai, Alex, Emily, names starting with Kais are very popular names for OC Mary Sues.

Seriously why Kai? What is so god damned special about Kai - use Lionel or some shit, that sounds cool and not Mary Sueish.

Now keep in mind, characters who have these characteristics aren't automatically Mary Sue. It's basically like, Mary Sues have these characteristics but not all OC's with these traits are Mary Sues. Mary Sues have these traits for the sole purpose of the author adding more shit to make the character more 'likeable.'

But, if the OC has a trait whose last name is 'Sapphire' or something of similar categories, and it just so happens their entire family line are sapphire miners, jewelers, etc., then that makes sense. Last names such as 'Fisher' and 'Smith' come from their professions, so the last name 'Sapphire' wouldn't be that nonsensical.

If their name is Crystal Sapphire with no prior indication as to why, AND their magic is sapphire/gem magic then that IS a Mary Sue.

You can't fucking name a child Crystal Sapphire knowing they will use Crystal magic - and don't give me that let's train him/her in sapphire magic too. That's garbage parents, garbage backstories and a horrible attempt to cover up a Mary Sue. You could do something like - 10th Generation sapphire mage or something. Shit can make sense without being spontaneous and sporadic.

Now, to reiterate, a meaningful name that relates to the abilities of personalities of the OC is often a indicator of a Mary Sue. Of course, this is if the Mary Sue has no prior history that could possibly explain why the names are like that.

Ex. Sapphire name to Jewelers, or the name 'Rune' to a family of rune magic users.

HERE COMES A BIG RANT. HEY AUTHORS, why Kai, why Alex? Why Kaito? Why a name that sounds like Kai or begins with Kai? TELL ME OC authors, why do all of you get a massive boner for a name meaning 'Ocean' in Japanese? Is this the next level of cringe and edge that I have not yet achieved? The fuck is with Alex? Alex is short for Alexander or Alexandra, a Greek name. WHY IS THIS SO POPULAR. DO YOU PEOPLE DRINK BAD DECISIONS WITH SHIT GDP? Okay I'm good, rant over, fuck Kai, fuck Alex, fuck me, and fuck you. Okay I'm good, rant over, fuck Kai, fuck Alex, fuck me, and fuck you.

Anyways, another thing is that a differently spelled version of an otherwise common name can also be a sign of Mary Sue. The fact that this is done in real life by parents who think they are cool but actually isn't are simply cancerous unqualified individuals wanting their kids to be different. This is actually quite worrying for me in terms of the future of humanity.

Regardless, a good example of Mary Sue names are the vowels being substituted with Y's.

Example, 'Krystal' or 'Fyora.'

References to gemstones, flowers, celestial bodies, or pretty colours. Apparently this is a common trope in all fandoms - Fairy Tail included.

Example, 'Violet', 'Ruby', 'Sapphire', and 'Luna'.

With Punk Sues, Jerk Sues, or even Emo Sues, the name could be something spooky, mystical or just darkness related in general.

Example, 'Raven', 'Trinity', or some dumbass fucking demon name like 'Rogum'.

Here is a big one especially. The name will be a Japanese type name - often meaning something poetic most likely from the incorrect usage of google translate, and they will top it off with a weird dragon last name.

Imagine some OC named Hikari Sapphire or Sakura Daggio or hell, even RYU.

The name meaning dragon is overused. Names referring to common elements such as Hikari, or Kai (that's ocean), are all overused.

Again, having names like these are not necessarily bad; BUT, a good reason should be given in why they have such names, even if their parents are just straight up outcast assholes with no life. If your character doesn't have a meaningful name, you don't need to write a whole bible on why they're named that.

Don't take those two examples seriously though, as Hikari Sapphire sounds like the most autistic name in the known Universe and I would slit my own throat before naming my own kid something as stupid as that.

Conclusion: I will say it again and again, just having these traits does NOT make the story garbage. These traits are what Sues tend to have, but characters with traits such as these are not necessarily Sues. If you have an OOC Naruto god-like harem which plagues the top of the favourites/reviews/followed section, then it is likely a Mary Sue story. I will be doing a discussion on why stories like that are so popular as well.

Also keep in mind that if you plan on making a character WITH some of the traits I mentioned above. It is important NOT to add them simply for the sake of doing so! Some of these qualities can be easily explained on why they have those qualities! WORLD BUILDING is very important and you should always ask yourselves questions about your own plot as if you were the first reader.

Theme for this chapter: NEVER ADD FOR THE SAKE OF ADDING!

Anyways, that's all folks! See you all next discussion!

REMEMBER, a Mary Sue is someone who is not vulnerable to their own flaws!

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Chapter 1 completed! Next Chapter: Mary Sue Traits Part II

This is it for the first Trope discussion. The next discussion will be on a more detailed list of Mary Sue traits such as body descriptions, clothing, mysterious pasts, magics, etc!

If you guys think I made a wrong point, or I missed things in my discussions, feel free to let me know in PM or reviews!

Make sure you guys check out my other stories!

Read my profile and join my Trope discussion forums!

[ROTLB: The Birth of the Light Bringer]

[ROTLB: Light of Fairies]

[Chef Ramsay]

[A God's Redemption]

[The Nothing Dragon Slayer's Misadventures in Fairy Tail]

Put the challenges and examples down at Reviews! Let's get a discussion going here!

I have also created the forums 'Tropes Discussion and Bashing'! Join up and let's talk!

The link won't post completely so just add the following link to the default fanfiction website. myforums/Minipa/5465876/

May 3, 2018 Update: Also, I am starting a YT Youtube video series for the Trope Discussions - my channel: Panda Inspirations. First video will be out by the end of this week!

Minipa, out!