STRUDE

The argument about consciously avoiding a Mary Sue is an interesting one and, I think, rather persuasive. It makes sense and I completely agree: Characters development should not revolve around the rejection of Mary Sue.

But, to be honest, I do not believe that all Mary Sues are created at the profile stage (although a vast majority can be spotted there). Rather, a frightening number of Mary Sues seem to crop up during the games. Personally, I believe Mary Sues are the byproduct of a writer's failure to let their character suffer genuine humiliation or appropriate failures when necessary and not necessarily the aftermath of trait-pairing.

I think a character can function perfectly fine despite being great at a multitude of activities and well-loved by a fair majority of the cast. There's absolutely nothing wrong with being "better" than average, rather, the problem lies in the writer's ability (or lack thereof) to convey it convincingly.

A think a clarification on how I used the word "balance" might be in order. When I say balance — I merely meant an equal number of good (or positive) traits with an equal number of bad (or flaws) traits. They don't have to necessarily mirror each other. For instance, a character can be a good listener, but rather nosy. So, when drafting a character, do you consciously make an effort to ensure that, at the end, your character has relatively close good points and bad points.

However, having read what you wrote, it seems like you prefer the same method JINGRAWR uses (which is a lack of balance and, instead, a preference for simply adding on as you see fit). In which, I would like to ask: Do you spell out all the traits of your character or do you leave some up for interpretation? Do you believe you have to spell out all the various added traits or do you think the reader should be capable enough to interpret it fairly vis-a-vis context-clues?

I know the questions are not entirely relevant, but the thought just occurred to me while reading your response and I was curious as to your thoughts on the matter.


And, don't worry about making long posts or rambling! This is just a casual conversation on how you guys create characters and characters in general. There's nothing wrong with discussing all the things you think are relevant and, plus, this may, optimistically, help some people improve in the way they think about characters.