Good point, Kodokami! Unfortunately today we're buried with millions of literary works, and thus it's pretty hard to find anything without being cliche'd.
@Saj: Ouch! Sorry about that, I didn't notice. I was dyslexic as a kid, but was forced to get over it (with intense and severe tutoring by people who simply thought I was a jackass for failing classes). Of course, the year after that my hard work paid off as I surprised people by becoming a topper (i.e., highest marks in class), but my grades went poorer again as I had to study other languages besides English. Although forcing myself to type in proper grammar everytime I'm on a PC, it looks like my symptoms are still catching on. For instance, just today I saw the word
Heuseca twice and kept thinking it was
Lucca until I read it for the third time. Yeah, I'm a
very slow reader.
Anywhos, back to the Mary Sue point, that statement which you quoted previously was actually directed at Lord J, and it wasn't Lord J who asked about my novel. Nevertheless, since you're curious I'll tell you.
At first, I think Mary Sue is supposed to be either the author's "dream come true in a fictional fantasy" or being treated by the author as "special", as if the world revolved around them. They're often loathed by the audience, which gives them the term, but that's the consequence, not the cause and nature of the character. Usually perfection, tragic past, etc. all come secondary, but you remove the "fulfillment" and "special" aspects of Mary Sue it becomes really tricky to actually use it masterfully, thus my experiments in my own novel. What I
do know is that, despite the faults, a handful of authors have used them intentionally for comical or "thematic" effect, though removing certain traits (like tragic pasts for Karasuma) and still keeping him what he was intended to be.
How the following pop-culture ties in with my novel? Now think back for a second: why do people
hate stories with Mary Sues? It's usually because the plot is
centered around them, thus the bad development bleeds into the story. But what if we keep the character as-is (without changing) and still keep an engaging plot? Well you'd say that the character would still be hated, but that's the idea. Now if the protagonist is a Mary Sue, then he'd be unbeatable, right? He'd have no problem beating the bad guys and the story would be boring and predictable, yeah? Now take a look at the other side of the coin: who's the MOST hated in any story? The antagonist. Mary Sue is an immortal, a quarter vampire and a quarter demon and a quarter werewolf, yadda yadda? What if the
ANTAGONIST was Mary Sue? If that happens, wouldn't the protagonist really have trouble beating him/her, especially when the author likes the antagonist over the protagonist, while the audience is rooting for the hero nonetheless? The unpredictability gives rise to many story opportunities.
But it's not about just switch and swaps. Nah, story writing is more complicated than that. Take School Rumble, for instance. Karasuma is
cool. He's the type of guy most guys want to be, but not
him exactly. Mainly because he's an intentional Mary Sue, but also a parody of it at the same time. He's immortal (he does things which can kill anybody), he's good looking (in the eyes of the girl, despite his average looks), he's calm and emotionless (some people's wet dreams), super-powered, part alien (in some episodes), can turn into super-saiyan and pull out force-fields, always gets the chick, etc. But he ain't the hero in this movie, and I did mention why. Instead, he's actually the
antagonist, the guy
taking the chick away from the main hero Harima. And it's actually funny! XD
Hell, even the author once mentioned that one his most favourite characters was Karasuma, because despite being "flawless and talented", he brings some opportunities for more plot which forces the main characters to think up of various ways to
confess their love/
kill him.
Similarly, I have also been going for a similar theme, usually satirical or, basically, doing the impossible and exploring where other writers fear to tread.
