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View Full Version : Are bad guys/vilains/Antagonists excused from the "no Sues" rule?



MJN SEIFER
04-17-2012, 11:21 PM
While calling a character a "Sue" is outrageously overdone, there are times when Sues do exist, and if not remedied they can be annoying and ruin the character. I always try to avoid making my characters Sues, and if they seem to be heading that way I try to fix it.

However, is this limited to the good guys of the storyline, or do the bad guys have to avoid being Sues as well? I mean, the reason people don't like the good guys being Sues is because it makes them have far more advantages than disadvantages (if they even have any disadvantages at all) and they become uninteresting. However, aren't the bad guys more interesting when they have a lot of unfair advantages? I mean, that way the good guys have to actually do some work this time, right? Any takers?

Old Manus
04-18-2012, 10:32 AM
MJN SEIFER, you are truly one of my favourite members. I love how this is in the Help Forum.

The Man
04-18-2012, 05:42 PM
sup (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/VillainSue)

MJN SEIFER
04-18-2012, 10:04 PM
MJN SEIFER, you are truly one of my favourite members. I love how this is in the Help Forum.
Well, I thought about putting it in the Writer's Forum, but I'm not actually showing a story hearsay, but rather asking for help on what I may write in the future, so yeah. I thought it was Help Forum material, appologies if not.

EDIT:Oh, didn't notice that link for a second there, thanks for linking to it. I'll read it tomorrow or so though, as I'm pretty tired now. Thanks :)

Jiro
04-19-2012, 09:14 PM
Having any character as a Mary Sue is kind of rubbish, you need to give them more grounding than that.

MJN SEIFER
04-20-2012, 12:12 AM
Having any character as a Mary Sue is kind of rubbish, you need to give them more grounding than that. I wholeheartedly agree, which is why I always try to avoid sues, and check around if I fear they may be leaning that way, especially if they are major characters. Hence why I asked this, as I wasn't sure how it went for evil characters. Thanks for the tip though, I will do more work on the character. Thankfully he's not even needed 'til much later anyway, so who knows? I may not even get to him anyway (yeah, I know it's kind of dumb asking so early, but the question was going through my head.), but in case I do I will do more with the character (at least I have a lot of time to plan it out.) thanks for the advice.

Some people may consider him somewhat of a Sue based purely on his species anyway, but if I follow advise, and write the character well, they should hopefully over look that. Another reason why he appears so late, if at all, it's kind of a risk including a character of this species, good or evil, as so many have made their "sonas" this (the character is not my "sona" - I don't even have one yet), and just been all like "yeah, she/he's that type, deal with it - I'm just that awesome!" which is not the image I want, so I'm waiting 'til everything else has been received, and if it's success, maybe include this character.

Either way, there's work to be done. Sorry for the long reply.

Jiro
04-23-2012, 07:48 PM
It's not dumb to plan things in advance. If you have an idea, make sure you flesh it out so you know exactly when to use it. You're doing the right thing here! It's a good sign that you're already recognises potential flaws too, so I'm sure you'll find a way to overcome the pitfalls!