Dec. 26th, 2007

capriuni: Text: "I know where my towel is, But I can't find anything else." (queries)
A few days ago, [livejournal.com profile] scarfman posted this link to the Mary-Sue Litmus Test (scores like golf: lower = better). All-in-all, I think it's pretty good (too long, and too weighted toward teenagers, but other than that...). But there are a few questions I can't figure out how to answer.

And here they are:

  1. Does the character have a physical handicap that does not hinder her/him significantly? [6 points] [Subtract 4 points if the character is significantly physically handicapped.]
    Well... Not that you could tell by just looking at him as he walks down the street, but he does have a physical condition that requires him to drink blood on a regular basis. This does not hinder him at all, usually. But if circumstances prevent him from getting his daily dose, he cannot eat or drink without becoming violently ill (even water is difficult -- and yes, there is at least one unpleasant and embarrassing scene where he "Drops to his knees before the porcelain goddess").

    So -- do I add 6 points, or subtract 4?

  2. [Subtract 2 points if the character is a protagonist but ever freely, willingly, and knowingly worked for the villain/evil regime.]
    Um... my story doesn't have any villain or evil regime, per se (this test is also heavily weighted toward high fantasy stories). But as a teenager, when my protag first discovered his need for blood, he does briefly join a self-styled "vampire gang," of kids in his school, who goad each other into violent acts, because within that gang they are willing to let him drink their blood... And also, prior to that, he joins a prayer group of Christainist teens, in the hopes that he can find a way to "cure" himself. Later, when he's an adult, people in this particular Christianist cult become his antagonists.

    Do either of those things count as "working for the villain?"

  3. And finally, there's the biggie:

  4. Is the character a vampire? [5 points]
    Well, he does need blood to live, and this need pushes him to the edges of society (at least in his own mind). But he's also mortal, is human and has normal human strength, and is starting to get creakier in the joints, now that he's entering his 40s, and he will either die of old age or die of something else -- more likely something like falling down the cellar stairs or getting hit by a bus rather than a stake through the heart.

    So okay, the parenthetical instructions here say this section only counts if he's immortal, or a species other than human. So following the letter of the rules, I may ignore this altogether -- but I have given him a 'Vampire Mystique,' and this is the very first "species" listed as a Mary-Sue type (I wonder if the test was compiled around the time when "Buffy" was at its height). So should I add a little something, in the spirit of the thing --2 points, instead of the full five? 3, maybe?


What do you think?

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capriuni: Text: "I know where my towel is, But I can't find anything else." (Default)
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