: Re: How to identify a (personal) Canon Sue? Sometimes (as an intelligent species, and therefore creative, speculative about reality and so on...) we want to experience some situations which aren't

You can definitely have characters that fulfill your fantasies. You can even have a character that represents you, the writer. There is nothing inherently wrong with that.

The problem is that a lot of inexperienced writers can fall prey to making characters Canon Sues (or Mary Sues) if they happen to personally identify them, or see them as their own persona in one way or another. That's why many people mistakingly tell you not to make characters that are you or fulfill your fantasy. Because they think that this will automatically result in a Canon/Mary Sue character due to writers wanting readers to perceive them in the most positive light, wanting to live out their fantasies through those characters, not wanting bad things to happen to the characters who represent them, etc.

Just make sure your character is flawed, not overpowered, has bad things happen to them along with the good ones, etc. No one will probably even know that character was made to let you live out your fantasy or just to be your persona in the novel if you write them well.

But above all, no matter what, make sure your character is interesting to read about. The reason why people hate Canon/Mary Sues is because they are awesome and everything in their lives is just awesome. Always succeeding and being overpowered and having little to no conflicts with anyone or anything is boring. Bad things happening, the character struggling, conflicts--those are what make for interesting characters/stories.

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: Re: How to identify a (personal) Canon Sue? Sometimes (as an intelligent species, and therefore creative, speculative about reality and so on...) we want to experience some situations which aren't

More posts by @Moriarity138

: Transitional sections As I mentioned in my other recent question, my novel in progress has three main locations. I feel those three settings are strong, fully imagined places, with interesting

: Co-branding a book with a website For the last several months, I've had a a professional assignment writing an ongoing series for a well-known website. It was repurposed from a book I wasn't

: Naming characters: Physical v. Personality Suppose my fictional character is a plastic penguin which happens to be very pompous. What do you believe is a better way to name a character? 1.A

: Are there any websites that show you the popularity and regional use of words? There are some words and phrases in my manuscript that I think are used in America. However, a beta reader tells

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