Ok. I don't know how to help my friend. At all. So I'm asking for advice. My friend has been writing a Mary-Sue, that is just Emma Watson with super powers. To give you an idea of how bad it is, her 'powers' (which is like a suit thing) "Gives the wearer (once/if already trained for this) immortality, major strength, and an incredible fighting ability. Allows the wearer to: Shape-shift, use magic, control all elements." How do I help her not make a super overpowered Mary-Sue character? I just don't know how to help anymore. She…. REAALLLY likes writing, but all of her writing is…. I just don't know what to do…
My advice is to be honest. Brutally honest. If's she's a friend she will know that you're just trying to help her. But don't just point out what's bad, give suggestions. Maybe like there's less powers on the suit, or she has a hard time controlling it, or the powers have drawbacks. Like it really drains the character or it makes her look more like the villain to outside people when she's in the suit. You can do this thing that always helps me, just take a person in your life and list out all of the good and bad qualities. List out their personality type, their hobbies, just map out someone from your life and then compare to your character. don't discourage her from writing, just put your foot down and let her clean up all her mistakes before she moves on.
I think as a writing culture we too often shut down people's creativity. Is it boring to read "Sue" stories? Yes, often absolutely. The thing of it is, writing op characters is fun. It's ridiculous fun and self forfilling. Some of the best writers I know also have op characters they use to write for themselves, because writing Sues can be extra as you want it to be.
But simply being "brutally honest" often just shuts people down and makes them feel insecure about their writing. Help your friend by maybe showing them advice by actual published writers. Most prominently - get them more into reading. Good books draws us to flawed characters and we tend to write what we read. Give her positive media and advice to go towards instead of negative things to stop being. Stop shutting what she naturally wants to write down.
Stop elevating yourself in a position above them. Stop thinking that all her work is destined to be shit. Especially if it's because she enjoys writing wish forfilling characters. Writing is supposed to be enjoyable, first and formost. Writing is for ourselves, before it is for anyone else. Too often I see writers becoming so scared to use cliches or op characters that their work just becomes boring, because it don't have a healthy mix. Let her write as she enjoys to write. The more she writes, the more practised she will get, anyhow. And it takes learning to write them more believably if you're used to writing them op. We're all learning and we all learn from eachother - her from you, and you from her too. Often it's not even necessarily bad if she does it well - While I'm not a personal fan of them, op characters are why genres such as power fantasy exist.
Depends. If your friend wants to publish, you should be honest with her, but not horribly so. Maybe slip in critiques here and there, offer resources, maybe mary-sue tests (they exist and they're great for making sure your character isn't ridiculously OP.)
If she's only writing because she enjoys it, let her have her fun. Small critiques are usually acceptable (I know I welcome them, and I write just for me), but her career does not ride on it in that case, so it's not crucial.
I agree with T. Pointing people in a positive direction is so much more fruitful than just telling them what’s wrong. Especially if she’s writing for herself.
HOWEVER, if this character is in a group context, like a roleplay, having her character being able to do All the Things (TM) is detrimental to other people’s characters. If this is the case, tactfully let her know how how you feel. Tell her what you love about her character, but let her know what aspects of her character make it difficult for you to engage with her.
For example, “I really love Skye’s friendly personality and go get ‘em attitude, but it frustrates me that because of her abilities, she’s never really in danger and faces no risks. It takes the tension and suspense out of reading Skye in the story when she can easily fix any external problems she faces and doesn’t have any internal battles to overcome. I would love to see how she grows as a person during these events.”
Thank all of you for your help! I'm definitely going to take your guy's advice. Sorry if I seemed rude in any of that, I don't mean to. I just want to be helpful, and I was frustrated that I wasn't able to do that. She's a better writer then I am for sure. She's dedicated, and thoughtful. I hope I didn't come across as though I was better then her. Thank you guys again!
Regarding the superpowers: ask her about the limits. Maybe they can only use it for so long without hurting or exhausting themselves or maybe there's a less physical cost in the sense of losing memories or something. Every action has consequences.
But yeah, their reason for writing is important too. if it's just for themselves and fun there's no problem and you can give constructive criticism if they ask. If it's something you work on as a group, and since their your friend, you should be able to tell them you feel like their character is a bit overpowered.
If she just started writing and reads it back in a few years she'll probably notice it herself.
Furthermore, if you're curious, the youtube channel Overly sarcastic productions has a great video explaining the typical signs and problems with a Mary Sue character.
Ask her is she needs all these powers. Which ones are only essential, or have her explain how these powers are granted (More in depth than "magic." What type of magic? How long does it last?) Ask questions that help her realize what is wrong with the character and how she can fix it. Also ask her what she cannot sacrifice of it. If it is everything, then ask why she can't.
But like @Becfromthedead said, if she's just writing for fun, let her keep doing that, cuz she enjoys it, and probably isn't making it for others to read.
However, one thing to note is that you should always ask to critique her first (just to be polite)
If she is adamant about making a character overpowered, try to inject a bit more personality into her. Saitama can kill anything in one punch, and he wants to be a great hero, but he also needs to pay rent. He killed a massive stag-beetle man because he missed the farmers market. My character is part of an extremely rare group of magic users. All magic is extremely powerful, but why haven't they taken over the world yet? Well… he never really thought about it. One of the villains will get his motivation by questioning this and trying to seize power. The idea of someone being overpowered can be extremely fun if they really are a character.
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