The Newsies Mary Sue Litmus Test
Some time ago, in my ongoing research to locate things that fanfic writers might find useful, I stumbled upon the Mary Sue Litmus Test by Merlin Missy. Though very good, many questions in this test are concerned only with the Gargoyles universe, and simply don't apply to Newsies fanfic. There were adaptions for Power Rangers, Vampires and other fandoms I'd never heard of, but none for Newsies. So I asked the author's permission to make one - and here it is. :-)

Who is Mary Sue?
Perhaps you're asking now: 'Who is this Mary Sue person anyway?' Well, Mary Sue - and her male equivalent, Gary Stu - are the easiests to write, and often most annoying to read, characters out there. Basically, it means the author creates a wonderful character which has as many similarities as possible with him-/herself, puts him/her into a story and lets them do all the things he/she always wanted to do. (For a way better explanation, see  Dr. Merlin's Guide to Fanfiction, the best essay on the subject of fanfiction I know of.)
Mind you, I am NOT saying that every Mary Sue is bad! There are great stories with Mary Sues out there. For example, Porter in Spitfire's stories is a Mary Sue (and she won 'Best New Female' in the Angie Lynn Fanfic Contest - more than well deserved!), Jacqui Kelly in Scribe's stories is one (And I love these stories, and really recommend reading them if you haven't already - see the links on my Newsies page), and so are many others I'm too lazy to name now. (Don't kill me!)
The point is just that the more 'Mary Sueish' your character is, the harder it gets to make it a good character, as in likeable, interesting, fascinating.
Authors like Spitfire, Scribe and others can do it because they're just plain good. I couldn't do it to save my life. (There's a reason I hardly ever introduce new characters in my stories and stick with the original movie ones.) [Note: Spitfire said I may only use her as an example if I insert here that she says I'm too modest for my own good. I don't think so, but here - I said it. :-) ]
Mary Sue characters, while the easiest to write, are the hardest to write well. Therefore anyone writing a Mary Sue should be aware what he/she is doing. Which leads me straight to the second point:
Why This Test?
This test shall help you to get an idea how 'Mary Sueish' you original character is. Generally speaking, the higher the score, the worse. Of course, there are some stories with a character who'd score high here that are still great. This test is just to make you aware of your character's problematic tendencies, so you can make sure you want that and you know what you're doing. If your character scores high (see table at the end), you might want to rethink the plot, give your character some flaws, or add some new twists.
This test is not intended to offend anyone. The questions partly are from other Mary Sue Tests, partly from stories I've read or written, partly from other experiences. If you have the feeling one question is targeted directly at your character, relax, it's not. I've not targeted anything. Even if you answer 'yes' to every single question in this test, don't write to me and complain that I hate you, for I don't. This is just supposed to help, make you think, make you aware of possible problems. You're welcome to completely ignore it, you're even welcome to write a character which scores the highest possible result just to spite me. :-)
This is merely a tool for your self-estimation. Use it or leave it, but if you decide to use it, please don't blame me if you don't like the results. Thanks for understanding. :-)
(Should you decide to disregard everything I said and become a proud Mary Sue creator (Go with my blessing, your choice) you might want to join the Mary Sue Society. (Yes, there is such a thing. Scary, huh? ;-) ) It's run by very nice girl who liked my test and linked to it, so I'm hereby returning the favor. :-) )
How to Test:
  1. Read through the questions, and score one point for every 'yes' (unless otherwise stated).
  2. Be hard. If in doubt, chose yes. Don't try to argue (Hmm...kinda yes, but it's only in there because...), simply chose yes.
  3. Draw into account every story the character is in, including those you haven't written yet, but thought about.
  4. If you want to test several of your original characters, score each of them seperately.
 

I - At First Sight

  1. Is the character female?
  2. Is the character named after you? (Your first name, middle name, nickname, or newsie name?)[Score two points if newsie name applys.] Side note - if you answer 'yes' here, your character is a Mary Sue. But continue with the test to find if he/she is a problematic one.  :-)
  3. Does the character have a name you wish you had?
  4. Did you spend more than one day looking for just the right name?
  5. Have you considered naming your pet the character's name?
  6. Does the character have the same ethnic background as you?
  7. Is the character beautiful?
  8. Does the character have unusually colored eyes?
  9. Is the character of the newsies' age?
  10. Does the character have your color of eyes and/or hair?
II - Where've you been, kid?
  1. Is the character the sibling/cousin/childhood friend of one of the boys?
  2. Is your character Patrick? [Score three points if 'yes']
  3. If your story plays several years after 1899, is he/she a newsie's child?
  4. Is the character related to Denton/Medda/Roosevelt/Kloppman?
  5. Or to Pulitzer/Hearst/Weasel/Snyder?
  6. Is your character from the boys' future?
  7. From our present (meaning the end of the 20th century, or beginnign of 21st)? [Score five points. I mean it.]
  8. Does your character not know where he/she's from because of amnesia?
  9. Is he/she originally from a rich family?
  10. Is he/she the only survivor of some catastrophe (train wreck/fire/sinking ship) and left all alone in the world?
  11. Is he/she the leader of anything, like the Queens newsies, the East Side factory workers, the Bowery pickpockets?
  12. At the beginning of your story, is the character found beaten up in an alley and brought to the lodging house?
  13. Is the character from Santa Fe? Has the character ever been to Santa Fe? Or is planning to go there soon?
III - Able was I ere I saw Mary IV - You and Your Character
  1. Do you think you'd be friends with the character if you met in real life?
  2. Do you think everyone who reads the story should automatically like the character and want to be friends with the character?
  3. If someone told you he/she doesn't like your character, would you be offended? (Be honest!)
  4. Is your character extremely good at something you'd like to be good at, too?
  5. Do you ever pretend, just to yourself, that you are the character, with the same strengths and abilities?
  6. In writing, when trying to decide how your character'd react to a situation, do you think "What would I do?" more than "What would she/he do?" ?
V - Love is All Around Me
  1. Does the character become Spot's, Blink's, Jack's or Mush's girlfriend?
  2. Another newsie's?
  3. Who is your favorite, or one of your favorites?
  4. Do they marry in your story?
  5. In a sequel (even if it's not written yet)?
  6. Do they have children?
  7. Does the character at the beginning of the story hate the newsie she ends up loving?
  8. Does the character have a hard time deciding which of two or more newsies she wants?
  9. Do you have more than one original character in one story, and they become the girlfriends of several newsies?
  10. Does the character think the newsie she loves would never love her back?
  11. Though he actually loves her all the time?
VI - What's Going On?
  1. If you're honest, would you say that there is actually no compelling reason in your plot why whatever your new character does couldn't have been done by one of the original movie characters?
  2. Does the character safe anyone's life? Or freedom (e.g., hide them from the police)?
  3. Does one of the newsies save your character's life or freedom?
  4. Do the newsie and the character he saved/was saved by end up as a couple?
  5. Does your character become a close friend of the newsies?
  6. If a girl, does your character dress up as a boy (e.g. to join the newsies or fool the police)?
  7. Is your character a newsie, or does he/she become one during the course of the story, or will in a sequel?
  8. Is the character the main person of your story?
  9. Is the story, or big parts of it, told from the character's point of view?
  10. In the first person? (Example: "I became a newsie shortly after the strike...")
  11. Is he/she introduced on the first page?
  12. Do ya use New Yawk accents in yer story?
  13. Anywheah outside da direct speech?
  14. Does your character hate Sarah, and do the newsies (or most of them) clearly like your character more than they like Sarah?
  15. Does the word 'Titanic' appear in your story in any way, form, shape, or context?
How to Interpret Your Scores
To be entirely honest, I don't know for sure myself. The scoring is still in the experimenting stage. If you want to help, I'd be really grateful if you'd send me your character's score (plus the information where I can read your story) at yamxx@t-online.de. (Also, if you have suggestion for changes/additional questions, please send them.) I ran several characters I know through it, and asked some friends to take the test for me, but of course this can only give an idea. Nothing written in stone yet. The basic rule, though, remains: The higher your score, the more you must be sure you know what you're doing.

 

  0 - 15  Developed character, probably no Mary Sue 
16 - 20  'Mary Sueish' tendencies, could go either way.
21 - 28  Dangerous waters, kid.  You sure you know what you're doing?
29 - 38  Are you absolutely sure? Really? You must be good to pull this off !
39+  Find another way to tell the story. Please.
 
Some examples (See my newsies page to read the stories if you don't know these characters, unless the character's name is a link to their story):
  • Spitfire's characters:
    • Spitfire (Porter)  - 34
    • Clown - 22
    • Keet - 9
  •  Scribe's characters:
    • Scribe (Jacqui Kelly) - 26
    • Midnight - 17
    • Flame - 22
  • Daphne's characters:
    • Bethany - 22
    • Ghost - 13
    • Flip (Amy) - 7
  •  Shoegoil's charaters:
    • Sonja - 23
    • Cassie -24
  •  Kendall's characters:
    • Ivy - 17
    • Bull - 10
    • Tad - 19
 (If you eMail me your character's scores and the information where I can read the story at yamxx@t-online.de, please tell me if I can put up your results here.)

(Btw, my one and only Mary Sue character, surprisingly named 'Tuesday' (*grins*) scored 24. If you really want to read her story, go to Tuesday's Diary. But let me say first in my defense that I wrote this as a background story for a lodging house project, and was well aware from the start I was writing a total MS story - which actually kind of was the idea. :-) I still like my other stories a lot better - you can check them out at my newsies page.)

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