## Mary Sue

Post by sarobah » Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:06 am

I deleted this post yesterday because of a comment which I may have misinterpreted.
Anyway, itâ€™s what I believe, so here it is again.
I have just been catching up on a backlog of reading, and found this thread that Iâ€™d overlooked â€“
Self-Description: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=6086
I was going to reply in that thread, but decided that it brings up a wider issue that belongs in the TUGs Talk sub-forum.
Anyways... In a genre like TUGs stories, I imagine Mary Sue-ism is commonplace.
For those who donâ€™t know what Iâ€™m talking about...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_sue
To quote Scottstud94 from the â€œSelf-Descriptionâ€ thread (I trust itâ€™s not a breach of board etiquette to quote from another thread):

> Scottstud94 wrote:I hate to be so negative but I am so sick of everytime a user describes themselves they have "D cups" or an 8-Pack, or muscles the size of a bus. Here NOBODY knows you therefore they do not care if you lie about yourself to make you look cooler. Now some of us may be telling the truth (kudos) but I'm willing to bet that's a solid 10%. I tell myself like I am, not a figment of my imagination.

TUGs stories are by their very nature fantasies. Even when they are true, most of the time we are playing out in real life a fantasy of bondage and submission. In my case, 90% of all my bondage experiences involve some form of role-play. When one adds the special characteristics of TUGs (like the risquÃ© and taboo elements), I guess itâ€™s not really surprising that we remember them as larger than life. When we describe them to others, they take on heroic dimensions... and so do we.
Partly itâ€™s because most TUGs (mine, at least) are more exciting to do than to read about. In how many different ways can you write â€œHe put me in a hog-tie and left me helpless on the floor while he watched TV.â€? The urge to spice up your story is almost irresistible.
The same goes for how we describe ourselves (and our TUGs partners). Yes, it definitely hurts the credibility of a story that is supposed to be non-fiction, but as a projection of the authorâ€™s fantasy it adds another facet to the tale that is interesting in itself.
~ Sarah
(This post has been edited four times â€“ a new record?)
Last edited by sarobah on Tue Mar 09, 2010 1:05 am, edited 4 times in total.
Words, like Nature, half reveal and half conceal the soul within.

### Re: Mary Sue, Mary Sue... Oh, how my heart yearns for you...

Post by Fesselfan » Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:15 am

I so far had not linked the descrptions here to "Mary Sue", but you are correct in your analysys. Thanks for the observation.
To me, as another user said it before, many of the fictional charakters look and act like "card board cut-outs from bad porn novels". I found that to be somewhat fitting, too.
Cheers
FF
There are 10 kind of people in the world.
Those who understand binary numeral system, and those who don't.

### Re: Mary Sue, Mary Sue... Oh, how my heart yearns for you...

Post by sarobah » Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:21 am

> Fesselfan wrote:.. many of the fictional charakters look and act like "card board cut-outs from bad porn novels".

I think thatâ€™s the difference between over-fantasizing and bad writing.
~ Sarah
Words, like Nature, half reveal and half conceal the soul within.

### Re: Mary Sue, Mary Sue... Oh, how my heart yearns for you...

Post by Meh » Mon Mar 08, 2010 12:14 pm

That was deep...