Not Another Mary Sue

In a society where internet is king and social media is prolific, you would think that the best way to promote diverse books would be obvious. Lots of people and organisations do it this way– We Need Diverse Books has an indiegogo campaign going on at the moment, bloggers talk about diverse titles in hopes of getting people to support and encourage diverse literature and here I am on WordPress and munching on butter cookies pretty much doing the same thing.

But is that the best way to promote diverse books?

Maybe. You might have a bigger reach in terms of audience, but how many people are actually going out there to borrow or buy these titles? Probably a disappointing few.

So my 2 cents? Start small. People don’t achieve world domination in a day and I’m not optimistic enough to think I can influence more than half a dozen people into thinking anything(actually, even six people is verging on optimistic).

Get out there and talk to your friends and family about books you love. Personally, I’m much more likely to read something based on a personal recommendation from a friend because I trust their judgment enough to give it a go. Do the same for diverse titles that you like- Read it, talk about it and pass it on.

Will it become a bestseller because you told everyone in your friend circle to read it? Probably not (unless you’re a mega celebrity and people take your word as law).

But even if it influences just one person’s thought on a topic or shows another different perspective, at least you have made a contribution and that counts for something.

So dear readers, have you ever successfully convinced a friend or family member to read a book you love? Was it well received?*

Till next time,

Not Another Mary Sue

In this aspect, I am a huge hypocrite. I am the number one fan of sticking to my favoured genres (sci-fi, fantasy and historical fiction FTW) and my favoured authors. I am hardly one to #readoutsidethebox but I sure would like to change it. If there's anything other great campaigns on diverse books have taught me, it's that there's not necessarily an absence of diverse fiction, but rather it's not being talked about enough which usually leads to them largely being unknown, which consequently sucks.

So how can you and I read more diversely? Here are some tips (from a complete novice by the way):

1. Don't depend on Goodreads

I am an absolute sucker for this one. I read reviews and browse through ratings on Goodreads before purchasing books a lot of the time and it's a terrible habit. What I should be doing is reading it and then making up my own mind but what I end up doing is setting up expectations pre-read and either not getting the book at all, or being judgmental and nitpicky throughout the entire reading. Of course, Goodreads is still a great site/application. For example, if a book has thousands of reviews and an average of 1 star out of 5, it probably means it's not that great for a variety of reasons. I also personally enjoy reading hilariously angry reviews by other people but hey, that's just how I like to spend my Saturday nights.

2. Have a peek at smaller publishers or authors who self-publish

Many smaller publishers specialise in diverse books or just an array of titles that you may never have heard of in the mainstream book world. Also, many authors choose to self-publish these days to get their books out there without all the red tape involved - google search and have a hunt around blogs and writing communities!

3. Consider picking up a translated story

Authenticity gets bandied around a lot when it comes to diverse books. Does this author write about this particular culture of group of people well? Is it inauthentic? Or is it *gasp* A STEREOTYPE?! To combat this problem, who better to write a story with a semblance of authenticity to a particular race or culture other than a person from that country/society themselves? It may be hard to track down translated stories but it's doable and you might discover something amazing (which you can then recommend to me :) )

So, what other ways have you guys found diverse books?

Till next time,

Today, I read an interesting post by Hannah Sutker at The Huffington Post called “Writing and Polite Racism”. Essentially it was about how some writers tend to approach writing race in characters in two ways: (1) Ignoring it; or (2) Watering it down into more ambiguous terms. Since Miss Sutker does such a sublime job at writing her own article, you can read the entire thing here but what I wanted to focus on was point number 2.

In the article, Miss Sutker provides some fine examples of the physical characteristics of ethnic characters being compared to food stuff. A part of me wonders whether it’s because as children we were made to learn poetic techniques (similes, metaphors, personification, onomatopoeia – remember learning these fun tidbits for about 8 years?) and then forcefully inject them into every piece of creative writing we ever did. Did this contribute to the lack of originality when describing ethnic characters? Or is it really like Miss Sutker suggests? That authors “water down” racial character descriptions so as not to draw attention to race itself?

Nevertheless, this is not a topic that I feel like I have an informed opinion on. What I do have an opinion on however, is the bits of racial character descriptions that I see in books that annoy me (but not all are related to food!). Here’s the top 3:

1. “Almond shaped eyes”

A character descriptor most commonly used on characters with Asian heritage. FYI, I’m 100% Chinese and my eye shape does not resemble mildly delicious nuts. Just sayin’.

2. “A halo of frizzy hair”

Usually used when describing a character of African or African American descent. I suppose frizzy hair could be described as a halo if it is gravity defying and surrounding the head, but in my mind it just conjures up images of somebody with a doughnut made of hair that is hovering angelically above.

3. “Chocolate coloured skin”

Again, used to describe darker skin toned people. This isn’t quite as annoying as it is common because I feel like writers could think outside the box with this one because chocolate is not the only thing that is darker in colour. My dislike for this description is very much akin to my dislike for when writers harp on about how “the colour of her eyes were like fresh blades of grass in the spring” but when it comes to brown eyed girls and boys, it’s either “chocolate” or just “dark”. Come on guys, consider putting a little thought into it.

Now I realise that this whole post just turned into me revealing how nitpicky I am, but aren’t all roses flowers? Are Ferraris not cars? And are not blogs essentially spaces for opinion and occasionally ranting?

I’m sorry, I’ll dial back the melodrama in the future but for now, answer me this: What is your biggest gripe when it comes to describing ethnic characters in books? Till next time,

This is quite a genuine question – why do authors feel the need to have unnecessarily complicated names? While it is not immediately a hallmark of being a Mary Sue, the apparent need to draw attention to it seems to be an attempt to make the character sound interesting right off the bat.

For those who know me personally, you’ll know that I am one of those that have an unnecessarily complicated name. It phonetically doesn’t make any sense and 99% of the people I meet give me this queer little look as if to say “Are you sure that’s your name?” (Yep, I’m sure.). But rest assured, my parents did not name me oddly in attempts to be cool or to make me interesting.More likely than not, they spelt my name wrong on the birth certificate and just went with it.

Anyway, as I said before, having a different name doesn’t make a character a Mary Sue. Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games may have a name that rhymes too much with Cat Nip (pretty sure this Harvard Lampoon parody called her that too) but I wouldn’t consider her to be a Mary Sue.

“The Hunger Pains” – A parody by The Harvard Lampoon

But once in a millennium (it’s more frequent than that – let’s be honest), writers take it way way too far.

For those who have lurked on the internet long enough, you might remember what is considered the absolute worst fanfiction in the history of the internet (and before then, probably fanzines too). “My Immortal”* by a user named Tara in the Harry Potter fandom (Surprise Fact: It had nothing to do with Harry Potter really) featured the most obvious self-inserted character I have ever seen. Besides the eyesore that was her spelling and everything else, her character’s name was Ebony Dark’ness Dementia Raven Way which she frequently misspelled as Enoby which then reminds me of Enoki mushrooms.

Let that sink in everyone.

Her name was Ebony Dark’ness Dementia Raven Way.

I get that the Ebony, darkness and raven bit adds to her character’s persona (I use that term lightly) but why the mention of brain disease? Normally I would insert a jab here about how the reader would probably be inflicted with some sort of illness from reading that story but I like to think I’m better than that (I’m not, clearly.)

So luckily, any name that crops up in YA fiction in comparison is really not that crazy. Sure you get names like “America Singer” (from “The Selection” for those wondering) or Renesmee (from “Twilight”) but I suppose at the end of the day, the name of characters doesn’t matter too much if you’ve got everything else going for you. But if you’re angling for that character to be exotic and “different” compared to the others just based on their namesake? Then nope, I’m not here for that**.

Till next time, #readoutsidethebox

Not Another Mary Sue

* The temptation to google this story to read may be strong, but do yourself a favour and just don’t.

**Obviously this is my opinion and I’m sure many people love interesting names and challenging ways of how to spell things in the most confusing way possible.

Dear Marty Stu,

I know what you’re thinking: “Who cares if you want me? You’re one in a billion girls! It’s no loss – there are still plenty of readers to fawn over my good looks and angsty past!”

“What do you mean you don’t love me?” Source: cracked.com

Well, yes. You’re right Marty. There will always be readers who love you and your ridiculously handsome face but I for one am looking for someone different. Let’s just say it’s me, not you. You will find the perfect girl one day, but that girl is not me etc.

For those who don’t know, a Marty Stu is the generally agreed upon term for the male variant of the Mary Sue. He’s good looking, he might be mysterious and more often than not, he’s a bit of a noob who does things for the female protagonist because it’s “what’s best for her” (seriously, if you want to know what’s best for her – JUST ASK HER.).

Now, I don’t have anything against good looking people (not many people do, to be honest), but the astounding amount of cookie cutter male characters is starting to grate. Not only do they contribute to the unrealistic expectations of men in general,but it’s just getting so boring.

So Marty Stu, I want you to remember that you don’t always have to be heroic. Everyday people aren’t always heroic human beings and you can let yourself be vulnerable or dare I say it; realistic.

I also want you to know that you don’t have to be a human embodiment of perfection. People are flawed – both in character and in physical looks and that’s a beautiful thing.

And I want you to remember that you don’t need a tragic backstory to be interesting. You could be the most average Joe whose life’s blood comes from getting your morning coffee from the little café down the road. I don’t want you to get confused with the differences between character complexity and having angst for the sake of attracting readers, who then get roped in under the premise that another character can “save you from yourself” or set you on the road to redemption.

But perhaps most of all, I want you to be yourself. You can be a character with your own agency outside your love interest. You can be whatever you want to be without worrying whether you would sell books because there will always be at least one girl/boy out there who loves you for who you are.

So I suppose this is goodbye Marty. I’ve had a good time reading about your perfection but it is time to move on*.

Love,

Not Another Mary Sue

Since it’s a Sunday (in Sydney), I’ll treat you all with a short blog so you can maximise the amount of time you spend in the glorious sun as opposed to laboriously scrolling through my posts on your smartphone/laptop/apple watch etc

So as you can see from the blog title, I’m going to talk about the potential perils of writing diverse characters.

First of all, I feel like I need to offer a disclaimer. I’m not the best at writing – I can come up with stories but implementing them into a cohesive narrative that people enjoy? Nope. In fact, when I took a creative writing class last year at university, I got a “pass” for the subject. A pass. I don’t have wildly high expectations of my grades but hopefully that gives you some idea of how much of an amateur I am when it comes to the whole creative writing business.

Nevertheless, I will endeavour to approach this topic with pretty much no grounds of credibility besides my observations through copious amounts of reading.

In my opinion, the number one reason for authors not writing diverse characters is because it doesn’t fit in with their own experiences. As a result, wanting to write diverse characters becomes a lot more effort and fear of getting it wrong takes centre stage.

This to me is quite understandable. If you asked me to write a books about a transgender character in ancient Egypt, I would have no idea where to begin. On one hand, I love researching history for the fun of it, but on the other hand, what do I know about transgender characters? And even if I did know a thing or two about transgender characters, would I do it justice?

Ramesses II disaproves of my story idea Source: Creative Commons/Flickr DuncanH1

The answer is no. Well, more accurately, the answer is no if I put absolutely no effort into it.

Like many a lazy bones, effort is not something I exude naturally. But if I were to write a book so far outside my own experience, I absolutely would put the effort in because diversity in books is something I’m passionate about and is so so important. I’ll research the hell out of it, I’ll talk to people who do have these experiences who are willing to share so I can get the characterisation, In an ideal world I’ll even time travel to Egypt to get a feel of the culture and context.  

I get that not a lot of people would bother writing something so far out of their comfort zone and that’s absolutely fine. You can still have diverse characters within a setting that you’re comfortable with. You don’t know the culture/background of a character you were planning to write about? Then ask somebody who does. You’d be surprised at how willing people are to share their stories and experiences if you just ask them (nicely. And throw in some free cake too). 

As always, feel free to join in on the discussion using #readoutsidethebox and don’t forget to follow me on my Twitter and Facebook 

Till next time,

Not Another Mary Sue.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: Have you ever tried writing a diverse character outside of your comfort zone? How did it pan out for you?

Many moons ago (it was probably only one), I referred to this Tumblr user who vehemently believes many things such as the idea that Batman is a Mary Sue (I digress), Mary Sue’s are often targeted towards female characters (I agree) and that female characters are often classed as Mary Sue’s because they are feminine and they get what they want (I digress again).

A segment I want to focus on today is the following from the original post:

“Why does someone falling in love with her make her a Mary Sue? Well, she hasn’t “earned” this awesome dude character’s love. What has she done to show she’s worthy of him?”

To be honest, I understand where she’s coming from. A few scrolls down my Tumblr dashboard reveal random spouts of hate/vitriol/condemnation for female characters that have a relationship with the main guy and very rarely do I ever see a post where someone says that he doesn’t deserve her (and not in an angsty/romantic way either).

It’s a problem for sure but being the professional fence sitter that I am, I don’t believe that Mary Sue’s are Mary Sue’s because they haven’t “earned” love or proved that they are “worthy”.

When I started wracking my brain for a book to talk about when it came to YA fiction with characters that have disabilities, I realised that there was disappointingly few options to choose from. Which you know, isn’t great considering I’m writing a blog about diversity in YA fiction.

However, one of those very few options that I could remember was “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck which I read in year 10 – and didn’t particularly like.

Upon reflection, it was probably because it was a compulsory text for school and anything that I have to read and then answer questions for is not something I’m going to enjoy (with the exception of “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini which tugged on my heartstrings like a sad kitten with cotton wool).

But regardless of whether I enjoyed the novella or not, Steinbeck’s character of Lennie Small struck a chord with me that quite possibly warrants a re-read on my behalf (and yours) and further discussion.

For those who haven’t read the book, the general storyline is as follows:

Two migrant labourers named George Milton and Lennie Small are ranch hands at a Californian farm and dream of owning their own one day. George is protective over Lennie who is physically strong and is described as being “simple-minded”. Amidst other happenings (e.g. racism at the ranch against another character and a flirtatious ranch-owner’s wife who doesn’t have a name for some reason), Lennie eventually runs into trouble due to his fixation over petting soft things and George struggles to help his friend from the wrath of others.

Steinbeck’s representation of Lennie Small is as relevant as it was during the late 1930’s as it is today. Although in today’s society, mentally disabled individuals are far more accepted and supported in comparison to Depression era mobs (with their sometimes literal pitch forks), Lennie’s feelings of helplessness may still be reflective of those with special needs.

Lennie in the book is a gentle giant. Society is not understanding of his disabilities. He’s innocent and child-like in so many ways but his brute strength and lack of control leads to some unfortunate happenings and nobody except George really understands or tries to help him.

For those with mental disabilities, feelings of helplessness are a very real thing. They may have good intentions but their lowered degree of cognitive reasoning and understanding of the world could lead to sticky situations where they may do or say things that they didn’t intend to be harmful but ultimately is. Lennie in the book is not only a character I sympathise with, but one that I would like to read more about. As I have come to realize that I know startlingly little about mentally handicapped individuals, I feel like fiction is a great way to even begin to bridge that gap of understanding (or lack thereof in my instance).

So while I probably wouldn’t recommend this book for those who do have a mental disability (Spoiler alert: it is not a happy ending for Lennie), I would recommend it for others who want to be emotionally compromised by how unfair everything is in the story.

As always, I am no expert on the topic so please correct me if I’m heinously wrong about something. Thanks for reading, please comment below or on any of my other social media accounts and don’t forget to subscribe to my blog!

Till next time,

Not Another Mary Sue

QUESTION OF THE WEEK: What YA books featuring characters of mental disabilities do you recommend?

Yesterday, I just finished my second cinema screening of “The Maze Runner”. Was it that great that it deserves two (very overpriced – in Australia anyway) viewings? Yes and No. To be honest, I only went a second time because my little brother is on school holidays and he didn’t want to go with friends because they talk during movies and he can’t stand it (and yet is too nice to tell them to be quiet). So out of sisterly love and any excuse to munch on more calorie laden snacks, I agreed to watch it a second time.

The interesting thing I found was that even though it was the second time I was watching it, it didn’t diminish my sense of smugness surrounding the racially diverse characters in the film (and book) – Which sounds weird, but hear me out!

I was having this conversation with a friend the other day, and we were marveling at how surprising it is to see Asians in big films that are actual characters as opposed to caricatures. In Hollywood blockbusters I’ve come to expect ethnic characters to suffer some untimely death or to succumb to some stereotype that makes me want to roll my eyes so hard that it stays permanently at the back of my head. It sounds awful, but that’s what Hollywood frequently presents. Ethnic characters take the back bench. They are rarely the protagonist. If there are some deaths happening, they bite the dust first.

And it’s not fair, but more importantly, it’s a damaging mindset in terms of representing racial diversity.

Enter “The Maze Runner” – a book by James Dashner that has been turned into a film. It’s about a boy named Thomas who meets a group of boys called the “Gladers”. The general point of the film/book is that their memories are erased and they have no idea what’s happening but they have to get out using the only route possible – a gigantic maze filled with these mechanical spider monsters called “grievers” (probably aptly named since they are very intent on giving you grief. Through death and exercise mostly.).

Putting aside the plot for a second, I was extremely impressed by the amount of racial diversity in the cast (and how casting directors for the film kept true to the books in this respect!). I was even more impressed that ethnic characters were not type cast because of their race.