This word has been all over this forum for weeks, just not knowing what it is drives me nuts!!!!
Can anyone explain to me what a canon sue is, and give me an example?
Can anyone explain to me what a canon sue is, and give me an example?
What is a canon sue?
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Um ..... I dunno.
Maybe a close cousin of a Mary Sue?????? (Google "Mary Sue." You won't regret it, espeically the Wiki article on it.)
Maybe a close cousin of a Mary Sue?????? (Google "Mary Sue." You won't regret it, espeically the Wiki article on it.)
If something like that drives you nuts then why not look it up? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sue
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From pretty deep ficcer conversation too. Seriously, I read a lot of fanfic but am not a 'lifestyler'--I can barely understand what is being said on some lists.
Wikipedia is a fairly well-used resource with today's internet generation. I strongly advise you to become as well-versed in Wiki as you can because Wiki is "the standard" which is now being almost universally copied by other info-gathering web sites.
Here's the "Mary Sue" entry at Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_sue
And if you scroll down, you will find the "Canon Sue" sub-paragraph:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_sue#Canon-Sue_.28in_fan_fiction.29
It seems pretty straight forward to me.
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Blue, from what I understand reading the wiki article the idea is like this. Let's say you really like Harry Potter (the character). So you write some fan fiction about Harry Potter. But in writing this fan fiction you decide you are going to make Harry Potter totally like you. That is to say you turn Harry into a Mary Sue of yourself. So you totally change the character, and make him react in ways that he never would in the original work. It's a wish fulfillment thing. But instead of making up a character to be you, ie Mary Sue, you use an existing character to be you.
Just so you know, the word "Canon" in the context of writing is used to describe a body of work. You could say the Canon of Harry Potter to describe all the books of Harry Potter. So you could say, "In the canon of Harry Potter my favourite character is Remus Lupin".
Just so you know, the word "Canon" in the context of writing is used to describe a body of work. You could say the Canon of Harry Potter to describe all the books of Harry Potter. So you could say, "In the canon of Harry Potter my favourite character is Remus Lupin".
My take is that a true Mary Sue is when Harry Potter meets a new female student at Hogwarts, and the new female student is really Blue in disguise.
The variation on the Mary Sue called a Canon Sue is more what you are taking about, Toothpaste. A Canon Sue (from what I can tell from the Wiki article) is when Blue writes her own Harry Potter story and changes Harry around so that he is far more like Blue than like Harry.
Paraphrased from TVtropes.org
A canon sue is one of these two things:
1. A character introduced in the story a fanfiction is based on made to be a Mary Sue by the fanfics author.
2. A character from an original work of fiction possessing Mary Sue qualities.
So basically, it's a character from the original story who is either a Mary Sue to begin with, or who becomes one in fanfiction.
A canon sue is one of these two things:
1. A character introduced in the story a fanfiction is based on made to be a Mary Sue by the fanfics author.
2. A character from an original work of fiction possessing Mary Sue qualities.
So basically, it's a character from the original story who is either a Mary Sue to begin with, or who becomes one in fanfiction.
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Plot Device - Exactly. I thought that was what I said. But just to clear up, what I was describing was a Canon Sue, not Mary Sue. Blue is already very familiar with what a Mary Sue is which is why I didn't go into detail about what it was. But yes, a Mary Sue is a character that is made up and is basically the author.
A lot of writers insert themselves into the stories that they write. This practice is particularly common with young adolescent girls who write fan fictions based on their favorite TV shows, movies, and books. The practice became infamous amongst Star Trek fans (especially female Star Trek fans) where Kirk (or sometimes Spock) would meet a brand new female crew member and fall instantly in lover with her. That female character was either a fairly good twin to the writer of the fanfic, or else the wish fantasy of the writer as far as who she would have prefered to have been.
There is a thread over in Take It Outside about a Harry Potter fanfic that one of our regular AW members quite horrifyingly discovered on the internet. In that facfic Harry Potter met a new student at Hogwarts who had a size Double-E bra and he fell absoltely in love with her.
Let me see if I can find that one.
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Is that thread called the "When Mary Sues/Gary stus go too far."?
Double E? That's just gross.
I knew what mary sues are, but I didn't think they'd be this creepy. *shudders*
Yes it is!
Here ya' go! But be forewarned: SERIOUS CREEPINESS ALERT!!!
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2319460#post2319460
CORRECTION: It was actually a size 32DD.
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I've encountered some serious wackjobs on some of the fanfic boards. Some of them are entertaining in a train wreck kind of way, but there are a few that have left me feeling like I needed a serious shower to get the slime off of me.
That said, there is some good stuff out there. Just not.....that.
That said, there is some good stuff out there. Just not.....that.
I would add that the word canon is used a lot on messageboards and LJ and such to mean "true in this particular fictional universe," especially in a nitpicky sense. Everything the original author writes in her published books is canon, and anything made up by fan fiction writers is non-canon, or non-canonical (I've seen it written both ways). You've got Star Wars canon, Wheel of Time Canon, Harry Potter Canon, DC Comics canon, Doctor Who Canon, etc. etc. Likewise, often changes in movie or audio adaptations are non-canonical, which can annoy the fans (For instance, in Marvel canon, Kitty Pryde meets Wolverine when she first joins the X-Men. The movie 'X-Men' is non-canon because it shows Kitty attending classes, though she hasn't met Wolverine yet (among many other non-canon things in the movie)). When one thing in a single story contradicts another thing, then fans enjoy arguing over what is really canon and what isn't (like how many students attend Hogwarts, for instance).
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Is your character the real you, or an idealized you? Is there a difference?And this is a bad thing? My MC is me.
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Kitty Pryde - good post! Now I don't have to explain Canon.
No Ferret, a mary sue is a flawless, unbelievable, perfect character, not just a character based on the author.
I am sure you are fine.
No Ferret, a mary sue is a flawless, unbelievable, perfect character, not just a character based on the author.
I am sure you are fine.
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