I'm Just Confused

[rosalinda-143.livejournal.com]

Okay, so I'm just so confused right now. And I want your guyses advice on what to do. My book involves vampires and yes they are teenagers at a school. Sounds like Twilight doesn't it. Well I don't want it to sound like Twilight. I want it to be my own (with secret agents and strong, independant women), and I have had some people suggest that I change them to adults, so that they're older and more mature.

And I don't know which to choose. I've been thinking about it and I just can't decide, so I'm holding a poll. If you pick yes or no please tell me why in the comment box. Thank you.

[Poll #1444798]

peace.love.happiness.

- Rosie

Comments

[greynonentity.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I don't think that simply having a secret agent character automatically makes your FMC a Mary-Sue. Would it be the same if your MC was a man would he be a Marty-Stu for being a secret agent. He should be, if that's the case. The concept that characters are Mary-Sues based solely on their occupation seems to be a preventative for anyone trying to write fiction about spies, or vampires, or whatever cliche is out there. (And inevitably people DO write cliches no matter how hard you try to avoid it, but what matters is the twists, the turns, the tone, and overall writing and characterization of the piece that makes THIS BOOK different from something like THAT BOOK.)

So no, I don't think a super secret agent character makes her a Sue. I do think that it would be hard to pull off a convincing TEENAGER secret agent as teenagers don't have nearly as much training or time to be as good as an adult (although, written the right way, set in the right plot, set in the right world, perhaps it could be, but you'll have a hell of a time convincing your readership.) If it's a world where there's a military institution that trains children from infancy to adulthood, then you might have a convincing teenage spy. If it's a slice of the regular-world, then it would definitely not be as convincing.

I'd vote for making them adults, provided it's not set in a world that's different from ours, and not because teenage high school vampires have been done, because you can still take that story and shove it into places the genre hasn't gone, (people get too sensitive about doing something uber-special and uber-new and not-like-popular-crappy-story-of-the-year when they could spend their time truly developing their stories that would naturally take them away from that genre). Anyway, I'd vote for adult characters since they'd have more experience, more time to develop their skills, possibly more rational ability (provided you have a rational character, some adults, well, the're just not that rational), have more of an established persona and foundations, and have an entire background to sift through.

I would recommend evaluating your character very carefully however, since "secret agent" is typically a profession that does spawn powerhouse Mary-Sues, but I don't think her profession makes her a Sue. If she can do everything then yes, you've got yourself a Sue. If you've got yourself an agent who's really good at the stealth work but who has a BIG problem relating to people around her, she'd probably botch some kind of social mission - or perhaps she's really good at talking to and manipulating people, but she gets caught every time when she's sneaking around and has to think her way out of it.

Just because your character is a secret agent doesn't mean she has to be good at everything that secret agents are supposedly good at. Skills and personality are a big part of what makes natural, convincing characters as opposed to Mary-Sues.

-Kowareta

[rosalinda-143.livejournal.com]

Thanks, and I do realize that. No one's perfect and neither is my characters. They've made a lot of mistakes during their lives... trust me. I guess I should tone down a little, your right about the being good at one thing but not the other. I'll have to change that... (and she isn't really social because of all the Cov. Ops she gone on). Anyhow, thanks for the advice, i'll definately take that into consideration. Thanks it again, it really does help. ^.^