Smith has also agreed with others who claim that writing an autobiographical Mary Sue character/story is an inevitable part of the process for new writers attempting fiction.Īlthough criticism and accusations of writers creating Mary Sue characters/stories have become far more frequent, more defenses have arisen as well. While writing a Mary Sue is often viewed as an amateur move (and, indeed, Mary Sue is frequently used to simply suggest an overall poorly-written character, regardless of gender), Smith acknowledges that it is possible for author-insertion in works of fiction to be done well. Salon wrote in 2015, “The term Mary Sue is rooted in a long history of dismissing female characters and holding them to absurd double standards,” alluding to the point that identical forms of author-insert or wish-fulfillment with male characters/writers are rarely noticed or called out, while female characters tend to be held to a much higher degree of scrutiny when it comes to believable traits and abilities.Īs the joke goes: “What do you call a male Mary Sue? … A protagonist.” The concept of a Mary Sue has received fair and significantly complex criticism in the decades since the term was coined, with confusion over whether it has become inherently misogynistic to accuse characters of being a Mary Sue or whether it is a legitimate type of literary character. Because the character and story type continued to crop up in fanfiction submissions, Smith and other editors began referring to them as “Lieutenant Mary Sue” stories, and the term Mary Sue quickly caught on with the public. “A Trekkie’s Tale” was written to parody what Smith viewed as a common practice with young writers to perhaps subconsciously write an idealized version of themselves into the story and fail to write the original Star Trek characters accurately as a result of interacting with the author’s unrealistic wish-fulfillment figure. In a 2011 interview, Smith explained that, as an editor who read a significant amount of Star Trek fanfiction (written by women, in particular), she noticed a pattern of recurring adolescent female characters who were the youngest ever in their Starfleet position, irresistibly yet uniquely attractive, and uncannily talented and capable in every adventure she and the crew dared endeavor. 'He is going to run the company back into the ground in three months.The very short story was written by Paula Smith in 1973 for Menagerie, a Star Trek fanzine for which she was an editor. "'What's this kid doing here?' You know people were looking around saying. "I will never forget the looks on their faces," he said. He gave a motivational speech he had put together in 10 minutes in the car. He was the youngest employee, aside from a truck driver who was two days his junior. It was an awkward affair, with the 23-year-old Buppert, dressed in khakis and a button-down shirt with $3 sunglasses hanging from his neck, trying to convince workers more than twice his age that he was going to revive the ailing company. The next day, he met with employees in the company lunchroom at the Caton Avenue factory. For that price, he got everything - the factory, trucks, equipment, even the famous Mary Sue jingle, which Johnny Unitas sang on television in the 1950s. One day, he came across a newspaper article saying that the financially troubled parent of Mary Sue and Naron was being sold at auction.īuppert quickly reviewed the documents, drew up a business plan and, with backing from his father, beat out other bidders by paying $890,000 in cash. Buppert took his dad's advice and became a candy executive five months after graduating from the University of Richmond in May 2001.
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