Anghraine

There's a lot of discussion going on about Mary Sues, and what makes a Mary Sue, and Sue shaming and so on. I'm kind of ambivalent, or at least confused, so I have all the following thoughts about it:

-- awesome male character = badass. awesome female character (often) = Sue. Double standards at their worst.

-- wish-fulfilment is not bad. It is not necessarily good either. It can be done badly (too many things to count) or it can be done well (P&P!). I think it's easier to do badly than many things, and where a lot of us (all of us?) start. My first original character was a golden-haired, sapphire-eyed princess-healer-seeress-sorceress with the most powerful magical talent EVER HEARD OF. And she was Chosen by Fate to save the world from an alien invasion.