... except, ah, but except, this one was created by me! Came on to check my email, ended up making a meme. Go me. Everyone go and do this goddamn Mary Sue meme and do it now! *giggles* Okay, okay, I'll calm down. The great thing about this meme, though I do say so myself, is that it works with just about every fandom ever, as you can specify what fandom you require and who the poor sap who suffers Mary Sue's attentions should be. I chose Ken, because that's just the way I am. Though God knows it's the last thing the poor boy deserves on top of everything else he has to worry about.

In related news, whilst I was browsing through various sites in an attempt to find Mary Sue names that I could steal and utilize for my own vicious ends, I discovered that god damn, and I thought I took fanfiction seriously. Not a bit of it. Compared to some of the folks out there, I am a mere dilettante dabbling in the art of ficcage for my own amusement.

These people are serious. To say nothing of seriously strange.

There are whole sites out there devoted to bad fanfiction and how to improve if you happen to find yourself writing one. Huge amounts of wrath poured on Mary Sues - and I thought I was harsh on them, I don't know. The sad thing is, though, that some of the complainants don't actually seem to write fics themselves. They complain about badfic (I love this term already. Badfic badfic badfic, it's just so fun to say that word...), do killer MSTs and critique both harshly and fairly, but they don't actually seem to write their own fics. Sure, some of them do. Others, though, just seem to critique and I think that's kind of sad.

I mean... deep down, obsessive though I am about fanfiction, I do it for one reason and one reason only - for love. If I wanted to write professionally, I would be a hell of a lot more stringent about the quality of my stuff (god knows how much proofreading I'd be doing under those circumstances, I'm an obsessive when it comes to proofing). I probably would try and find a beta reader. I would pay attention to writer's guides: I would read them and take their advice. But, right now, I'd find that doing all those things would suck out one key element of the whole process for me: I wouldn't be having fun, and I'd quickly stop doing it.

Thank you.

So, You Want to be a Mary Sue? by quietladybirman
Name/Username:
Age:
Fandom to Violate:
Mary Sue's True Love:
Mary Sue Name:	Tristessa Celeste
Luxuriant Tresses:	Tumbled auburn ringlets
Vibrant Orbs:	Determined, resolute violet
Captivating Personality:	Soulful and traumatized, burdened with grief
Mary Sue Power:	Magical healing powers
Angsty Secret:	Was raped by one of the villains
Ultimate Fate:	Is captured whilst saving an innocent, spawning three godawful sequels
Percentage of Mary Sue Induced OOCness: 79%
Quiz created with MemeGen!

... and something very strange has happened to my nice new layout. Where are all these huge blank spaces coming from all of a sudden? Have I done something wrong? Have I not done something wrong? Perhaps I should contact the creator and let her know that strange things are happening to me.

[update: ah, that's better - the layout's sane again. Going to bed now.]