just as I finished throwing in an offhand comment about discovering one of my protagonist’s less-attractive sides, I read this piece on the “Mary Sue phenomenon”:http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/004188.html#004188 in fanfic.
I’ve been writing like mad (relatively speaking) the last few weeks, and while I’m in the phase of just writing it all down, and now caring whether it sux, I’m sensing the big picture, the themes and all that as well. and that’s a happy thing.
but I’m wondering now if her interaction with Ani, at least, is a little too Mary Sue-ish. I just find it extraordinarily difficult to write it at all realistically; I think it’s hard because I don’t actually know that many children.