Welcome to Gaia! ::

KEY
ninja = In progress
3nodding = Finished
mrgreen = Published

Articles
Flash Fiction, by enchantedsleeper 3nodding
Is Your OC an MS? (all about Mary-Sues/Gary-Stus) by enchantedsleeper 3nodding by enchantedsleeper 3nodding
'Have You Ever Tried A...?' (A look at some unusual kinds of poetry) by enchantedsleeper 3nodding
The Wonderful World of Fanfiction by enchantedsleeper ninja

Is it okay to use a swearword in the title? ^^;

Ideas for upcoming articles
Characters Part (I): Creating An Original Character
Characters Part (II): Developing An Original Character
Point of View and Tense
Writing A Comic Script

You can delete this post later, if you don't want it mucking up your work area, but I thought I'd offer some friendly critique!

First off, it's a very helpful, informational article. You give good examples and guidelines, and the links at the end are a nice touch.

I'd recommend finding out what Riding the Meridian is. It's not very professiona to just say "I think that's a book or something."

Finally, I love all he examples your using, but are we sure there's no copyright violations with using them? It might no be a problem. I know lots of writing books will use random examples form other texts. Worst case senario, you could show your own work, or the work of exceptional Gaian's (who give you permission).

Awesome article! It'll be nice if this could be a regular thing, but even if its not, it's nice to have some again.

Is Your OC an MS?
All About Mary-Sues/Gary-Stus
By enchantedsleeper

What is a Mary-Sue?

A Mary-Sue, sometimes known as a Gary-Stu if the character is male, is a clichéd character, or a character which seems too perfect. Mary-Sues often have certain tell-tale characteristics that can be used to spot Mary-Sues, or determine if your own character is one. Common Mary-Sue characteristics include but are not limited to:

An unnecessarily angsty past, especially one which either doesn't seem to affect the character at all emotionally, or causes them to angst constantly (and annoyingly). Beware especially if the character in question is the sole survivor of a disaster or of his or her tribe or family, or perhaps an orphan whose parents were killed in front of them.

Perfect good looks without them needing to work at it.

An unnecessary amount of middle names, especially if those include names which are hyphenated or contain apostrophes (example: Galadriel Mary-Sue The'darna Cas'sol Angel-face).

Hair or eyes which are unusual in some way, possibly of colours not found in nature, and/or which receive disproportionate amounts of description (example: ankle-length purple hair and colour-changing eyes).

Any characteristics which are similar to or the same as a character from a popular anime/manga, or Japanese characteristics when the character isn't actually Japanese (e.g. wearing a sailor-suit or kimono, using a katana or martial arts to fight).

Several characteristics which the creator of the character shares. The worst extreme of this is to basically make your character an idealised version of yourself. Do that, and he or she will be a sure-fire Mary-Sue.

Immortality, highly acute senses, psychic powers or any other unnatural characteristic(s) without adequate or believable explanation.

No or few conceivable weaknesses or flaws.

Fantastic Beasts Mary-Sues And Where To Find Them

There tend to be different varieties of Mary-Sue depending on what kind of story they're in.

Quizilla Mary-Sue: I have had a lot of experience with this kind of MS. Quizilla Mary-Sue is commonly found in anime-based quizzes. She always has a flat stomach and generous curves and is generally stunningly beautiful: all the better to make Inuyasha/Kenshin/Kurama/Hiei fall for her. (Never mind that he's in love with Kagome/Kaoru/possibly gay/never really shows any feelings). She will most likely have hair and eyes of a colour not found in nature and will possibly be a youkai (demon), hanyou (half-demon) or anthro (human with characteristics of a certain animal). She'll probably be found wearing either a sailor suit or kimono (or a towel if she's just got out of the bath - cue the love interest) and is quite often an orphan and/or adopted/fostered by an uncaring family, meaning that there are no parents to worry about her when she goes off to the Feudal Era or wherever. Handy. As far as I am aware, she has no male counterpart.

Fanfiction Mary-Sue: There is a considerable amount of overlap with the above type of Mary-Sue, especially in anime fanfics. I have little experience with Harry Potter Mary-Sues but have come to understand that they are very similar to the above, only less anime-ness and more witch-ness. Pirates of the Carribbean Mary-Sues are most commonly the self-based variety - the POTC section of Fanfiction.net is overflowing with self-insertion fanfiction. May or may not have a male counterpart.

Writing Forum Mary-Sue: Again, less experience in this sector, but I've come to understand that the writing forum Mary-Sue is most commonly of the excessively angsty variety. Writing forum Mary-Sues can be both male and female.

Roleplay Mary-Sue: I've encountered a fair few of these. Roleplay Mary-Sues have many different forms. They can be both male and female. Some rpers will prefer different types of Mary-Sue to others: some will go for child geniuses, others angels or anthro characters, others the sort that will heroically beat up the bad guys without even breaking a sweat, every now and again pausing to throw out a clichéd catch-phrase.

What's so bad about Mary-Sues?

The simple answer to that is usually: they're annoying. Not everyone is going to instantly love a Mary-Sue just because his or her creator has generously endowed him/her with multiple so-called 'cool' characteristics. In fact most people will have the opposite reaction, and hate the character in question. Characters need to be balanced, and it's likely that any character that contains more than one of the above characteristics will have some inconsistencies, whether they don't quite fit into the setting, or are just plain impossible or unbelievable as a character. If your character is a roleplay character, it's not going to go down well if your character wins every single fight with no damage, is constantly angsting about lost family members, or is able to read all the other character's minds and predict their every move. Of course, that's not to say that you can't create a character who's a little improbable for the sake of a fun roleplay, or even a character who is totally impossible if you're just writing for fun, but I wouldn't try to get a story with that character published, or be wholly surprised if not everyone in the roleplay adores your character.

How do you avoid creating a Mary-Sue?

A general good 'rule of thumb' is to avoid using characteristics which you consider to be 'cool', just for the sake of using them. If you simply have to have a character who practices martial arts and wields a katana, then by all means write him or her into a story with a Japanese setting in the appropriate time period. But never just tack those characteristics onto an existing character if they don't fit. If you're set on having a character with a difficult past, remember that there are limits to what one human being can go through, and bear in mind the setting for your story (if you have one), or roleplay. If your story/roleplay is taking place in a war-torn country, then yeah, it's quite likely that your character will have lost one or more family members, whether as a direct or indirect consequence of the war. But if your story/roleplay is set in a peaceful, modern-day country like England or America, it's rather less likely that your character's siblings will have been killed and all their possessions lost in an earthquake, their mother kidnapped by vengeful soldiers and their father missing on an expedition to some faraway place or other. Granted, it's not impossible, but it is improbable. Especially if it all somehow took place before your character was ten years old. And like I said, bear in mind the probable psychological effects of all this on your character. If he or she hasn't already committed suicide, he/she will have some serious issues. (And I don't just mean recurring nightmares that will require the love and comfort of your character's respective other half. Who by the way is also on the road to impending doom, just to add to the mental anguish).

My character is a Mary-sue. What should I do?

Well, it depends what your situation is. How much of a Mary-Sue is your character, and what are you using him/her for? The best way of telling is to take a Mary-Sue litmus test (linked below) which makes allowances for storyline and such and which is a pretty accurate judge (although not always correct). If he/she is a huge Mary-Sue, and is a character in a book you plan to get published, or at least want people to read, I would advise taking a look at his or her characteristics and perhaps making him/her a more balanced character. But you don't necessarily need to do anything. Some Mary-Sues can be quite popular characters, whilst some readers are liable to label any character with a slightly angsty past as a Mary-Sue. You can't please everyone.

Useful Links and Further Reading

http://www.ponylandpress.com/ms-test.html The Original Fiction Mary-Sue Litmus Test

http://www.springhole.net/quizzes/marysue.htm The Universal Mary-Sue Litmus Test

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_sue Wikipedia Article on Mary-Sues

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2276820/1/ A hilarious fanfiction Mary-Sue spoof (fandom = Harry Potter)

http://www.maggiefic.com/marysue.htm MaggieFic's Mary-Sue Generator

It's not actually that much longer than the other one, though it looks it, and it's roughly average length for a Writer's Aide Article. Still, I think it maybe ought to be more concise... Any ideas as to what I can take out?

Okay, I admit it xd I couldn't resist writing one more article. This one's taken me practically all day! It was a lot of fun to research and write up. I really recommend trying out some of these poems!

'Have You Ever Tried A...?'
A Look At Some More Unusual Forms Of Poetry
By enchantedsleeper

What comes into your mind when you think the word 'poem'? Most likely not a specific form. Probably either a free-verse poem, or one with regular meter and a rhyme scheme. (Then again, maybe nothing comes into your head XD).
A lot of people don't realise just how many forms of poetry there are out there. I didn't have much of an idea until I wrote this article. And even having written it, I know there are so many forms I haven't covered, from all across the world.
This article is designed to widen your 'poetic culture' a little, as well as adding a few impressive terms to your vocabulary. If you're looking for a poetry challenge, then look no further than the following forms of poetry.

Haiku and Tanka

These are perhaps a little better known than some of the forms of poetry featured below. Both are ancient Japanese forms of poetry and both have specific syllable counts.

A haiku has three lines and seventeen syllables altogether. The first and last lines have five syllables, and the middle has seven. It's quite a challenge to fit what you want to say into haiku form, and you have to choose your words exactly.

Here is an example of a haiku: (taken from this website)

The Rose by Donna Brock

The red blossom bends
and drips its dew to the ground.
Like a tear it falls

A tanka, when written in English and other languages besides Japanese, consists of five lines with the syllable pattern 5-7-5-7-7. In Japanese, it has the same amount of syllables (31) but is often written as one straight line.

An example of a tanka: (taken from this website)

Carefully I walk
Trying so hard to be brave
They all see my fear
Dark glasses cover their eyes
As mine flow over with tears

Abecedarian

The word abecedarian, also sometimes spelt abcedarian, originates from the Latin abecedarius, and is pronounced 'ay-bee-cee-dare-ee-un'. (I put this in mainly because I've just discovered that I've been pronouncing it wrong this whole time XD)
There are two main forms of abecedarian: one with twenty-six words, and one with twenty-six lines. With the first, each word begins with a consecutive letter of the alphabet.

Here is an example (taken from this website):

AUTUMN SENSATIONS

Autumn brings cool dusky evenings,
Fears gather heavily inside,
Jostling kin leave me now,
Only peacefully quiet ripples
surround the universe,
Veiled wintry xanthous .... your zenith.

A variation on this is to do the same thing but with the alphabet in reverse.

In the second form, each line of the poem begins with each letter of the alphabet in order, beginning with a and ending with z. In a more challenging variation of this from, the last letter of each line is the alphabet in reverse, beginning with z and ending with a. Here is an example of such a variation.

Villanelle

Okie, this one is pretty complicated, so listen closely. For starters, a villanelle has nineteen lines and only two rhyme sounds. The first and third lines of the first stanza are repeated throughout the poem: they take it in turns to form the last line of each stanza. Then, at the end of the poem, they form a rhyming couplet.
A villanelle consists of five tercets and one quatrain. In more simple terms, the first five stanzas have three lines, and the last has four.
Here's an example, written by Dylan Thomas. The two rhyming sounds are 'ay' and 'ight'.

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Diamante

In general terms, a diamante poem is a poem with seven lines in the shape of a diamond. There are two main types: a synonym diamante poem, which describes one topic, and an antonym diamante poem, which decribes two contrasting topics, for example night and day.
A diamante poem has a specific format: the first and last lines contain only a noun, the second and sixth lines two adjectives, the third and fifth lines three gerunds (words ending in -ing) and the fourth/middle line four nouns. In an antonym diamante poem, the fourth line marks the 'halfway point' between the two topics, with the first two nouns relating to the first topic, and the second two nouns relating to the second. All the lines preceding the fourth relate to the first topic, and all the lines which follow on from the fourth relate to the second.

Here's an example of an antonym diamante poem: (taken from this website)

square
symmetrical, conventional
shaping, measuring, balancing
boxes, rooms, clocks, halos
encircling, circumnavigating, enclosing
round, continuous
circle

Cinquain

As the name suggests, cinquain poems have five lines. There are three main types of cinquain poem. The first and most common is similar to a diamante poem in terms of number of words. Lines 1-4 contain one, two, three and four words respectively, and line five contains one word. (So more like a Christmas tree than a diamond).
The second type of poem resembles a diamante poem in terms of types of words. Line one features a noun and usually denotes the subject matter of the poem; line two contains two adjectives; line three consists of three gerunds (see above for definition); line four is a phrase, and line five a single word, be it a synonym of the first noun or an adjective to describe the first noun.
Finally, the third type of cinquain has a syllable count which increases by two for the first four lines, with the first and fifth lines having two syllables. At the bottom is a link which features descriptions and examples of the three different types of cinquain.
There are many variations on the cinquain form, which have developed through writers' experiments. Some of these include the Reverse Cinquain, Butterfly Cinquain (which actually has nine lines as opposed to five), Garland Cinquain and Mirror Cinquain. The third cinquain link below describes several different variations on the cinquain form.

Useful links and further reading

The three main forms of cinquain and some examples of them http://hrsbstaff.ednet.ns.ca/davidc/6c_files/Poem pics/cinquaindescrip.htm

More on cinquains http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5775

Some different types of cinquain http://www.cinquain.org/theory.html

A website featuring some examples of diamante poems and an interactive template that lets you create your own: http://www.readwritethink.org/materials/diamante/

A webpage on tanka http://www.americantanka.com/about.html

More on tanka: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5793

Wikipedia article about villanelle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villanelle

More on villanelle http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5796

Wikipedia article on haiku: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haiku

More on haiku: http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/5782

If I've piqued your interest and you'd like to read about more unusual, challenging forms of poetry, then try these:

Triolet (2)
Ghazal (2)
Sestina (2)
Terza Rima (2)
Renga (2)
Waka (Japanese) Poetry