The case for jewel-toned eyes

[rolanni]

Somewhere around the blogosphere lately, I came across a statement to the effect that a character with jewel-toned eyes must fall under suspicion of being a Mary Sue. People, after all, don't really have violet eyes, nor emerald, and therefore writers should give over already pretending that they do.

To which I reply: Hooey.

I'm in the business of telling lies, for Thing One. If I tell you that Er Thom yos'Galan, for a handy example, has purple eyes, my job is to convince you that this is so. And I Swear To You that Er Thom is not a Mary Sue.

For Thing Two, it seems to me that we are impoverishing the language, if we insist that Sally has brown eyes, and Jon has brown eyes, and Clara has brown eyes and -- Wait, wait! Sally's eyes are more yellow than brown -- may I say that they are amber-colored? Just to, yanno, distinguish her eyes from Jon's, which have a slight red tinge to them, like a mud puddle that's been agitated by a sudden rain shower. And Clara's eyes -- they're so brown, they're almost black. And then there's Julie, who has silver eyes -- not grey; silver, with a dark ring around the iris. And Sam, who's got grey eyes, too, but steel-colored, really, not like Julie's at all...

People -- and characters -- are unique. Why not use descriptors that celebrate their uniqueness?

So, anyway.

Today, there was cereal for breakfast, and afterward vacuuming, more laundry, and fish and potato salad for supper. Very soon now, it will be time for dinner, and! Tomorrow is Monday.

Progress on Mouse and Dragon

2,552 / 100,000 (2.6%)

Comments

[scaleslea.livejournal.com]

It is OK for Alfred Hitchcock to appear in his own movies. It is not OK for him to create an unauthorized sequel to someone ELSE's movie and insert himself as a new main character that is smarter/stronger/faster/prettier/sexier/more more more better than every other character from the original storyline.

Mary Sue stories are typically fan-fiction.

It is OK to want to be the princess at the ball. It is OK to throw your own ball just so you can be the princess. But it is just stupid to crash someone else's ball and demand they hand over the tiara.

Doc

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Not all Mary Sue fiction is in other people's universes (and definitely not all is unauthorised). But you are right that it is about the prominence of the part, a Mary Sue story has that character as very prominent, the "lead character" who is sickeningly better than any others in the story (especially of the same gender) whereas Hitchcock played 'cameo' parts well below the lead in importance.