A a college student you've
probably had to sit through

at least one English class. For
the average person not looking
to make an educational career
out of carefully analyzing

plots, characters, and narrative
evolutions, these classes can
be a little dull. However, some
of us—myself included—tind
the opposite. | have a distinct
and all-consuming passion for
literature. | love creating it,
analyzing it, and simply enjoying
It.

One of my favourite things
about literature is how it
provides us with a kaleidoscope
of perspectives. Every writer,
whether their work graces book
cover, film, or stage, has a
distinct and affective style that
greatly influences the characters
they create. However, not all
characters are created equal.
What separates a good character
from a bad one? The answer is
three-dimensionalism.

You may have heard
of the concept of three-
dimensional (3D) characters

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before. Otherwise known as
multi-dimensional character
creation, this process involves
the formulation of fully realized,
complete characters—as
opposed to static character
creation which bases character
personality traits on common
tropes or stereotypes. This is
important because different
narrative styles will use both

of these processes where
appropriate to better suit the
ultimate, overarching theme of
their plot.

For example, a satirical piece
will often populate its worlds
with static characters to better
emphasize whatever social
critique it seeks to explore. For
the significant characters found
in many other genres of fiction,
such as speculative or family
sagas, readers expect the writer
to create fully 3D characters to
better draw their reader into
complete immersion. After all,
a writer can formulate the most
imaginative, beautiful world
possible—but if the characters
aren't believable as actual

 

   

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Three-dimensional ch

people? There will always be
something off-putting about it.

One of the worst crimes in
character development is the
dreaded Mary Sue. If you're
unfamiliar with the term—or only
know it from its titular use as a
pop culture website—let me give
a brief overview. A Mary Sue,
or the male equivalent which is
commonly called a Gary Stu, is a
character who lacks flaws and is
seemingly perfect in every way.
The moniker originally started in
the realm of fan fiction. A Mary
Sue will often represent the
author themselves, but they'll be
portrayed in an idealized way—
so much so that the character
seems disingenuous and entirely
unrealistic.

Though the name Mary Sue
began in fan fiction, that isn’t to
say that original worldbuilding
and writing is always free of this
sin. There are plenty of examples
of Mary Sues in almost any genre
of fiction, from Bella Swan in the
Twilight series, to Wace Watts/
Parzival in Ready Player One.
What differentiates a Mary Sue

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Brittney MacDonald

from an author surrogate, which
is a more well-received authorial
insertion into a narrative—a
good example is Scout in To
Kill a Mockingbird—is that
disingenuous character arc. If a
character starts off as perfect,
then they cannot evolve as the
plot progresses. This lack of
evolution makes the character
seem unnatural, not to mention
both stale and boring.

The key to avoiding a Mary
Sue is to make sure that your
characters are fully 3D. This
means giving them faults. No
one is perfect—so no character
should be either. People are
full of contradictions, so don’t
be afraid to analyze characters
who seem to never question
themselves. If you are a writer,
make them have conflicting
emotions that they struggle with,
as you'd expect from any human
being.

What separates a good
character fault from a bad one is
that a character fault has to act
as an obstacle—otherwise there
is no point to it. If a character is

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