how can I 'undo' a 'mary sue'?

OK, so you sit down to create a character, you think and think and think some more. Finally, you come up with the ultimate character, designed exactly the way you want him/her.
But then, you're told the character is a little too perfect. Also called a 'mary sue'. So, what do you do next?

I have no idea, that is what I am asking you. The question is: How can you change a 'perfect' character to a 'normal' one?
This is my problem and I need some suggestions; here's a basic summery of a character I have:

Really smart, athletic, handsome, modest, good at martial arts, really good with computers, and he's like a secret agent. Some of those skills are considered normal where he lives, but I fear he is too perfect. The reason he's a secret agent is because he's training to be one.
How can I change him but not have to rewrite everything I've written?
Please give me any ideas you may have. Thanks.

Take away some of the skills and talents.
Make him so he's not so perfect at everything. Maybe he has a certain deformity, or his eyes are brown rather then violet (example). What I would suggest now is to fill out a character profile and post it in your blog or something like that so people can critique it.

As somebody who has turned their Mary-Sue character into a flesh and blood character, I think I can help you with this.

For starters, let me say this character isn't really a Mary Sue (or, Gary Stue, as the men are called). Because you have reasons to have him be smart and physically talented, his talents are fine and benificial as is. I would think they are plot related, yes? If talents are plot related you can find ways to work around them. It's all in backstory.

Should you make him start learning secret agent stuff at a younger age (ten/twelve is usually the baseline) and maybe some things like martial arts even younger (like six. This can be related or unrelated to be in training for secret-agent-hood) then he has reason to be so good. That covers physical talents. Now onto personality.

Again, it's the reasons behind what he has to do. If he's modest to stay private and maybe lure people into a false sense of security, then by all means make him private. But notice how I had the "false sense of security" in there. That hints at a darker side to the character, which makes him real.

You can tone down his handsomeness, as ThornedRose said, but to be honest with ourselves, we like reading about characters who are at least a touch handsome/beautiful. It's what he does with it that matters.

At a basic level, just remember that all characters have dark sides and alterier motives. Remember to put some into your character, maybe behind the good outward aperences, so that his personality doesn't look so perfect.

Finally, give this guy some complex relationships like you'd give any other character. Don't have everybody love him for being so good and don't have everybody be jealous of him because he's so good. In real life people, even gifted people, have complex relationships. Don't fall into the trap of making it all love/hate.

Also, some people don't critique character profiles. That's usually a rarer thing to find. You usually need to ask somebody to do that.

Hope this helps!

~Rosey

reading that small profile, i do kind of get the 'perfect' person feeling.

when i think of secret agent computer whizzes, i kind of think nerd. Not in the 'pimple face' way, but in the 'inner problem' kind of way. Like maybe you can have him struggle with anger management (that would go well with his martial arts) or maybe he's just a little antisocial. the profile doesn't sound bad, just make sure he has things in the story that cause him to struggle.

oh yea, and tone down the handsomeness. I hate it when authors say how pretty their characters are. i want to say 'hey this guy's cool' because of something he's done, not because i'm being reminded of his 'good looks'. if that makes any sense.

So, maybe I'll get flamed for this, but... don't change him.

Okay, maybe he is just a little too perfect, but this can be exploited. Have you thought about writing this as a humor? Readers don't tend to care too much about character development when reading humor. In fact the more perfect your characters are, the more funny your story is likely to be. Exaggerating and understating are both ways in which you can achieve humor, and making your character really doublegood might help with this image. Just remember, if you do decide to go this route you need to make sure that you make it clear that you're exaggerating.

Let's assume you don't want to go that route for whatever reason. You can change perspective, and tell the story from the point of view of his enemy. This always makes for interesting stories. The enemy emphasizes the bad attributes of the character and makes him more real. This takes quite a lot of skill but can be very effective.

If you really want to stick with him as a character because of how much you love him, which does happen to a lot of people, put him through some really tough tests. Let his friends die or even his family. When you do this, your character is shown to be non-perfect, because there is no "appropriate" way to respond to this sort of thing.

Those are just a couple of ways. I hope they helped.

Just give him a flaw or two. You don't necessarily have to take away all his 'good' attributes - just give him one or two relevant negative ones to counter-act them.

Here's an example of a character:

-- A genius,
-- An incredibly good doctor - one of the best in the world,
-- Incredibly perceptive of what's happening around him,
-- Everyone is impressed by how incredibly smart he is,
-- He's funny,
-- Many women find him attractive,
-- Multilingual,
-- A talented musician.

He's perfect, right? A mary sue? Thing is, I've just described Doctor Gregory House (from House MD), who - as anyone's watched the show will tell you - is most certainly not a mary sue. Here's some more attributes of his:

-- Incredibly rude,
-- Doesn't like people, and can't connect with them,
-- A drug addict,
-- Constantly belittles those around him,
-- Cares very little about the well being of his patients - only cares about being right,
-- Manipulates and takes advantage of his friends for his own benefit.

So you see, your character can have all those awesome attributes he already has - he can be smart, athletic, handsome, modest, good at martial arts, really good with computers ... just give him a few flaws to counteract them, and make him more believable and more compelling.

Have him face some doubts; throw in some emotional turmoil. Gary Stus are what they are not because they're more or less perfect in every way (superman, anyone? Loved by everyone but the bad guy; one physical weakness and none that are emotional?) but because you, the writer, are trying to MAKE the reader believe that they're perfect (superman is so gallant and brave; trying to save a planet that's not even his...)
So just step back from his face and his perfect spinning lotus kick. And show him flipping out over some sort of trial he will have to face.
You don't have to write
"By the way; he's not really good at computers. And he has an extra limb."
But if you do add a character deficiency; make it something both believable and terribly crippling. Example: a short temper. He's nice most of the time put if you push his buttons... and maybe he has to learn, through the course of the story, how to restrain himself. This kind of thing is really good because you can introduce it in a new scene; and not rewrite anything.

Well, I actually responded to you about this issue on the topic, "Character Flaws", but I guess I'll just copy it over here. I feel a bit spam-ish, but...yeah.

Think of it this way: could any of those good qualities have a flaw linked to it?
I.e. smart = smug, athletic = overly-competitive, handsome = shallow or snobby, you get the picture. ;D
Of course, not all of these will fit your character, nor do you have to even out the flaws and good qualities perfectly. It's just a good general rule that might help you along the way.

http://www.onlyfiction.net/marysue2.html
This is a little overdue, but it's gary stue test; you check the boxes and based on your score you know whether or not your character is a mary sue.
I did it and found it extremely helpful.