Not long ago, I was informed on what a Mary Sue or Gary Sue is in the world of writing. It is a character which suffers from some kind of favoritism and possibly self-insertion on the part of the writer.

These types of charactes will often be overly perfect, and blatanly have the authors personal qualities (or desired qualities) superimposed upon their character's own flimsy persona.

I was always aware of this character archtype in much of fanfiction and some professional work, but had no idea there was an actual term and definition for it. I then found a link to a test for this unfortunate writers trap.

Upon taking the test I found my beloved protagonist, Axl Ryder, was indeed suffering from a mild case of Gary Sueism. I was glad to find this out, because the test itself is helpful in discerning what qualities should be discouraged or toned down in a Mary Sue type character.

If you are a writer and are not already aware of how your characters stand in relation to this concept of Sue, I HIGHLY recommend taking this test. I know how easy it is to not notice your own character's over perfectionism, but I also know the pain of reading through stories with overly idealized protagonists

the link to the test is here [link]

it's a little long, but if you're serious about your characters than its worth the time, and could help improve your stories quite a bit.

Good luck