Umm, okay, lets see... Im a Huge LOTR nut, a huge Matrix fan, I love the movie Master and Commander... Im 15, Christian and Insane.

If you wanna know what I look like... Blonde wavey hair, Grey-Green eyes, fair skin. Oh, yeah, and I have a scar that's shaped like a Butterfly. :D

There are so many stories that flirt with the grand title of "Mary-Sue" out there, but what exactly makes a story a Mary-Sue?
I would like to clarify the definition of the term "Mary-Sue". Have you written a fic with a heroine? Okay, take this test to see if she's a Mary-Sue.

Does she have long hair?

Does she have fair skin?

Does she have green eyes?

Have you spent more than two paragraphs describing her appearance?

Is she incredibly talented?

Is she a genius?

Does she always come up with the answer to every problem?

Can she fight better than the hero?

Is there an abrupt, sappy love story, with more than five kisses per chapter?

Does she carry some ancient power?

Does she rescue the hero?

Does she get kidnapped, suddenly losing her powers so that she CAN be kidnapped?

Can only the hero save her from this dreadful doom?

Does she save the world, or at least the day?

Does the story end with a kiss against some romantic background?

Now, get someone to read your fic over. Get someone with talent, who is smart, and can give a good, critical review.
Okay. Now, what did they say? Is it poorly written?

A fic CAN have a long-haired, fair-skinned, green-eyed heroine, she can be smart, she can fall in love, but if the heroine of any fic you're writing can answer a "yes" to all or almost all of the symptoms I've listed here, then, please, please, kill her off.