Welp, Scratch didn't ruin the quality of my art again. Oh, by the way, I handed this over to my girlfriend, metaphorically, who copied and pasted from a thing she wrote on DeviantART on how to not make a warrior cats Mary-Sue, so, if you watch her on DeviantART, like I do, and you come across that deviation, I DIDN'T STEAL IT. Okay? Even ask Derika yourself if you want.
Names matter. If a cat is named 'Dreamheart' that is a Mary-sue name. Avoid using things like 'Dream', 'Shine', 'Star', 'Silver' or 'Shimmer' in front. Especially 'Star'. That's a HUGE NO. And if they become leader, what will they be, Starstar? That's just silly. DO NOT name a cat Starheart or something like that. Not even if their name is like Starnose. It's a HUGE NO. If you're going to use any of those you must use a suffix like 'claw', 'nose', 'face', 'flame', 'pelt', 'fur' or 'fang'. But do not use pelt or fur for Shine or Shimmer. Maybe not Dream, either. Silverfur sounds OK, doesn't it? But do not use Silverpelt, because you'd be naming them after the milky way, which makes them a Sue. Sorry. Silverclaw, Silvernose, Silverface, Silverfire, Silverflame and Silverfang sound OK. Silverstripe is OK, too. But DO NOT use 'Silverstream', 'Silverheart', 'Silverfeather', or 'Silverlight'. That just makes them sound Sue-ish. If you're going to do that, DO NOT make their personality perfect. You could only make something that doesn't sound pretty as the prefix if you're going to do that. You must have SOME flaws. If your cat has no flaws, that makes them perfect, and perfect is a Mary-Sue. Just avoid that. It's a HUGE NO to do that, no matter their name. Even if their name is 'Uglyface', that'd still make them a Sue. If they have flaws, it also makes them more interesting to read. There's no point in reading about someone with no flaws. Their personality has to have at least three flaws. Maybe more. But they can't be something that isn't a trait, like 'Ugly-Looking', or 'One eye gone from face'. A real flaw would be 'Anger issues' or 'Evil'. They can't just be 'Happy-go-lucky', or 'nice all the time'. That's just making a Sue, and no one wants a Sue as a main cat. If they are a real warrior, they cannot be 'no flaws'. If you want to enter a collab, and they ask you about flaws, you can't say 'none'. If you have none, you will not get accepted. If you're ever urged to make a cat without flaws, then just think of it as entering a collab where they ask for flaws. No flaws = HUGE NO. You MUST have flaws. If you're trying to base the cat off of yourself, and it's coming out a Sue, then you should have a personality. Not one where there are 'no flaws'. You must have a dark side of yourself. Depression is a flaw, anger issues is a flaw, but ugly-looking is not. They might be beautiful on the inside if they have an ugly face. THAT IS NOT A FLAW. If you have a cat named Dreamlight, at least make their pelt colour not beautiful. If you have a cat named Dreamtail, and their pelt is pretty, but the inside is not, that's a perfect model how to not make a Sue. They may have pretty colours but they have flaws on the inside. Their name is also not beautiful. Just perfect. If you have a silver tabby with 'pretty' white stripes named Shinefeather, then your cat is a Sue. A cat named Shinefeather has a not-pretty colouring, then that's good. If you have a cat named Shinefeather, you should make the pelt grey with black stripes. That does not make them pretty. And they are not shining at all. If you name a cat Dirtleaf with not pretty things, then you do not have a sue. Unless their personality doesn't have a flaw. The Erins made Leafpool, a pretty name, but she had flaws and she was not beautiful on the outside. If you have a pretty name like that try to make them have a non pretty pelt, That just gets them the Sue reward. If your personality does not have a flaw, then it's automatically a Sue. Their colours could be black-and-white, but their name could be Dreamshine. If they had flaws they would not be a Sue, but if they didn't they would be. If you gave a cat a not-so-pretty name with a not-so-pretty pelt colouring, but they had no flaws, they would still be a Sue.
