Those Meddling Authors
One of the primary markers of a Mary Sue is that the fictional universe bends over backwards to the breaking point to accommodate the character. Even if the character isn't a full-on Sue, a lucky escape that defies probability, causality, or physics can torpedo audience suspension of disbelief. A common cause, particularly in the latter case, is that the author is attached to their characters, and feels a need to rescue them from their scrape. Alternately, the author has essentially gotten 'painted into a corner' as far as their plot, and genuinely needs a
deus ex machina
to rescue their protagonists.
Luckily, this is fairly easy to fix, at least in principle. First of all, you have to be willing to let your characters get themselves into major trouble. Second, you have to keep an eye on the 'big picture' of your plot and be willing to revise to make things work.
Your characters, if they're well-developed, have any number of flaws. They're also in a challenging environment, or there would be no story. Combine these factors, and you have a recipe for characters getting in over their heads. It's actually vital to suspense that the problem be something the characters are likely unable to cope with at all. So don't worry about characters being out of their depth as long as there is a plausible mechanism for them to save themselves.
That brings us to point two-- sweeping in and scooping the characters out of danger via a contrived outside force will just annoy your audience. However, it's pretty easy to get your characters stuck at an impasse, especially if you've been making big changes to your plot outline (or not doing a plot outline and winging it). The solution is to figure out what your characters need in order to plausibly escape their situation. Then backtrack and revise the preceding events accordingly. You may have to do quite a bit of plot unraveling and reworking to get to those plot elements integrated smoothly, but it's worth it to have your characters do some satisfying problem-solving rather than be rescued by a meddling author.
Luckily, this is fairly easy to fix, at least in principle. First of all, you have to be willing to let your characters get themselves into major trouble. Second, you have to keep an eye on the 'big picture' of your plot and be willing to revise to make things work.
Your characters, if they're well-developed, have any number of flaws. They're also in a challenging environment, or there would be no story. Combine these factors, and you have a recipe for characters getting in over their heads. It's actually vital to suspense that the problem be something the characters are likely unable to cope with at all. So don't worry about characters being out of their depth as long as there is a plausible mechanism for them to save themselves.
That brings us to point two-- sweeping in and scooping the characters out of danger via a contrived outside force will just annoy your audience. However, it's pretty easy to get your characters stuck at an impasse, especially if you've been making big changes to your plot outline (or not doing a plot outline and winging it). The solution is to figure out what your characters need in order to plausibly escape their situation. Then backtrack and revise the preceding events accordingly. You may have to do quite a bit of plot unraveling and reworking to get to those plot elements integrated smoothly, but it's worth it to have your characters do some satisfying problem-solving rather than be rescued by a meddling author.
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