Mary Sue

Jack McFee, protagonist of the Jack Mack novels, is admittedly a bit of a ‘Mary Sue.’ That is quite intentional—or at least I consciously developed the character in that direction once I started working on the stories. This allows his actual failings and character flaws to stand out the more.

I did have something of a ‘James Bond in space’ concept in mind when I started with Jack. That grew into something more like ‘Tom Jones in space.’ As with Tom, he attracts female attention and also as with Tom, he is a little too prone take advantage of it. Yet—also as with Tom—he remains a bit of a well-meaning innocent. At least at times. Jack is growing out of it as the stories continue.

He is a highly competent person, more able and more intelligent than pretty much anyone around him. He is also likely to be overly-detached, and every bit as happy on long solo missions as he is among friends. Those who consider themselves his friends, that is—Jack is not sure he can feel true friendship, much less love, toward anyone.

So I’m willing to give him Mary Sue-like success in his professional career, but balance it with a somewhat bumpier personal life. That career continues in my current WIP and we shall see where it takes him. After all, Jack is still only twenty years old and has lots of room to grow. An entire universe.