Sometimes, Mary Sues are painfully obvious--think Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way. Often, they are only noticeable if you're familiar with the author. It's frightening to find that you have a Mary Sue on your hands. Luckily for my reader (yes, singular, as in Jonas), I am familiar with both the Mary Sue and our author.
Before you think I'm a stalker (I am), understand that Harley V. Palmer and I were once members of the same online writing community. She often shared her ideas, which I (gently, the first few times) would electrocute with my Sith Lord Lightning of Logic. I know her personality and some of her life story. Of course, that's all easy to learn if you have patience and an Internet connection.
To find your author's Mary Sue is a deeply enlightening thing; all at once, you can know the flaws, failures, and fantasies that the author perhaps hoped to keep hidden. The Mary Sue is often the same gender as her writer, though with exaggerated virtues and erased failings. In Purity Flame, the Mary Sue is the protagonist's love interest: Kie.
The most obvious evidence of a Mary Sue is the name. This will fall into the following categories: the Wish-Fulfillment and/or the Cheap Disguise. Bella Swan, from Twilight, is the Wish-Fulfillment name, because it means "beautiful swan." The Cheap Disguise specimen is when the Author and her Sue share some part of their names; think Jane Fairfax in Jane Austen's Emma. Most Sues are a bit of both types.
Kie's name escaped me at first. It's short for Kierianna--a pretentious four syllables, like many Fantasy Sues. Oh, and of course it ends in that generic "-anna," ubiquitous in Fantasy fiction. It reminds me of Anastasia, the author's real first name.
