Self-Insertion

[Guest Alien Pirate Pixagi]

Have you ever added yourself into a fic intentionally as yourself? Perhaps a cameo, or a side character? Maybe a main character even (in something other then a real life original fic)?

Early on, I used to put in cameo's of my friends and myself (if anyone read The IPod, you might notice the Chick with the Dreads). It's a practice I enjoyed very much when doing more light-hearted stories since it was a way for me to be int he story and not take away from the characters. As my stories are usually introspective now, there really isn't room for that anywhere.

In every Marvel movie, Stan Lee makes an appearance. I'd love to do that if I ever get around to finishing a screen play! Then you can play "Spot the Pix!"

Other then cameos, however, I've never written a full blown self-insertion fic.

[dazzledfirestar]

Yeah... umm... the thought has occurred to me.

Mary Sue Virus is basically a way to get all those silly SI impulses out of my system... and its a blast! Seriously, I have had so much fun writing this story, I can't even put it into words!

I think there are two ways to go about SI. Either you're taking yourself far too seriously and it ends up a bit Sue-ish, or you go in knowing it's a joke and taking it that way, and its fun. Of course, I've had to write four SIs in one... and hopefully I've done Nan, Mad and Poly justice! I think that if you can't see your own faults (like for instance having a very short fuse... and a tendency to pick fights... hmmm... who could that be?? ) you end up writing a Mary Sue instead of a SI. It's a small difference but an important one.

Besides, I think I'm a pretty interesting character anyway!

[Guest Alien Pirate Pixagi]

I think that if you can't see your own faults (like for instance having a very short fuse... and a tendency to pick fights... hmmm... who could that be?? ) you end up writing a Mary Sue instead of a SI. It's a small difference but an important one.

Oh god... If I went by how I act on the board... I'd be ripping into stupid people every other second! In real life? Not so much. I'd be sleeping, or on the computer. Or... XD

[madlodger]

Self-Insertion?

Pixagi, that made me laugh.

This is a continuation of Mary-Sue/Joe-Stew topic, isn't it?

I think that it's just a stage people go through and there is nothing wrong with it. Inserting self into the story or a movie could be fun.

Personally I probably wouldn't do it, because in my mind there is a line between Fantasy and Reality. For example, I love HP Fanfiction about Harry and Draco but not Fanfiction about Daniel and Tom Felton. (That would make a great Poll!) They are real people and so am I.

So, no self-insertion for me.

I am OK with other people doing it, though. Life is a playground, after all.

[Guest Alien Pirate Pixagi]

Self-Insertion?

Pixagi, that made me laugh.

Is your mind as dirty as mine, or are you laughing about something else?

This is a continuation of Mary-Sue/Joe-Stew topic, isn't it?

Pretty much, yeah.

Personally I probably wouldn't do it, because in my mind there is a line between Fantasy and Reality. For example, I love HP Fanfiction about Harry and Draco but not Fanfiction about Daniel and Tom Felton. (That would make a great Poll!) They are real people and so am I.

Good point, I can see where that would get kinda creepy...

[madlodger]

Is your mind as dirty as mine, or are you laughing about something else? 

Well...

Thinking really hard...

...

...

Yeah, it is at least as dirty (or, possibly even dirtier)!

[redsliver]

I put myself in one fic once, I was still writing Naruto at the time. I believe the snippet was:

"Hey Gaara! I'm going to fuck your sister!"

"Desert Coffin."

And then I was out of it.

[Leonhart29]

Oh yeah - I have 2 self-insertion fics on the site (Muses Run Amuck and Musings and Muses). I guess I could have made the first person narratives from someone else's point of view, but it was just so much fun to write myself having sex with two of my favorite characters I couldn't help myself.

[Iggy_lovechild]

Meh, everytime I've considered basing a character as myself it turned out wrong. That and even the most innocent self-insertion (*sniggers* pervert) smacks of bad taste to me. Attention getting. But I have very poor self-esteem...so.

[dazzledfirestar]

I don't see it as attention getting really... I see it as laughing at yourself (at least, that's how I've tried to do it). And if you can't laugh at your own little foibles, then what can you laugh at?

[StoryJunkie]

I never thought of it for a fan-fic. But...In all the original work I AM every character. I take on their roles. I play them. i wonder what they did when they were kids, and what kind of players they were, and what deep dark secrets are motivating them, and what part of their character they gave up for ambition, and what part they redeemed. Who is a bad guy or a good guy is never very plain in my stories. As time goes on, the blurriness between good and evil becomes more pronounced. After all, a child is evil incarnate in one of my stories. Man that was living writing on the edge. I think about that scene in my mind every now and then, how the blades slide together, criss-crossing at the back of his neck, yet he manages to turn...ah, the power of all magic encapsulated within one.

That was a dramatic moment.

Then there was Andrew. Boy, did I have fun with him.

But I digress.

Truth be told, before the Orgy thread began, I was beginning to wonder how to go about getting everyone's permission to be inserted into a story I was contemplating. Came up in a thread a while back when I suggested we all get together in RL in someone's basement and have a party, but Red said: "And find out we're all middle-aged business men."

Some ideas are like rampant terriers.

[DuranDuranfan]

Wellllll, I've only written one SI, and it was where I'm "with" Egon Spengler.

Of course it was only meant to a parody story of how some Egon and Janine stuff I've read(softcore and hardcore) was written like a BAD, VERY BAD porno movie script.

[Kyouryoku Senshi]

I'm guilty as charged. I did indeed do it a lot when I first became a writer, mostly in original stories. Created characters with my personality etc. For Sailor Moon I would create an entirely new Senshi that had my personality. Otaku senshi.