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Self-Insert Fic: Difference between revisions
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The self-insert is very often a [[Mary Sue]] -- in matter of fact, the ''original'' Mary Sue ([[Trope Namer|she who gives that trope its name]]) was born from a parody of the standard [[Self-Insert Fic]]. In the most extreme cases -- which are [[Sturgeon's Law|''usually'' but not always quite bad]] -- the insert character gains some degree of godlike power, or retains considerable ([[OOC]]) knowledge of the series in which he's been inserted, or both, and ''uses'' them to [[Fix Fic|adjust things to his or her liking]]. In rare instances, it might work well -- especially if the people in the setting -- heroes and villains -- react accordingly to the new situation and the guy that knows all the stuff he saw in the (anime/game/etc) and the situation changes in ways the character can't anticipate.
However, equally common is the subversion, where the main character applies [[This Loser Is You]] to themselves and ends up as [[The Ditz]], [[The Fool]], or in extreme cases a [[Butt Monkey]]. Care must be taken to not still make themselves more important than anybody else, lest they just end up with an [[Anti
The Self-Insert has two primary varieties: the Self as New Character, where the author simply opens the top of the story and drops a copy of himself right in (a new body may be necessary to fit in with anthropomorphic worlds, but it's still you), and the Self as Existing Character, where the author finds himself forced to take over the life (and sometimes the body) of an existing [[Canon]] character -- without necessarily being restrained to staying "in character" for their new role. See [[Possession Sue]] for the latter.
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* Interestingly deconstructed, averted, and played ''straight'' in ''[[Dreaming of Sunshine (Fanfic)|Dreaming of Sunshine]]'' the [[Author Avatar]] is not godpowered- and, in fact, attempts to change the timeline as little as possible. This is actually justified, as she is attempting to retain her advantage by not rendering her knowledge of future events useless. This is difficult, as she arrived many years before the worst of the shit starts to hit the fan. She has some skills beyond the norm, but those stem from being reborn with her memory intact, not from being an Uberninja.
* Nine times out of ten, a new original senshi in any ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' fanfiction will be a self-insert, replete with godlike powers and totally authority over everyone and everything -- the girl is usually related to a canon character as well. Considering the show's target audience was teenaged girls, which then became 5-13 girls when the show hit the US, this is not surprising.
* In the [[Bleach]] fanfic [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6820157/1/bFanfictional_b_bFugitive_b Fanfictional Fugitive], the author directly admits that the main character is [[Author Avatar|based on herself]] as much as possible. Then she starts to pretty much beat the entire shit out of her(self?) by both turning the character based on herself into a [[Wangst|whiny]], [[Minor Injury Overreaction|powerless]], [[It's All About Me|selfish]] and generally [[Dirty Coward|unlikable]] [[Distressed Damsel|damsel in constant distress]] and making [[Author Avatar|Fanfic!Myrthe]] experience an [[Deus Angst Machina|ongoing]] [[Chew Toy|series]] [[Mind Rape|of]] [[Break the Haughty|nasty]] [[Everything Trying to Kill You|events]]. And then lets her character react to these events [[Deconstruction|in a way]] that does [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|not]] [[Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids|flatter]] [[Freak
* [http://www.fanfiction.net/u/40569/ Jared "Skysaber"] [http://www.asynjor.com/fanfic/ornstead.html Ornstead] is known for his deliberately over-the-top self-insert character Skysaber, an interdimensional superspy-troubleshooter who was actually apotheosized into a literal god during the course of ''[http://www.asynjor.com/fanfic/sharp.html The Bet]''.
** His current (August 2007) project is a "type two" Self Insert called ''My Gilded Life'', in which he has found himself taking over the life of Gilderoy Lockhart right at the end of ''[[Harry Potter]] and the Philosopher's Stone''; with his knowledge of the books he is deliberately and relentlessly running roughshod over canon. Sadly, he seems to be losing control of the story, and it's running off the rails.
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* [http://www.fanfiction.net/u/5209/ Gregg "Metroanime" Sharp] also subverts the self-insert trope with his fictional counterpart "Grey", who becomes a cosmic [[Butt Monkey]] doomed to endless futile struggle in an uncaring multiverse.
* [http://www.fanfiction.net/u/17205/ Contrabardus a.k.a. Carrotglace] has also played with Self Insertion, but usually with a somewhat more comedic take than Metroanime. See his stories ''The Spirit Within, [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/216310/1/Insertion Insertion], Insertion: Reflux!'' and [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/404359/1/ Gaijin] (though this last is anything but comic).
* Possibly the most infamous example of the godlike insert is Darren "Twister" Steffler and his incomplete mid-1990s megaseries ''[http://archives.eyrie.org/anime/Twisted-Path/ Twisted Path]''. Steffler's work started out rather crude but improved noticeably as he continued writing, although it never quite reached better than high average in quality. Nevertheless, ''Twisted Path'' was incredibly influential, prompting a number of other writers to create their own Self-Insert or pseudo-Self-Insert fics, many of which included [[Shout
* One such story was Bert Van Vliet's ''[http://www.bgcrisis.com/zone/index.html The Bubblegum Zone]'', a ''[[Bubblegum Crisis]]'' self-insert which later had an explicit crossover with ''Twisted Path'' in the latter series' fourth installment.
* Another is Ed Becerra's ''[http://www.fanfic.net/pub/Anime/FanFictions/Miscellaneous/Legions-Quest/ Legion's Quest],'' which carefully and skillfully walks the complicated line between playing a godlike Self Insert straight, parodying it, and subverting it. It, too, crosses over explicitly with ''Twisted Path'', in its own ''[[Bubblegum Crisis]]'' segment.
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'''MAGIC VOICE:''' You're out of line, mister-- eep!<br />
'''JIM:''' Hahahahahaha! I'm invincible! }}
* A famous, and often ridiculed, Marty-Stu among ''[[
** A rather large percentage of other fanfics featuring an author-created companion for the Doctor could arguably fit in this trope quite comfortably as well.
** The Foreword to the ''[[
** Russell T. Davies got his start writing DW fanfic. After learning that, the canon Rose/Doctor ship makes a _lot_ more sense....
* A good chunk of ''[[Supernatural]]'' [[Fanfic]] contains self-inserts that are supposed to be the Winchesters' sister, who is either a long-lost relative or just always been there.
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** Neither the author nor the narrator, despite being reality-benders, are the most powerful characters in the story; there are godlike programmers that are more powerful reality-benders than both the author and the narrator, and both have been trumped several times by regular characters as well.
** The author ''not'' a very important character, but he isn't so unimportant that he's just an occasional cameo. The author is pretty much on equal terms with the rest of the cast in terms of importance and shifts out of the focus of the comic as often as any of the other regulars.
* [[Final Fantasy VII]] fandom is a breeding place for this type of fanfiction. A good example would be [http://www.fanfiction.net/~highpriestessmegami Sephirothslave's][http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1052718/1/Shinra_High Shinra High] and its sequel, [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1900045/1/Shinra_SOLDIER Shinra SOLDIER]. The main character is a blatant self insert. There are few differences between the OC and its creator: it shares her name, appearance ([[Buxom Is Better|with improvements in the bust area]]), likes and dislikes, preferences, fears, desires, opinions and some skills. The self insert allows Sephirothslave to enjoy the game universe, twist the characters to her own liking, "earn" a position as Commander of the Shinra Army, Sephiroth's love and the adoration or respect of everybody except a few who hate her (and are thus automatically evil). What few seem to notice however, is that she didn't only insert herself into her fanfictions, [[Thirty
* A less Stu-ish example comes from [[Toy Hammer (Fanfic)|Toy Hammer]] with a direct self-insert (down to name, appearance and personality) in the form of Vincent, a friend of the main character (a reclusive artist named Michael). There's a slight piece of [[Fridge Brilliance]] in there when you realize that both Vincent the author and Vincent the character both literally 'drop off' Michael into the story (via creation then by car), but otherwise that's the only mention of him for the first ten chapters of the story. However, he does become a surprisingly competent fighter (for an unfit gun-geek) {{spoiler|and later a [[Supporting Leader]]}}.
* ''[[My Inner Life (Fanfic)|My Inner Life]]'' has the blatant self insert Mary Sue of Jenna Silverblade. Hilariously, the author actually freely admits that Jenna is "herself" (or rather an alternate version of herself who lives in Hyrule when she sleeps) and gives a huge disclaimer at the beginning that because of this, [[Daydream Believer|she believes the fanfiction to be true to some degree]].
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* [[Peter S Beagle]] has Joe Farrell, a rare example of this done well.
* Sammy-Jo Strauss doesn't even try to hide it in her self published book, [[From Reality to Fiction]] considering the main character shares her name.
* [[Stephen King]] appears as himself in two volumes of ''[[The Dark Tower]]''. He is by no means a sympathetic character, and is disliked by the [[Nakama|ka-tet]]. He is also literally their creator, making him a rather supreme example of an [[Anti
* The ''villain'' of ''Those Who Trespass'' is suspiciously similar to author [[The O Reilly Factor|Bill O'Reilly]]. The hero also shares O'Reilly's background and the personality he claims to have in his nonfiction books, but is not as obviously meant to represent O'Reilly himself.
* [http://www.wowpedia.org/Rhonin Rhonin], a character appearing often in [[War Craft]] novels written by Richard A. Knaak, is highly regarded as an insertion sue. His exploits ranging from saving the red dragon aspect from an orc warlock of greater power to going back in time to help win an ancient war (that had already been won, who knows why he felt the need to put himself in it) to banging [http://www.wowpedia.org/Vereesa_Windrunner Sylvanas' other sister] that never existed until Knaak decided he needed some elf ass.
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=== [[Real Life]] ===
* Historical example: Given the state of the facts, Martha Jane Canary-Burke, aka ''[
* Similarly, [
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Fanfic Tropes]]
[[Category:Self Insert Fic]]
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