Self-insert characters have a bad reputation. But even George R. R. Martin and Stephen King use them. Here’s how to do it right and when it becomes cringe.
I feel like all my self-insert characters tend to inherit my weaknesses instead of my strengths. So at least I've avoided the wish-fulfillment trap anyway. 😂
I would think that to a certain extent everyone's written a self-insert character (even if only partially). I figure that as long as it works, readers care, and it serves the story, then there shouldn't be any qualms with such a character.
I agree! I feel like in writing you can get away with a lot of stuff if you have the skill and it's entertaining to the reader. I also feel like some authors have self inserts partially that have made their stories shine.
I have to imagine that Misery was also a self insert for Stephen King. An author caught by his audience and his own writing-- I'm sure it resonated with him. Great piece!
When I read the title of this article, I thought it meant when authors write themselves in with the same names, lol. S. E. Grosskopf reviewed an Isaac Asimov mystery where he did that. I really like your take: "A good self-insert is when you make your character carry experiences that you have experienced yourself, feelings or even traits… but you still treat them as a character." A writer's own quirks, interests, emotions, and experiences can add greater depth to the story they're telling. Sometimes I try to do that with my writing. Which is one reason most of my characters love to read, lol.
I agree with Angie that my self inserts have more of my weaknesses than my strengths. It is not wish fulfillment, but rather an attempt to make a character real and relatable, from my perspective and experience. I find him the easiest to write, since I don't have to stop and ask myself how someone with xxxx personality type would feel in that situation, I just write how I would feel about it.
(Until there's that reader who complains, "That character is too flawed!" Uh, thanks, that character is 90% my personality. 🫥 Sorry he didn't live up to your high standard of a romantic charismatic perfect hero, because that's not the point.)
Isaac Asimov wrote himself as a literal self insert character into his book Murder at the ABA, which I reviewed a few weeks ago.
People complain about that on your books? Like literally? I'm surprised, I love flawed characters. I find the ones that are too perfect a little insufferable.
"Thanks, that character is 90% my personality"😂
I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one putting pieces of me on my characters :) I also feel like it's easier to write realistic characters when there's lived experiences from fhe author.
Me finally finding a contemporarily-published detective I can root for: "Oh wow, he's an actual introvert, not a stereotype, and he's so tough! People treat him like dirt and he still wants to do the right thing. I love this character!"
Also, when I read the title of Jesse's article, your review was the first thing that came to mind, lol. I did not know there could be so much stigma around self-insert characters.
I have a Webtoon on my TBR that I wanted to check out and then a few months ago I saw a post on which people were criticizing it heavily and the self-insert thing came up. I haven't read it yet, but I don't care much if there was an insert character or not. It became popular, so it must be good
I totally agree with everything. The wish-fulfillment-power-fantasy can be eye-rolling.
Over the last several years, I may have consumed more than my fair share of stories where the MC is an obvious insert-self character in a wish-fulfillment-power-fantasy. Eventually I started to get a bit burnt out on them and decided to write my very own, as a escapist hobby, just for myself.
It was going to be great. I would get a subtle but cool superpower. I would struggle a bit and maybe experience a setback or two but I would learn and grow and eventually change the world.
Of course my story would be written with psychological realism in a deep third-person PoV.
Then I ran into a snag. If my character is going to be transmigrated into another world and inhabit another body, would he even be able to remember anything from the previous life? My thoughts, feelings, perspectives, habits are all embedded in my original body. If I somehow lose all of that am I me anymore? If it is not me, do I care anymore?
This is a great rabbit hole to fall into. The “Ship of Theseus” is one of my favorite paradoxes. If you have a favorite sock and then keep patching it up until completely replacing each of its parts, is it still the same sock?
I still debate myself about this one often.
Writing your very own story and coming into this question is interesting. I think most stories start with the author self-inserting themselves until the character becomes someone else, their own person. And usually that’s good character development (in my book).
Actually, after I wrote this reply I reset my understanding of my MC. Maybe he didn't transmigrate. Maybe he just grew up in the alternate earthlike world. He could still be my avatar. I don't have to transmigrate a literal version of me to a fantasy world to have a self-insert-wish-fulfillment-power-fantasy-with-psychological-hyper-realism. I can give him my sardonic, mysanthropic personality and all of my fun hang-ups. The fantasy part is that there is an individual that can put up with him somehow.
I agree with most of this. I do think that nearly all characters will carry some traits of their author, because in the end, who do you know better than yourself? But not all of those are self-inserts.
If you can laugh at yourself, it's much easier to write a good self-insert. The cringey ones are usually a result of taking yourself much too seriously.
Right? Someone else mentioned that they practice a writing exercise in which they had to write a character that was very different from them. But some of their traits still bleed through the character. Who do you know better than yourself? ;)
One of my favorite writing exercises is writing a character who's the complete opposite of me... and it never works! 😆 Some of my characteristics, thoughts, and experiences always slip into the character.
I feel like all my self-insert characters tend to inherit my weaknesses instead of my strengths. So at least I've avoided the wish-fulfillment trap anyway. 😂
You're the "emotional truth" Angie 🙌
I would think that to a certain extent everyone's written a self-insert character (even if only partially). I figure that as long as it works, readers care, and it serves the story, then there shouldn't be any qualms with such a character.
I agree! I feel like in writing you can get away with a lot of stuff if you have the skill and it's entertaining to the reader. I also feel like some authors have self inserts partially that have made their stories shine.
I have to imagine that Misery was also a self insert for Stephen King. An author caught by his audience and his own writing-- I'm sure it resonated with him. Great piece!
Thanks Janks :)
When I read the title of this article, I thought it meant when authors write themselves in with the same names, lol. S. E. Grosskopf reviewed an Isaac Asimov mystery where he did that. I really like your take: "A good self-insert is when you make your character carry experiences that you have experienced yourself, feelings or even traits… but you still treat them as a character." A writer's own quirks, interests, emotions, and experiences can add greater depth to the story they're telling. Sometimes I try to do that with my writing. Which is one reason most of my characters love to read, lol.
Thanks for reading Li :)
I love that your characters resemble you in some way
Thanks for writing Jesse :)
And thank you!
I agree with Angie that my self inserts have more of my weaknesses than my strengths. It is not wish fulfillment, but rather an attempt to make a character real and relatable, from my perspective and experience. I find him the easiest to write, since I don't have to stop and ask myself how someone with xxxx personality type would feel in that situation, I just write how I would feel about it.
(Until there's that reader who complains, "That character is too flawed!" Uh, thanks, that character is 90% my personality. 🫥 Sorry he didn't live up to your high standard of a romantic charismatic perfect hero, because that's not the point.)
Isaac Asimov wrote himself as a literal self insert character into his book Murder at the ABA, which I reviewed a few weeks ago.
People complain about that on your books? Like literally? I'm surprised, I love flawed characters. I find the ones that are too perfect a little insufferable.
"Thanks, that character is 90% my personality"😂
I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one putting pieces of me on my characters :) I also feel like it's easier to write realistic characters when there's lived experiences from fhe author.
"That character is too flawed!"
Me finally finding a contemporarily-published detective I can root for: "Oh wow, he's an actual introvert, not a stereotype, and he's so tough! People treat him like dirt and he still wants to do the right thing. I love this character!"
Also, when I read the title of Jesse's article, your review was the first thing that came to mind, lol. I did not know there could be so much stigma around self-insert characters.
I have a Webtoon on my TBR that I wanted to check out and then a few months ago I saw a post on which people were criticizing it heavily and the self-insert thing came up. I haven't read it yet, but I don't care much if there was an insert character or not. It became popular, so it must be good
I hope it lives up to expectations!
Thanks! 😊
Thanks for writing Marx! 😊
I totally agree with everything. The wish-fulfillment-power-fantasy can be eye-rolling.
Over the last several years, I may have consumed more than my fair share of stories where the MC is an obvious insert-self character in a wish-fulfillment-power-fantasy. Eventually I started to get a bit burnt out on them and decided to write my very own, as a escapist hobby, just for myself.
It was going to be great. I would get a subtle but cool superpower. I would struggle a bit and maybe experience a setback or two but I would learn and grow and eventually change the world.
Of course my story would be written with psychological realism in a deep third-person PoV.
Then I ran into a snag. If my character is going to be transmigrated into another world and inhabit another body, would he even be able to remember anything from the previous life? My thoughts, feelings, perspectives, habits are all embedded in my original body. If I somehow lose all of that am I me anymore? If it is not me, do I care anymore?
Thanks for the thoughtful comment!
This is a great rabbit hole to fall into. The “Ship of Theseus” is one of my favorite paradoxes. If you have a favorite sock and then keep patching it up until completely replacing each of its parts, is it still the same sock?
I still debate myself about this one often.
Writing your very own story and coming into this question is interesting. I think most stories start with the author self-inserting themselves until the character becomes someone else, their own person. And usually that’s good character development (in my book).
Did you ever finish it?
No. I didn't. I lost the plot so to speak.
Actually, after I wrote this reply I reset my understanding of my MC. Maybe he didn't transmigrate. Maybe he just grew up in the alternate earthlike world. He could still be my avatar. I don't have to transmigrate a literal version of me to a fantasy world to have a self-insert-wish-fulfillment-power-fantasy-with-psychological-hyper-realism. I can give him my sardonic, mysanthropic personality and all of my fun hang-ups. The fantasy part is that there is an individual that can put up with him somehow.
I agree with most of this. I do think that nearly all characters will carry some traits of their author, because in the end, who do you know better than yourself? But not all of those are self-inserts.
If you can laugh at yourself, it's much easier to write a good self-insert. The cringey ones are usually a result of taking yourself much too seriously.
Thanks A.R. 🙌
Right? Someone else mentioned that they practice a writing exercise in which they had to write a character that was very different from them. But some of their traits still bleed through the character. Who do you know better than yourself? ;)
One of my favorite writing exercises is writing a character who's the complete opposite of me... and it never works! 😆 Some of my characteristics, thoughts, and experiences always slip into the character.
I love that. All your characters must feel very authentic 😁