Self-Inserts in Fanfiction

It's perfectly fine for someone to write about themselves. It's also acceptable to use original characters (OCs) in fanfiction pieces. That being said, what exactly is so terrible about writing yourself into a fanfiction and being a character set in a favorite fictional universe? Self-insert writers, as they are called, receive a lot of hatred from their audience. Where does this hate come from?

People like to embellish themselves at times. In real published autobiographies, depending on tone, seeing things that are obviously fake can be interpreted as being either funny or arrogant (although most serious autobiography writers attempt to keep things honest). In self-insert fanfiction, the writers rarely play these embellishments for laughs. Authors will often imbue their self-inserts with phenomenal looks, near invincibility, and perhaps even "powers" beyond those of their peers. To add insult to this injury, they will attempt to pass the self-inserts off as original characters when they truly aren't. They evolve into Mary Sues.

I'll cover Mary Sues (and Gary Stus) and their characteristics more next week, but they are essentially characters who have no weaknesses or flaws in their universe. I say "in their universe" because, while the characters in-universe (perhaps reluctantly) accept that they're flawless, we can see that they're actually annoying, whiny, self-centered, melodramatic, and a lot of other unkind adjectives. The sad truth is that self-inserts often transform into the Mary Sues and Gary Stus of fiction.

While this is the biggest issue with self-inserts, even ones who are more true to the author's real traits can often fall into these literary "traps" that can only end in aggravation from their audiences. Therefore...

Self-Insert Situations to Avoid

1. Don't make them the main character. When people read fanfiction, they expect to follow the non-canon adventures of canon characters in a certain fandom. Even if you attempt to pass off a self-insert as an original character, it's easy to see through that. Besides, they couldn't care less what you would do if you were part of this universe.
2. Don't make them the love interest to a canon character. "Shipping," or romantically pairing two characters within a fandom together, is a terrifying force to reckon with. Your audience already has an idea of who they ship with whom and they tend to dislike rival ships, particularly those in which they can find no basis whatsoever (with the exception of crack pairings, which are meant to be funny). If you're serious about your self-insert being a love interest, you're in trouble. Even pairing yourself with a minor character can breed hatred.
3. Don't make them the main character AND the love interest to a canon character. That's literary suicide.
4. Don't make them be blood-related to a canon character in any way. This includes but is not limited to being a main character's child, parent, cousin, or sibling. I know how cool it is to imagine oneself being related to a total badass or hunk or whatever strikes your fancy, but for whatever reason it grates on people's nerves to see someone write themselves in as these characters' family members, so this is best avoided as well.

With all these common mistakes that turn self-inserts into grave warnings against reading an author's fanfiction, why would anyone write a self-insert fic? It can be hard to say what might compel a writer to create an entire fictional story around themselves and these characters in the situations mentioned above. Can self-insert fanfictions work at all? In most cases, they tend to scare away readers simply with the summary.

This does not mean self-insert must be avoided at all possible costs. There are multiple scenarios in which self-insertion can work well and invoke positive emotional responses from the readers. From my experience, these are the criteria under which they fall...

Self-Insert Situation Ideas

1. Don't make them the center of a long-running story. Self-inserts work best when they are placed in a situation where they can enter a story and exit just as easily. They should not be main characters by any means, but they are welcome to be minor (perhaps recurring) characters or even a character on a different timeline or universe parallel to the fanfiction.
2. Keep their appearances short. "Short" can be relative, depending on the kind of story, but never keep them in for more than one chapter at a time. An off-topic chapter about the author trying to keep their characters on-task might be funny as a comedy break for a more serious fanfiction. In a more comedic-oriented story, a self-insert could show for brief scenes to help or hinder the characters, remind them they're in a story, and generally serve as a source for fourth wall-breaking jokes. (Such as in this Fair-Haired Adventure Seekers fancomic for The Legend of Zelda.) This directly leads to...
   
3. Never take a self-insert seriously. It's already a funny idea to throw yourself into another character's universe to begin with -- why not roll with it? Of course, you're welcome to satirize a more serious tone with a self-insert, but actual seriousness makes you look like an amateurish fanfiction writer as opposed to a fanfiction writer who decided to throw in an extra joke to lighten the mood or keep the story rolling. Along these lines, having a character threaten the author is an easy way to amuse your audience. Here's a famous example of this in action.
4. Stay true to your flaws. All good characters have flaws and, however briefly you may be a character in a fanfiction, you should have flaws too. Characters flaws are often pointed out (either subtly or plainly) and played with in stories for plot, and since you're making a self-insert, he or she should be no different. A lot of funny material can come from a character discovering an author's weakness or perhaps even blackmailing the self-insert.

Self-inserts can work. While I don't recommend them to be an actual plot device (unless your story is a comedy which breaks the fourth wall), they can work for side-plots involving the characters interacting with the writer who is in the story as the writer. They aren't necessarily in the story as much as they are a part of what creates the story, which is true -- you're the fanfiction author, you're the writer, and you're your own self-insert. Just be careful with this character, as it can be a lot like handling literary fire: if you stop being cautious for one second, you'll drop the torch and the entire fanfiction will go up in flames.

Next week for avoiding Mary Sues,

~ Dreamnorn

P.S.: Couldn't find a good picture for this one, but don't worry. There will be plenty of images for the next update.