On the topic of self-insert characters (or: I accidentally wrote a self-insert)

[liminal]

I was looking over my current project, and it occurred to me that one of my MCs has a similar temper to me... and a (sort of) similar family situation, and similar views on life, and has similar interests to me, and is essentially me but older and in a fantasy world. I hadn't noticed it before, and now all of a sudden it's sticking out like a sore thumb.

Is this necessarily a bad thing? It's a character who I really liked and would hate to change.

 

[skip.knox]

It is not necessarily a bad thing. For one thing, almost none of your readers know you and even fewer know the details of your family situation, views on life, or interests.

The only necessarily bad thing is bad writing. Go write good. <g>

 

[katelynschoumaker]

Not a bad thing at all! I noticed a little bit of that with my MC and it rubbed me the wrong way at first, but it doesn't bother me so much anymore. Most of my readers so far have been friends and family, and they haven't said anything about noticing similarities between me and my MC - so I feel confident that no other readers will be like "Hey author...is this you?" I think it also helps us a lot in terms of development - makes the character more realistic! Definitely don't change anything especially if this is a character you really like as they are.

 

[pmmg]

I think you will find that there is a little of you in every character you write. It would seem unavoidable to me.

 

[Diana Silver]

If I'm a reader, how would I know that?

It's a character who I really liked and would hate to change.

That's what matters. If you have fun writing it, the chances are all the greater that I'd have fun reading it, and that's all I care about.

I could imagine that you should beware a little bit not to do it twice in separate projects, since then you'd essentially write the same character. But even there, you could make the argument that a different setting and background story makes it different enough.

So don't worry about it.

 

[pmmg]

If I'm a reader, how would I know that?

That's not really the question.

Some readers might know, most not. The author knows, and it seems to bother them enough to ask.

 

[Penpilot]

Everyone mines their personal life for bits and pieces for their writing. Sometimes we use more pieces. Sometimes less.

Sometimes stories are for a bit of escapism, for the reader, and for the author. All that matters is if you write it well.

 

[SwiftieDaughterOfAthena13]

I was looking over my current project, and it occurred to me that one of my MCs has a similar temper to me... and a (sort of) similar family situation, and similar views on life, and has similar interests to me, and is essentially me but older and in a fantasy world. I hadn't noticed it before, and now all of a sudden it's sticking out like a sore thumb.

Is this necessarily a bad thing? It's a character who I really liked and would hate to change.

Of course not! It's completely okay to write self-insert characters! Most writers tend to give some of their traits to at least a few of their characters!

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Sweetie, I accidentally turned my dad into a gay Viking Vampire King. Brain's a weird thing, and combine that with being a creative brain hooked into the Collective Unconscious (It's a thing.) and sky's the limit for how wild things can get.

 

[Finchbearer]

Unless you’re writing a Mary Sue I don’t think it’s a problem.

 

[Finchbearer]

Sweetie, I accidentally turned my dad into a gay Viking Vampire King.

I’m dead

 

[JBCrowson]

Sweetie, I accidentally turned my dad into a gay Viking Vampire King. Brain's a weird thing, and combine that with being a creative brain hooked into the Collective Unconscious (It's a thing.) and sky's the limit for how wild things can get.

Interesting, did you do that by...
- biting him accidentally and you're a vampire?
- enabling / encouraging him to come out and be comfortable in his true sexual identity through an unintended casual remark?
- buying him a horned helmet, fake blonde beard and battle axe to wear at hallowe'en and now he loves them so much he won't take them off?
- bumping off everyone ahead of him in the line of succession in a freak gardening accident?
Or perhaps all of the above?
Just asking for a friend.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Interesting, did you do that by...
- biting him accidentally and you're a vampire?
- enabling / encouraging him to come out and be comfortable in his true sexual identity through an unintended casual remark?
- buying him a horned helmet, fake blonde beard and battle axe to wear at hallowe'en and now he loves them so much he won't take them off?
- bumping off everyone ahead of him in the line of succession in a freak gardening accident?
Or perhaps all of the above?
Just asking for a friend.

Nailed it.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Okay, serious, now, or at least as serious as I get. Everybody who swears at all creatively will have an almost musical quality to their signature obscenity. My dad was a Navy Chief Petty Officer and we lived on base a lot. There was much cuss-singing to be had. (I just made that up and I am ridiculously pleased with myself.)

The gay Viking in question is one of those loud, charming, larger-than-life, in his case literally. Erik Eriksson takes up a ridiculous amount of space, was a giant of a man in his human life and becoming a vampire changed nothing. He can also be kind to a fault, is on the egalitarian side, and takes his role of king, of being the ring-giver, very seriously. He's also the foster father of one of our FMC's, and also takes that role seriously.

And I didn't make the connection between this hale and well-met guy who's basically charmed his way to the top, and my shorter-than-me, bit rolly polly (his callsign when he was a flight medic was "Panda Bear," because the flight suits were black and white and the rolly polly. Later I came along and it changed to Papa Bear, and I was Baby Bear.), notoriously charming, potty mouth of a father until one day, Erik cussed on page and I heard the exact cadence of my dad's roar up the stairwell, and when I got over astonished laughing, my first thought was thank heavens my dad was a slow reader.

 

[Kalipso]

Your audience wouldn't know that it's a self-insert if you didn't say anything, as I'm assuming they probably wouldn't know you personally. I understand why it feels awkward, though. However, you say you like it, so I say keep it! As others have said, if the writing is good, then you don't have much to worry about.

It's inevitable that you'll borrow from your own life, but writing from experience can actually help you describe/craft what's happening in the story.