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[jazmin_firewing]

If you have ever written a self-insert fanfiction, or thought about doing so, this is for you.  It doesn't matter if your character was a Mary-Sue, Marty-Sam, both, or neither.  Just that you wanted to.

If you wrote and posted it, you may have been told many things about it, from praise to flames and everything in between.  But you probably weren't

Comments

[my_incandescent]

Interesting. What was the inspiration? What got you thinking on this

[jazmin_firewing]

Your self-inserts may not be Mary-Sues, but the majority of them are. That's the thing I'm getting at here, is that when you insert yourself into a story, you make it into whatever version of yourself you want. You wanted Ninja Chicken, I wanted an insanely powerful elf girl, other LotR fangirls want someone who can sing like Brittany Spears and has a body like a hentai girl.
What makes a Sue a Sue is that it's an original character with many outrageous traits that may or may not fit the world the character is inserted into, with the sole purpose of making the author's lust object fall in love with the Mary-Sue.

So, all Mary-Sues are self-inserts, but not all self-inserts are Mary-Sues. A true self-insert would basically be a copy-paste of the author's personality, perhaps with a few minor changes to that and the body, but still recognizable as the author, that somehow finds a way to become part of the main plot. I emphasized Mary-Sues because they are the most common self-inserts on the 'Net.

[my_incandescent]

I had a solid three or four paragraphs going, but then the amount of meta started hurting my brain. I feel like this would be a nice in-person discussion. :P

Basically, something like:
self-inserts > Mary Sues
Mary Sues are not always self-inserts -- that generalizes the personalities of self-inserters too much.
Sues are not bad; they serve their purpose for the author, allowing him or her to live vicariously through their character.

And sleep now. G'night!

[unicornvamp3z]

Yes.

and when I'm less tired, I can comment about how this pretty much sums up half my story plots XD

[jazmin_firewing]

Totally off-topic, but ...

I NEED SOME SERIOUS BSG FIC. Where can I find it?? I'm afraid of FF.Net now ... :...(

[unicornvamp3z]

I've been searching for good BSG fic, too! some here are good
recc list here http://loki013.livejournal.com/101468.html

and i've also just been going through bsg fics on delicious. (http://delicious.com/search?p=bsg&context=all&lc=1&page=1)

if i find anything good/really epic, i'll link!

[jazmin_firewing]

*mad cackling* BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Thanks, btw. ♥

[unicornvamp3z]

Oh, no, okay, I'll talk now. Hopefully it'll make some (?) sense!

It's not, persay, that all self insertions are PERFECT PERFECT, it's that... you're self insertion (who will typically turn INTO a mary sue) is just the idealized version of you. What you wish you could say, what you wish you looked a little more like. If you pursue that perfection to an absurd level, forgetting that the best of characters have very human flaws, then your creation turns into a Mary sue.

Sometimes, though, these creations are helpful. Idealize yourself, see yourself where you want to be, and work towards that goal. Maybe writing the story will help, as a stress relief, if nothing else! But you've gotta be careful to remember what's really you, and what you really want. Wouldn't it be awkward to be 6'8? Don't our faults, in the end, make us interesting and unique?

But yeah. All my story plots typically start as... "what would i do if X?" and everything just tumbles from there. because honestly, escaping real life some times is so very, very,

[jazmin_firewing]

YES THANK YOU THAT'S WHAT I WAS TRYING TO SAY.

Yeah, but a lot of rabidly hormonal teenage girls aren't self-aware enough to do this. What they really want is their lust object SOULMATE, LIEK TTLY, and they don't really (care enough to) realize when their character changes into a Mary-Sue.

And that's your story plots. But like I told Corinne, about 95% (and that's conservative) of all self-inserts are the really badly outrageous type of Mary-Sue. Hate to say it, but it's true.

[unicornvamp3z]

OH GOOD! ^_^ I'm very happy my late night ramblings hit the nail on the head. (Apparently, that's why I get As on papers I write the night before...>.>)

Yeah, most really aren't that self-aware. From their view, the universe circles around them, but that doesn't mean they understand the universe!

I want to write something that means something, but it seems that everything meaningful has already been said :/

[jazmin_firewing]

Yeah, I'm always surprised by what I manage to churn out when I get to that point where it's like, "okay, paper's due in nine hours ... let's go!"

It's hard to be self-aware. I'd guess that's why a lot of people really aren't.

I'm sure you'll find something meaningful to say. You know, it's okay to rehash old subjects, especially if you can do it in a new and meaningful way. *hugs*