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[liptonrm]

I'm writing this in lieu of writing fic. Yes, I know, I suck. There's just something about this section that makes me not want to write it. Stupid writing

Comments

[bellatemple]

Wanna know a secret?

Every single fic I've written since I started in online fandom way back in '96 or so is a self-insert fic.

Every. Single. One.

Yeah, that's including those fics that don't actually have original characters at all.

The only Mary Sue I can remember writing was a kender character tossed into the world of the X-men, and even she was mostly there for comic relief.

I don't think I could ever write a character, even a minor one, that didn't have some aspect of myself in it. I also think that I'm probably just jaded enough and have a low enough self-confidence that the aspect of myself is a negative attribute as often as it is a positive one.

Which sounds very egotistical in and of itself, somehow, like "I'm so special that even my low self-worth makes me awesome!" But, still. Self-insertion on some level is, IMO, essential to an author. And "Mary Sue" is probably the most over-used and least understood fanfiction term out there.

Except maybe "drabble", but that's another rant for another time. ;D

[liptonrm]

Psst, wanna know one of my secrets?

Me too.

And that's the thing. I think all of the characters that we write come out of us. There's a reason why we fan the shows we fan and write the stories we write and deep similarity is a part of it.

So, yes, we all self insert, it's the nature of the beast. But a self insert does not a Mary Sue make. Especially when it leads to really deep and interesting characters and stories.

And, oh, the poor drabble. It is so misunderstood. ;-)

[hiyacynth]

*creates a Mary Sue for the express purpose of time/space jumping into this entry and falling in love with your brain making your brain fall in love with her*

[liptonrm]

Like you'd ever have to create a Mary Sue to make my brain fall in love with you. It's already hopelessly smitten.

*smishes*

[pinkphoenix1985]

very interesting insight about Mary Sues!

[liptonrm]

Thank you! And it only took over a decade in fandom for me to figure some of this stuff out. ;D

[maisfeeka]

Yep, I completely agree. I get very tired of the "Any OFC is a Mary-Sue" arguement. And I agree with bellatemple that in some ways everything people write includes self-insertion in some way. Why do we write the things we do? We write what we want to see, to feel, to experience and we do it through the characters we choose - original or canon.

I think it's also good to keep in mind that all the characters we love were originally OCs. :)

[liptonrm]

Wordy mcword.

We, for the most part, are in this partcular flavor of fandom because we love stories and, sometimes, those stories need to be told with a good OFC.

And, yes exactly, our dear canon characters are OCs too. We're only showing the ... depth of our appreciation by coming up with our own. Or something like that. ;-)

[shanghai_jim]

Or you could write an OC who's a boy who is annoying, can't do much good, and nobody particularly likes, with no dark past and very little emo.

But then you'd have Seth Cohen. Josh Schwartz's self-insert.

of course there's always original fiction. it's really, really liberating.

[liptonrm]

Hee, I think, for the moment, I'll leave all male OCs to other, more qualified writers. After all, the world can only handle so much Seth Cohen.

And re: original fiction. It is tempting. One day, we shall see.