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Self Inserts. (NOT Mary-Sues/Gary Stus.)

 
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PhoenixWrightFangirl
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 8:32 am    Post subject: Self Inserts. (NOT Mary-Sues/Gary Stus.) Reply with quote

Hello, I was wondering what the opinion on self-insert characters, also known as "fan characters" is here. I personally think, if well done they are just fine. What does everyone else think? I have written a fanfic series with a self-insert character. Has anyone else too?
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London
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 11:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

As long as the OC is not a huge part of the story, then it should be fine.

For example, if you were writing a story about your OC being accused of murdering another OC, but you had Edgey and Feenie as the prosecutor/defense, and the story focuses primarily on them, then that would be acceptable.

If your story was about some OC killing some OC with an OC as the defense attorney and maybe a canon character as the prosecutor, then no one would want to read that.
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PhoenixWrightFangirl
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 3:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

She's the main character, and it is her story, but there are other characters from the games who are involved in major ways in her life. It's told from her point of view, but she never has any solo scenes that would make her seem like a Mary-Sue. She also is a modified self-insert, which means that although many of her problems I have in real life are gone, she is by no means a "Mary-Sue Perfect Saint With No Problems." I made sure she had flaws, and that there was conflict. Many people see matchmaking a self-insert with a main or secondary character as Mary Sue types, but when done right they are really original.

It's really the self-inserts which are the main focus of the story or OC's who the story centers around, that really piss me off. It's one thing to tell it from your self-insert's point of view, and it's another to try and make your character a superstar.
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Stratadrake
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 4:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

[quote]I was wondering what the opinion on self-insert characters, also known as "fan characters" is here.[/quote]
Self-insertions and fancharacters are actually two distinct terms. (though in the context of [i]fan[/i]fiction they have some overlap...)
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London
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 01, 2008 4:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

[quote="PhoenixWrightFangirl"]She's the main character, and it is her story, but there are other characters from the games who are involved in major ways in her life. It's told from her point of view, but she never has any solo scenes that would make her seem like a Mary-Sue. [...] It's one thing to tell it from your self-insert's point of view, and it's another to try and make your character a superstar.[/quote]

Since you're asking for opinions...

Unless the story was written by an author of which I have previously read works, I would not read a story told from the point of view of a fan-made character, even if canon characters play a major part. I would consider spending time reading and responding to the story you describe if it was written in 3rd person.

By making your story 1st person from the point of view of an original character, you make your character [i]too important[/i]. I don't want to take the time to read about a character I don't already like.


You would probably have readers, but I'd think most people would be put off.
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PhoenixWrightFangirl
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 6:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

First in response to Stratadrake: She is a fan character and a self-insert. I am definitely a fan of the Ace Attorney series.

Now to what you were saying London. The major difference is that it centers on other characters largely too and that she has struggles with disabilities which make her very flawed. As if that's not enough, she's a thirty-four year old adult woman who is dating a nineteen year old. She faces both discrimination in the age sense that some people might be against that sort of thing or against the idea of her with a woman. Other issues that have happened crop up later. She's not a typical self-insert, as there is always another character alongside her, and there are very few scenes in which she is in her thoughts thinking without much going on. I consider her somewhat original, and I would prefer it if people didn't judge the fanfic because it has a self-insert in it who is ONLY partially based off of myself.

It doesn't have the biggest fanbsse around, but it does have enough of one to have material based off of it (not in a good way, in a bad rated way and now I wish less people read it actually) and that makes me wish they weren't constantly getting views because that just makes them generate crud and eventually I just sit at my computer, too afraid to post anymore fanfics of any kind.........

I ask you out of kindness to please re-consider. I don't ask you to like it. Please consider reading it. Thanks!
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PhoenixWrightFangirl
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 4:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

And thirdly, I did write something for you that you requested London. You can go and read that if you haven't already. It's not like I made her life cushy and easy. I think it's about the only self-insert fanfic where things aren't magically working in the main character's favor. The only reason I wrote it in first person was because I was single at the time and very lonely. It's staying in first person because I am still single and very lonely. Perhaps you could read the fanfic I wrote for you and then try to read the series? I could also point you in the direction of my DeviantARt or Fanfiction.net accounts, both of which have third person fanfics in which there is no person that relates to me. Hope that will help. Thanks for reading, and considering this option if you do!
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Ashvati
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 20, 2009 8:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Whether I prefer the story to center around an OC or not really depends on if I like the character. The fact that its an OC only really factors into it as much as "Hey, this will be new and different from the original series". I just think of it as using the show or whatever as a setting. Obviously, if the OC is the main character, they can't be all perfect with no flaws and never making mistakes, or be all like "pity me I'm so emo" when they actually do. Even that can be alright if its obvious that its supposed to be melodramatic (either to be ironic or as an homage to older, cheesier melodrama). Also, if a writer makes the story focus on an OC, then they don't have to worry so much about offending someone with their interpretation of a canon character. I guess all else I can really say is its complicated, and very dependent on the case in question.
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