Guy Under The Bridge . wrote:

If I had to respond to every self-insertion fic in this list I would
probably be banned for flooding the ML with flames (even though I never
flame, I just critique). I will now critique every self-insertion fic
ever made and all self-insertion fics yet to be made.

I will never understand the mentality behind self-insertion fics. They
have no purpose. They have no dramatic value. They are not entertaining,
except, one assuages, for the writer.

Now, I -do- understand that people like to talk about themselves--this
is also a childish impulse that people grow out of (the cappuccino
silver-spoon carried-through-life adults are the exception). All
self-insertion fics are the products of minds that are (still) immature.

Well, as a member of the Revenge Wars, and one of the WORST SI offenders, I
guess I had better chip in two cents to defend myself, huh?

The way I see it, SI fics have gotten a bad rap not because they're inherently
bad, but because of the kind of writers they attract. The same kind of writers
who want to play as omniscient, god-like beings in role-playing games, or make
a big stink when they lose at cards, or insist on taking 256 mulligans during
a 9 hole round of golf.

That isn't to say that ALL people who write SI fics are like this. Just a
whole lot of them. In reality, the only functional difference between an SI
fic and a regular fic is that one character has the same name and a similar
history to the author (which may have diverged at some point, sometimes
wildly). Taking that character and changing their name isn't going to make the
story any better. The problem isn't that SI fics are always bad fics, it's
that SI authors are usually bad authors. Or inexperienced, as there is a
tendency for most authors to make their first fic an SI fic.

But not ALL SI authors suck. There are quite a few that are actually pretty
good. The secret is to recognize that by using themselves as templates, they
must incorporate all of their really crappy qualities with their good ones.
Any petty jealousies, any bad habits, all of those character flaws that we all
want to hide from the world MUST be included, otherwise the character becomes
one-dimensional and boring. THIS is why writing SI fics is so damn hard,
because you are essentially baring all to the world. A lot of authors don't,
_can't_ do this, and instead try and compensate with self-destructiveness,
angst, an overblown sense of honor, other 'faults' that aren't really faults
at all.

I'm not claiming that I'm a 'good' SI author. In fact, I almost wish I had
started off my avatar as an original character, as he has evolved so far from
the original that we really aren't much alike any more. Which is another
problem in SI; namely, that for your character to be interesting, he or she
must grow during the course of the story. And if they do that, they will end
the story being different from you. At which point they stop being an SI, and
start taking on a life of their own, as any original character would.

The Prime Sagittarian,
Alpha Centauri

<<END OF LINE>>