Subject: [FFML] Self-insertion fics and believability
From: "Damon Casale" <damoo@jps.net>
Date: 4/12/1998, 2:57 PM
To: ffml@fanfic.com

Cleaning out ye olde inbox this morning, and I came across this...  :)

Jeanne Hedge wrote:

At 01:02 PM 3/5/98 -0600, Christopher J Angel wrote:

David Johnston wrote:
It isn't really very different, is it?  Self insert mysteriously appears
and is immediately taken into the bosom of the Knight Sabers.  The main
distinctive feature is the character's snappy dialogue ala Crimson
Shieldsman.

Unfortunately, let's be honest.  The intro HAS to be remarkably similar,
because in a real SI, the most logical thing for Sylia to do would be a
bullet to the temple.  At least Boss was there to give me a decent
reference.

Yeah, as much as I hate to admit (because I find this the most implausible
part of BGC SI fics), you don't have a story if the KS don't "adopt" the
insertee almost immediately (unless the insertee is going to be an outsider
-- and if that happens, what's the point of writing an insertion fic?)

Well, as someone who had been writing a self-insertion fic (yeah, I used to
deny it but it's obvious to me now) for a while, and has yet to be
recognized as such, the point is to convince.

I always have a tough time buying someone from our world being accepted
into the KS immediately. If we think about what would really happen, if a
covert  organization like the KS were to be faced with someone who knows
their identities, they'd try to find out how they know, and then make sure
they can't tell anyone. How would someone in the insertee's position
overcome being silenced permanently? Alot of personality and plain old hard
work. The insertee would have to be very clever and very personable to
convince Sylia that they are not a threat to the organization, and that
they might be of benefit to the KS. IMHO, the only author who has done that
convincingly is Bert Van Vliet (BGZone). Why? The detail he uses, and the
amount of effort required of him (even to this day<g>) to convince Sylia
that he can be a benefit to the KS is what makes it work, and work so well.

Hm.  You know, I just realized...in a certain fashion, Bubblegum Slipt is 
a "self-insertion fic".  Except, I'm enjoying myself, in the part of the 
Doctor.  When I read the part above, about acceptance into the 
organization (even if he isn't staying), it immediately reminded me of 
Slipt.

Any comments?  How believable are the Doctor's efforts at being accepted, 
and the KS' suspicions of him?  Just wondering...

I think I'll be rewriting about half of Bubblegum Slipt anyway, though, to 
fill in a plot hole that a reading of "Into The Shadows" made almost 
painfully clear to me.  @_@

Remind me to fire those C&Cers.  Never could get good hel--wait, I'm not 
paying them.  Nevermind...  ^^;;

Damon Casale, damoo@jps.net
Spam, spam!  WONDERFUL Spam!!  ^_^