David Johnston <rgorman@telusplanet.net> wrote:

James Bond is an Ian Fleming self-insert.  Naoko Takeuchi wears her hair
in an odd hairstyle involving little balls on the side of her head.  
Dashiel Hammett was a bitter, but idealistic private detective.  And I'd
be willing to bet that Rumiko Takahashi occasionally gets irate at 
masculine stupidity and insensitivity.  Really, it's a question of 
subtlety.  

When I wrote "Never too many...", yeah, Kouchi Yamazaki was a self 
insert in some ways.  True, I'm not half-Japanese, never had a brother, 
don't know martial arts, and my mother didn't dress me in girl's 
clothing until the age of twelve, but that doesn't change the fact that 
I put certain aspects of my self into the character.  I could hardly 
avoid it.  

When I write, in some sense all the characters are me. The way I figure
out their feelings and reactions is to delve into a part of my own
personality that emphasizes with a particular character, and use it to
decide how I would feel if I were that character. I think just about all
good writers do that. But it's not the same as a self-insert...

But to me there's a world of difference between that and naming a 
character "David Johnston", giving it my personal history, and then
imposing it on a fictional environment where it has no real relevance.  
Kouchi had a place in his world.  "David Johnston" has no place in 
Nerima, or Crystal Tokyo.  

Speaking for myself here, all I can say is that's not the reason *I*
don't care for self-inserts. It's more a matter of a writer's obligation
to be ruthless with his/her characters. This means:

1) A character should make mistakes and do bad things when his/her
personality dictates that he/she would, even when I as an author know
better;

and

2) The other characters and events react to that character the way they
logically would, not the way I want them to.

Personally, I don't think I could do this with a character who was a
version of myself -- unless it was a revengefic or a parody. I'd want
most everybody to like and respect me, and I'd want myself to accomplish
great things. That's why I don't write self-inserts.


Gary Kleppe
http://www.execpc.com/~kleppe/comics