Damon Casale wrote:

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.

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.  

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.  

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

I'd answer, but I lost it in the crash.  

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!!  ^_^