Have you ever created a self-insert character?

[ThatCrazyShaman]

I suppose that's a rather silly question, as I suppose everyone has at some point or another. I'm just curious.
If you have, what were they like?

When I first started writing Lovecraftian horror pieces, I was reading about the self-insert characters various writers have worked into the Cthulhu mythos over time, and I found the concept rather amusing. I decided to create one as a larf, just to see what I would end up with - more or less an experiment to see whether I could avoid creating a Mary Sue.

Thus I set about to creating a minor supporting character, an Irish fellow by the name of Lir [he's named after the prince from The Last Unicorn - just spelled differently :3], who's only really notable characteristics are that he's biologically immortal and knows a lot about the occult. Well, that and his cryptic tattoos that read 'The truth is before your eyes' in the sister languages [which is a reference to my name, which is Latin for 'true'].

He exists solely for the purpose of giving information to other characters; he really doesn't amount to much else. Particularly considering that shortly after his first appearance, he gets relocated to the primary parallel universe I write about and rejoins his partner. At least he's not alone there with all of it's horrible denizens, I suppose x3.

While he's a self-insert, there are some fundamental differences between us. Gender, for one, as well as sexuality. Lir is also more passive than I am; I can be rather aggressive, although I'm typically easy to get along with.

[Froge]

Not self-inserts, but definitely people who only explain things.

In my first and second novels, things were a little too cryptic, so I literally had to insert a guy at the end whose sole purpose is to explain everything.

In my third novel, I tried to be a bit more subtle and created "guide" characters who accompanied the main characters so that they knew what was going on. But then I decided to put a guy to explain everything at the end again.

In my NaNo novel, I had a guy who was not only a guide, but he explained everything. All the time.

So yeah.

[Cuyir]

Never have created a self insert character.

I have an aversion to describing/talking about myself, so creating a character that would be linked back to me is undesirable lol.

[MrBehemoth]

My 15 year old self, after my family moved into an old spooky house, wrote an awful novel about a 15 year old girl whose family moved into an old spooky house.

As for games, Trystan, the main character in Black Aether, has a lot of me in him. The woodcutter in Bickadoodle is basically what I would look like if I was clean-shaven and stick thin (pun intended).


...And I made a really awful point-and-click game years back where I actually was the protagonist, in a fairytale realism setting... complete with a badly animated sprite made from photos. The world will never be ready to see that game.

[CarnivorousJelly]

Closest I've ever gotten to a self-insert character is my constant day-dreaming :p

[eliasfrost]

I did that once in a game I made some time ago, it was mostly for funnsies and the character had no purpose besides just standing around. I do find it slightly weird when people insert themselves as a way to create some sort of power fantasy though, that's why I never "make myself" or make personal choices in games when I play them, I almost always create a character beforehand and stick to it, sometimes I just start one and freestyle, those will most likely end up a bit like myself but not intentionally.

[Kurton]

In a kind of reverse self-insert, my username is based on a character I made up

[ThatCrazyShaman]

Not self-inserts, but definitely people who only explain things.

In my first and second novels, things were a little too cryptic, so I literally had to insert a guy at the end whose sole purpose is to explain everything.

In my third novel, I tried to be a bit more subtle and created "guide" characters who accompanied the main characters so that they knew what was going on. But then I decided to put a guy to explain everything at the end again.

In my NaNo novel, I had a guy who was not only a guide, but he explained everything. All the time.

So yeah.

Sounds like Lir. That's virtually the only use I ever had for him.
In one particular piece, he isn't even physically present; the protagonist finds field notes he left behind detailing how the particular place the story is set in works and what creatures are there. I really should do something with him.

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My 15 year old self, after my family moved into an old spooky house, wrote an awful novel about a 15 year old girl whose family moved into an old spooky house.

As for games, Trystan, the main character in Black Aether, has a lot of me in him. The woodcutter in Bickadoodle is basically what I would look like if I was clean-shaven and stick thin (pun intended).


...And I made a really awful point-and-click game years back where I actually was the protagonist, in a fairytale realism setting... complete with a badly animated sprite made from photos. The world will never be ready to see that game.

I've heard it said that writers tend to put a bit of themselves into their characters without always realizing it. I know some of mine are clear examples of that.

I actually used to write about a character who my friend informed me looked a bit like me when I did illustrations of her [solely because we both have long brunette hair and like to wear orange]. Other than that, I don't think I've ever created anyone who looked like me... that I can recall, anyway.
On a side note, I've been meaning to play Bickadoodle. It's been installed on my computer for ages now.

Lol sounds like some of the incredibly god-awful stories I wrote with friends growing up. I wouldn't show those things to anyone even if they paid me xD

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I did that once in a game I made some time ago, it was mostly for funnsies and the character had no purpose besides just standing around. I do find it slightly weird when people insert themselves as a way to create some sort of power fantasy though, that's why I never "make myself" or make personal choices in games when I play them, I almost always create a character beforehand and stick to it, sometimes I just start one and freestyle, those will most likely end up a bit like myself but not intentionally.

I've seen some examples of people adding themselves into games as background characters or just little references to themselves [like in Don't Starve, where some headstones have the developer's names on them], like how Hitchcock made cameos in his films.

While it doesn't bother me at all when it's stuff like that, it is just a tad odd to me when people do it as fantasy-fullfilment. But whatever float's a person's boat, ya know

[AGP]

As with inserting myself into my own stories: all the time. Personally, I find it easiest to put a little bit of myself into each character. One of the bigger stories I'm working on, there is a female character (who was in her genesis actually me) whom I basically pushed all my sadness and despair into along with a personal descent in madness that I often feel like I'm going down.

Another one is actually a second custom story I'm on-and-off working on (it may or may not ever be released; so far it's more of a venting tool). The whole story and the main character is essentially me, but I don't want to delve too much into specifics if ever I do get around to releasing it as a custom story.

[ThatCrazyShaman]

As with inserting myself into my own stories: all the time. Personally, I find it easiest to put a little bit of myself into each character. One of the bigger stories I'm working on, there is a female character (who was in her genesis actually me) whom I basically pushed all my sadness and despair into along with a personal descent in madness that I often feel like I'm going down.

Another one is actually a second custom story I'm on-and-off working on (it may or may not ever be released; so far it's more of a venting tool). The whole story and the main character is essentially me, but I don't want to delve too much into specifics if ever I do get around to releasing it as a custom story.

I've done something akin to that before; whenever I was going through a rough patch, I used to write about characters going through the same thing as a means of exploring how I felt about what was happening. Very therapeutic, to say the least.

That sounds really interesting! I like the idea of creating things as a means of venting [particularly when it comes to game development]. Maybe because I tend to bottle up all of my emotions.