There are non-self insert OCs… they are just the minority.
Personally I avoid OCs if I can help it, although I dont mind an OC or two to fill a role (like, if youre making a “new season” of a show and need a villain, I have 0 issue there).
Already the other comment that “all characters have a piece of you” is missing the point of this message. I have OCs, none of them are self inserts. Nobody reading my stories would think theyre self inserts. Theres a fuzzy line for others, but idk, I think its totally reasonable to want to talk about OCs outside of shipping.
Reply 2 - Anon
Hard agree that the commenter who said "everyone puts a bit of themselves into their OCs must be painfully ignorant about OCs in general. OCs and self-inserts are considered different things for a reason. An OC could be a self-insert. Or it might not be. I'm a 105 lb soaking wet nonbinary person with boobs, if you told me I'm somehow self-inserting on my 40-year old rancher man who has fought aliens, I don't know what to say. Your lack of imagination and inability to recognize many other people don't need to rely on self-insertion as a crutch for everything they do is a "you" problem, commenter.
Reply 3 - Anon
OP here. After I submitted this ask, the non-self insert OCs in my fandom exploded and there's a ton of them now I'm so happy 👍👍👍👍👍
