#self insert week

[cetaceanhandiwork]

Ten years ago, Tumblr user @the-alligator-queen-blog began an annual tradition called Self Insert Week: a weeklong challenge/jam/etc where participants are encouraged to make fanworks with themselves as the main character.

This year, this storied Tumblr festival will begin on Sunday, May 10th, and last through Saturday, May 16th.

Why participate? Well, in its founder’s own words, it’s “a fun reason to make ourselves into the awesome characters we daydream up while going about our normal lives”.

But it’s also, in my view, a strike back at the common tendency to see fanwork – and creative work more generally – as such Serious Business that it’s not allowed to be openly self-indulgent. People worry so much, these days, about whether their artistic endeavors are “good enough”, or are a credit to their Brand, or whatever. I think that’s sad. Maybe even a little unhealthy, if we do it all the time. What’s the harm, really, if not everything we write is Serious Literature? Who said it had to be? Why can’t we embrace the cringe every now and again, if that's what sparks joy?

So this event is a "feast of fools" for creative works: an excuse – carte blanche and imprimatur – to indulge in all the silly fandom escapism you’d eschew in a more normal week. Go smooch your favorite Digital Circus denizen in Photoshop. Go write about the drama you and your Miis got up to on that island. Go wild! There’s no sign-up to participate, no masterpost, nothing like that. Just write, draw, and post your stuff under #self insert week 2026 so that we can all cheer each other on. :)

[fantasylandbackflips]

Unbelievable Scenes: Beware of Chicken

I nursed a growing headache, trying to keep my head down and ignore the fight that'd broken out in the noodle shop where I'd stopped for lunch on a whim. I'd put some good distance between myself and the Shrouded Mountain (although, should it be called "Shrouded" anymore?), but even here, it seemed one would still encounter the occasional beef between loose cultivators over some nonsense.

A spoon went flying towards me, and it took all my still-sluggish reflexes to dodge it. Once again, I thanked my lucky stars that I wasn't still carrying the worst wounds I'd received up on the mountaintop. If I'd still been suffering from… whatever that "Unshrouded Fist" attack was that hit Liao Fang so hard I'd ended up in her body… then that spoon would've dented my skull instead of the wall.

I grimaced, as I thought back to all that. Liao Fang had been starstruck by the Fulmination Squad – that's why she'd joined the Shrouded Mountain Sect to begin with – and so had lined up behind them when many of them supported the Patriarch's faction of the Sect over the rebelling Elders. Bad move. She was in the Fifth Stage of the Initiate's Realm, which was good enough for an Outer Disciple, but not good enough to stand up to anyone serious in the Sect. And now, outside the heat of the moment, even her perspective would grudgingly agree that it was the wrong side to pick.

That's why, as soon as I could at least limp away, I'd left. Written a resignation note couching the decision in Daoist terms (wouldn't you know it, "thunder on the mountain" in the Yijing was the hexagram that recommended excessive humility and returning to low altitudes), stumbled down the Shrouded Path, and found the first cave I could – no longer hidden by mist and illusions – to hide in and recover my wounds.

Thank Heaven for that cave. Thank Heaven for those medical herbs Bi De had been selling; spy or no spy, chicken or no chicken, they'd gotten me back on my feet in record time.

And thank Heaven for the cultivation manual I'd found there, next to the bleached bones of its previous owner. Giving up cultivation would've been a terrible idea in a world where it was the only way to defend yourself from a potentially endless parade of assholes… but if I'd kept my current lightning cultivation, everyone would've known I was a Shrouded Mountain renegade.

And to be honest? Even if it hadn't been a dead giveaway of my entanglement with the Shrouded Mountain... I just didn't like it. The part of me that was Liao Fang had looked up to the Fulmination Squad, but with that image tarnished forever, she now recoiled at the idea of following in their footsteps. And the part of me that was not of this world? It found the lightning qi of the Fulmination Arts too aggressive. Too "strength above all", as the Sect put it so often. Too… yang.

Whatever our dao was now, it wasn't suitable for qi like this.

…at last, those two idiots took their fight out of the noodle shop, and things returned to "normal". I sighed in relief, and began circulating my qi again, tasting the yin fire qi from the kitchen, and the yin metal qi from the commerce. Fire and metal in, fire and lightning out.

This "Sapphire Yin Alembic Method" had been just the thing, really. Its cultivation techniques were eerily reminiscent of Earth chemistry: gravity filtration when your qi is still loose, evaporative distillation when it's thick enough to precipitate into an elixir sea, and ultimately a Golden Core formed by crystallization. And because it was obsessively concerned with knowing what, precisely, was swirling around in your meridian system (or else you'd never nucleate when you finally got to forming your core), it'd hopefully be able to clear out all this domineering lightning qi that I couldn't use anymore.

I slurped up the last of my noodles, paid the shopkeep, and started the walk "home". I was still circulating – learning what qi was endemic to what environment. Familiarizing myself with how it felt, whether or not it wasn't suitable for my foundation, so that I'd be able to tell good cultivation spots from bad. I lingered in the merchant hall, but eventually made my way to the farm at the outskirts of the town, where I'd been trading my labor for a bedroll and permission to meditate in the field. I greeted Wang Lung – the head of the household – and sat down between the furrows to soak up its earth qi: the "yin earth" of fertile soil, which is not yang wood but gives birth to it regardless. Wood and earth in. Wood and lightning out.

I knew, even with my otherworldly knowledge aiding my comprehension of the Sapphire Yin Alembic, that it'd take months to get the lightning out of my system, and who knows how much longer after that to break through to the Profound Realm. But when I did… I'd be able to advance to the second phase of the Sapphire Yin Alembic, and in doing so, get out of the Howling Fangs entirely. I could go next door to the Azure Hills – a qi-starved region, and thus, in theory, an ideal environment for evaporative distillation by negative pressure – and cultivate in peace. I'd have no need to fear being attacked: neither by former sectmates stumbling upon me, nor by locals (who rarely make it out of the Initiate's Realm), nor by that old monster who'd torn off the Patriarch's face to settle a grudge.

Surely, nothing important happens in the Azure Hills, right?

[contrairyart]

Mishell, the Depressed Peanut Pokémon

Type: Bug/Grass

Height: 0.3 m (1'0")

Weight: 3.6 kg (8.0 lbs)

Abilities: Potential

Base Stats HP: 60 Atk: 60 Def: 60 SpA: 120 SpD: 60 Spe: 60 Total: 420

"It is impossible to predict when this quirky Pokémon will sleep. MISHELL is very weak, but it is okay with this because it doesn't like battling anyways."

"MISHELL is too depressed to do much of anything. It very rarely leaves its easily breakable shell."

[vampirezelda]

I think this is a masterpiece for the ages and love how this turned out, so here's Day 2 of self-shipping week for y'all!

@selfshipperapproved

Pairing: US!Sans/OC

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Day 2: Confessions

"Enemy behind you!" you shout to Blue through your mic, maneuvering your character to take out the others congregating on his location. Blue's character deftly kills the ones closest to him and helps you take out the others nearby, finishing the last round of the game. You breathe a happy sigh of relief as you watch the cutscene where your team is extracted from the area, congratulating the others before backing out of the lobby with Blue. "Good job! You're a natural at these games Blue." 

Exercising with Blue everyday could only get your friendship so far, and when you learnt that him and his brother had other numerous consoles to play, you jumped at the opportunity to get him into some of the ones you were enjoying at the moment. Namely one space faring rpg that had you saving the world from an extinction level event that would wipe out every species from the universe. To say Blue had taken a shining to it would be an understatement; he loved it. He's been playing it with you as often as possible, pulling you into the game whenever you popped online. Some people may find it annoying, but you love hanging out with Blue; he always finds a way to cheer you up when you're having a less than stellar day. 

"You Did An Amazing Job Taking Out Those Enemies At The End; I Would Have Failed The Mission If Not For You Willow!" You, amazing? Pshhhhh, he's just being nice. Okay so maybe you're blushing a tiny bit from the praise, nobody is here to see it though besides Shadow, but he's oblivious to the world right now sunbathing. Do you….. compliment him back? That'd be the nice thing to do, you think. 

"Your, uh, your gun skills were pretty neat out there; those enemies didn't stand a chance!" Oh my god, did that sound as cringy as you think it did? Oh god, where's the nearest hole to climb into and hide for all of eternity….

"Mweh Heh, I Had The Best Teacher After All! You Should Be The One Getting All The Praise!" Hhhhhh, why is this making you so flustered? He's just being nice, right? Doing what a friend would do? Your heart was racing during the match but now it's racing again, your cheeks feeling red hot.

Wait.

Are you…..do you like him? Like like him? Blue is saying stuff over the mic but your brain isn't functioning right now, Willow.exe has crashed please wait for it to reboot.

What do you do with this information now that you've realized what this is all about?How do you cope????

"Willow? Is Everything Alright?" You snap out of it as Blue's voice registers in your ear, and it's like you're a deer in the headlights. What do you say? Is everything alright? You don't, you don't know what to do, so you just say the first thing that comes to mind—

"—I LIKE YOU BLUE!" you shout into the mic, voice raising in pitch halfway through like you're going through puberty. Ok this is fine, you're fine, you didn't want to hold it in anyways, it's not like you want to scream right now but you're holding it back because Blue hasn't said anything yet, why hasn't he said anything yet? All you can hear is some muffled voices in the background like Blue is talking to someone and you sure as hell hope it isn't his brother because that would be the most embarrassing thing to happen on top of what you just did. 

The mic rustles as Blue does something on the other end and then he's speaking but you're trying not to freak out right now, so you just hold your breath. "D-Do You Mean It? It—This Isn't A Joke, Willow?" Oh my god he sounds so goddamn cute, and also sad and it's just breaking your heart to hear him like this, how could he ever think what you were saying is a joke? Has someone actually done that to him? It makes your blood boil to think someone could do that to this kind, sweet, energetic skeleton that would die for his friends. 

"YES! I mean, no, it's not a joke! I, uh-hhhh, I r-really like you!" You're so nervous your armpits are sweating like there's no tomorrow and you were squeaking out every other word, how is he taking this? You might shrivel up and die on the spot if he makes fun of you, but you know he wouldn't do that he's the nicest being that could ever exist but your brain is being an asshole right now and betraying you. 

The next thing you hear is Blue whooping so loud you need to jerk your headset away from your face and listen to him start rambling a mile a minute to who this is Stretch? "—PAPY SHE SAID SHE LIKE LIKED ME, QUICK WHERE'S MY NOTEBOOK I NEED TO START PLANNING THE PERFECT DATE! NO, PAPY, NOT THE DATING MANUAL THAT'S FOR BABYBONES, YES I KNOW THERE'S A QUARANTINE!—" He keeps going and you're just so relieved that he likes you too you just start laughing and can't stop and there's tears running down your face from how much you're laughing and how happy and relieved you are. 

"Willow!" Blue startles you with how abruptly he's back on the mic you suck in air the wrong way and you're coughing into the mic in response. "Mweh Heh Heh, I Didn't Know That's All It Would Take To Make You Breathless! But! Putting That Aside! I Would Love To Officially Become Your Bone-Friend! That's The Only Pun You'll Get Out Of Me For Now, Papy, Stop Eavesdropping!" You're giggling at his antics and can't believe this is how your day would turn out. I mean, hell, this is probably the best day ever! 

"H-hah…….oh my god. Yes, I would love for you to be my Bone-Friend, Blue." Now you're both giggling at the pun, and honestly, you couldn't see yourself without this silly video-game playing skeleton by your side. 

[kinsbin]

-arrives back from unplanned hiatus- -immediately draws mcxeen art based on how bloody hot its been at my house lately-

Hi yes! I also! Have a new haircut aka I grew my hair out since i was last on here and then shaved off one side of it. sometimes i have to tie it up because half of my head gets hot -w-;; but i love the way it is now honestly, i look super cute

to celebrate: a silly pun-draw of me and mccree because i caaaan

[erebus1845]

tall gay and his short bf do gay stuff

[limey-blue-arty-do]

So I will be the raging storm

With flames abundant on winds borne

Take my throne as a funeral pyre

Watch me rise as they crown me with fire

[bluestarrco]

ATTENTION SELF INSERT ARTISTS AND WRITTERS

I am making a Self Insert Week starting April 10th!!! GET YOUR PENS AND PAPERS READY! -This will include ALL FANDOMS! -All types of media! Art writing videos whatever! -nsfw things are NOT ALLOWED! it could be slight nsfw but we don't wanna be too inappropriate! If you gotta problem with this, don't join. That simple! 😜 The themes will be the following; Monday: First Encounters Tuesday: Dance Poses/ Scenes Wednesdays: Piggyback Rides Thursdays: Feels Friday: Apart Of Their World APRIL 10TH PEOPLE SO GEAR UP!