#self-insert ocs

[bittybuttersliceontoast]

you see a lot of overpowered self-insert ocs being based on wanda maximoff or Mal from descendants,, but why on god's green earth are you guys not basing your self-inserts powers on sailor moon? she had all the things!! she owns the holy grail! go be sailor moon!

[pinbudo]

DRIVING IN MY CAAAAR

RIGHT AFTER A BEER

[thevagabondexpress]

I think Pluto Lochlyn Westhouse means as much to me as she does because she's not just a representation of myself, she's a good representation of why I write myself into stories in the first place, instead of just creating someone else. First, she started off as vaguely nonbinary coded. She became nonbinary with me. And now, writing the fourth (and likely final, since I know eventually people will get tired of reading about her) book and getting ready to clean up the series for AO3, time travelling insanity and all, she's going back to being a fully female character. Because I realized there's a lot of male characters I can identify with and whose story arcs I like, but I've met exactly one (1) female character I see myself in who's not treated ickily by the narrative in one way or another, and/or made into something at the end that I don't want to become. And that disparity, and the reasons for it that I've uncovered over time, drove me crazy enough I felt I had to do something about it.

And that's why I write myself into the stories: because I learn things about myself over time, both as a person and as a writer, that I wouldn't learn if I wasn't hidden somewhere in the narrative.

[she-who-fights-and-writes]

Hi, I just want to know why self inserts are generally looked down upon. I was checking out tips on Youtube on how to better my writing and editor said that if the main character has a name similar to the author or is pretty much the author's name, they're very wary of it. [I get cringe but aside from that, is there any other reason?]

Well, it’s sort of been dubbed to be unprofessional to insert yourself into your own works. It’s fine for things you don’t want to publish, but generally you want to avoid putting your own name into the story, since there’s a taboo surrounding it.

[omeglelockassholes]

I keep getting the same sort of prompt in the mormor tag, every couple of days, sometimes slightly reworded, and it always sits really badly with me. Sebastian is like weirdly obsessed with some OC sniper and literally the whole rp is about how great this OC is and how this OC is going to replace Sebastian if he dies, and it's like, okay cool, irdc? I always give a prompt a try, bc you never know where it's going. But ugh. It's annoying. Idk if it's a self insert or just an OC or what but nope.

Self-insert is generally the special-snowflake version of an average person (aka. quiet awkward girl who is secretly smart and has an amazing hidden skill in art/writing/something non STEM, but is mentally ill and genderfluid, and while most people would describe her as average looking she has beutiful eyes you can get lost in for days). It's probably just some kid's gary-stu OC.

I haven't seen the prompt, so I can't weigh in, but please save the log and send it in next time! I'd be interested in laughing at it.

-J

[omeglelockassholes]

Self-inserting into RP is annoying and selfish. People RP because they want to play as a canon character with another canon character. It's different when you do a RP with OCs, there it doesn't really matter what you make them like but in a RP with canon characters, it's annoying and selfish. When I feel like imagining myself in some show or movie or something, I just write a short fanfic just for myself where I just add myself in, or just imagine it in my head and don't bother others with it.

These are great ways to write if you want to self-insert. Just keep it in your head, or write it out as a fic. 

I mean people do roleplay because they want to have original characters as well, but they shouldn’t roleplay original characters in ships (Parentlock and the Mor-siblings definitely count here) regardless. It can get so annoying so fast.

-J

[omeglelockassholes]

Too this self insert stuff, it's also hard to play with them especially if you have to be Sherlock. Sherlock can read people like books and it's hard to roleplay with a character you know nothing about and who refuses to make themselves more obvious. It's frustrating and makes Sherlock in a way stupid. And you can't just make up something since it's /their/ character.

I mean, the person was talking about self-inserting themselves as fem!Sherlock, but self-insert OCs are also annoying. They also aren’t hard to pick out, as someone who dabbles in OC roleplay. 

I can’t imagine Sherlock going against an OC where they refuse to make things about themselves obvious. There’s nothing wrong with detailing that your character is an artist that works with clay, and things like that are details that can only improve your portrayal of Sherlock. And isn’t it more fun to play against an accurate Sherlock if you want to fantasise about gallivanting about with him and/or boning him?

Goodness, when I write Jimlock it’s way too fun to write Jim’s different personas and actively make him hard to read, but the Sherlocks that can toe-to-toe are few and far between. 

-J