Word Wednesday: Author Insert

I’ve been thinking about the concept of Author Insert and how I feel about it (can you believe this is how I spend my time?). Our Glossary defines the term as: an original character that is a stand-in for the author in the story. Now Gary/Mary aside, here’s my issue: As an author, almost every character is a stand in for some aspect of me; do I really need to walk into the story as myself? For example, a friend of mine started dating someone new, and I rarely see him any longer, so to deal with my annoyance, I wrote an Uglies piece where Shay deals with her ambivalence towards Tally and her relationship with David. I can’t imagine having me, Schinders, walk into a story; it seems so incongruous. Fiction is a place where I get to not be me, hooray!

But then again, I’d love to use a holodeck… What do you think?

And I know, it’s two words… don’t be so pedantic.

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

Fandom(s): Uglies

Posted on 03-19-2008 by Schinders under Word Wednesday

4 comments so far.

karracaz said, on 3/19/08 @ 2:57 pm :

I agree totally. I don’t want to be me all the time. That’s why I write so I can explore someone else’s personality and life. I’d love a holodeck… or even a holocupboard!

Schinders said, on 3/19/08 @ 3:33 pm :

holodrawer?

marphlets said, on 3/19/08 @ 5:34 pm :

Holocloset…:)

I insert my family members, but not me. That just feels so boring to me.

props on “pedantic.”

jayne d'Arcy said, on 3/19/08 @ 7:48 pm :

I think the thing I don’t care for in Mary Sue/Gary Stu is not so much that they’re the author sticking themself into a story but that Mary Sue and Gary Stu almost always are flat, non-developed characters who honestly do nothing to advance a story. It is the nature of an author to put a facet of themselves into a story, or facets of other people. The story I’m currently editing concerns a relationship between Snape and an OC. Snape has consistently reminded me of my step-grandfather. My step-grandad had an amazing romance with my grandmother that has become a family legend and so my OC is based upon my grandmother and their relationship in the story is based, heavily, upon their romance.

4 comments so far.

Post your comments