self-insert
/self-IN-surt/noun · verb
Meaning
A self-insert is a character in a story, fan work, game, or imagined fictional setting who stands in for the author, creator, or sometimes the intended reader. The character may share the person’s name, appearance, personality, experiences, or point of view, but can also be disguised as an original character or placed in a different fictional world. The term can also describe the act of putting oneself into a story.[1][2]
- 1. A fictional character who represents the author or creator within a story, often as an original character in an established fandom.
- 2. A character designed to let the reader imagine themselves inside a fictional world, though fandom communities often distinguish this from a reader-insert.
- 3. The act of placing oneself, or a fictionalized version of oneself, into a story, game, fanfiction, or other fictional setting.
Examples
“The new mage is absolutely a self-insert, but I’m invested.”
“I made a self-insert for the game and gave them all my worst habits.”
“That side character feels like a self-insert for the author.”
“This fic is a self-insert where the writer wakes up in the canon world.”
“Please tag it as self-insert if the protagonist is meant to be you.”
Origin and spread
Self-insert is a straightforward compound of self and insert, using insert in the sense of placing a person or character into a story. The practice of writing an author-avatar into fiction is older than the modern fandom term, but those earlier literary examples do not establish the modern slang expression. The term is documented in online fanfiction discussion by at least May 7, 2000, when an RPGamer essay described self-insertion as a common fanfiction plot device. In later fandom usage, self-insert became associated with original characters modeled on the writer, transported-to-another-world plots, and sometimes wish-fulfillment or Mary Sue criticism. Fan communities also developed a practical distinction between an author self-insert and a reader-insert, in which the audience is invited to occupy the character’s position.
How to use it
Self-insert is informal fandom and writing vocabulary. It can be neutral when a creator openly describes an avatar or a self-insert project, but it is often mildly dismissive when used by critics who think a character is too idealized, receives special treatment, or overwhelms the existing cast. Do not use it merely for any character who shares a few traits with the author; the term usually implies deliberate representation or a strong resemblance. A reader-insert is related but commonly means a character intended to stand in for the audience, often through second-person narration or placeholders such as Y/N.
Sources
- 1. RPGamer Editorials — On Fanfiction: Wish Fulfilment, Missing the Point, and Finding the BalanceSupports: earliest documented use, meaning.
- 2. Wiktionary — self-insertSupports: meaning.
