Eyrie Thread 2: Overtech Boogie-Shoes

[Bob Schroeck]

Thirding the advice on being hard on your SI. Actually... I have a whole list of advice for Self-Insert characters in my fic writer's guide... let me go grab the relevant section to save you some time and effort. (Although, if you want to read the whole, incomplete thing, a not-quite-the-latest version can be found here.)

xx. Rules for Self-Inserts

• Your SI should be there to *supplement* the plot, not *supplant* it. Help the other characters achieve their goals, do not achieve those goals for or instead of them. Don't steal their awesome -- help them get *more* awesome.
  
• No one likes a show-off. Even if you are far more competent or powerful than the other characters, do not run roughshod over them. Complement them. (*Not* "compliment".) If necessary, give yourself a valid and believable in-story reason why you can't just wave your hand and fix everything, even if that's actually in your power to do. This is not to say you can't give your SI the occasional set-piece that shows off how powerful or competent they are, but don't do it too often, and *never* at the expense of the setting's heroes.
  
• At least some of the characters your SI meets and interacts with should *not* like your SI. And I don't mean the bad guys -- that's a given. Some of the *heroes* should find him suspicious, or too mysterious to be trustworthy, or just plain annoying (*especially* if he acts like a typical SI). Conflict drives a story, and conflict among the good guys makes it *interesting* -- what good is knowing the entire plot if no one wants to listen to you? And what I said about the bad guys a moment ago? What if some of the bad guys *like* your SI regardless of his opinions on the matter?
  
• Similarly, your SI shouldn't automatically like all the heroes and hate all the villains, even if he's coming in with full knowledge and awareness of what's going on. He may *want* to, but frankly, I can think of a dozen protagonists from as many genres whom I love to read about or watch but whom I would find incredibly irritating in person. (I'm looking at *you*, Ranma Saotome.) Let your SI dislike anyone who deserves it -- and when appropriate, *like* anyone who deserves it, as well -- regardless of their "side".
  
• Even if your SI is deliberately there to get involved in the plot, don't drop him right in the middle of the action. A self-insert story will play better if your character arrives on the outskirts of what's going on, and has to find his way to the fun -- or accidentally stumbles over it. Your SI should also have interests and priorities that have nothing to do with the main plot -- like, for instance, *leaving* the story's world if he was sent there involuntarily. If the only thing he does while there is dog the main characters' steps, he's going to look like a creepy stalker to them -- and maybe even to your readers.
  
• If your SI is allegedly unaware of what he's getting into, don't write his reactions with *your* knowledge. The prime example of this is someone dropped into a whole new (and unfamiliar) world automatically sussing out who the good guys are and who the bad guys are without any thought or effort. Only in the most black-and-white worlds should this be believable. (For a great example of an SI ignorant of the world he's been dropped into feeling his way through it, check out the "Revolutionary Girl Utena" fic "Ma Vie et Roses" by Scott Johnson and Scott K. Jamison.)
  
• No matter how powerful or capable your SI is, *someone* will at least *try* to get the better of him -- and you know, they should succeed at least once. If you can't be beaten, you can't be truly challenged, and if you can't be challenged, you have no conflict to drive a story. And remember -- they don't have to challenge you where you excel. Just because you're invulnerable, can lift mountains, and can waltz invisibly into the bad guys' headquarters doesn't mean you can't be out-thought or out-planned.
  

To re-emphasize the first point above, a quote from elsewhere in my guide:

The First Commandment of Interventions:
"Thou shalt not cockblock someone else's torrid affair with awesomeness." -- Alistair Young


And after that, I had this pasted in as something to draw inspiration from. Several of its points already echo things I've said above, but there's other good advice here, too:

PsyckoSama's Rules for Self-Inserts

https://www.fanfiction.net/u/285562/PsyckoSama

The Ten Commandments of Writing an SI:

I: The SI is not you. It’s a character based on you. Remember this and maintain a degree of emotional detachment at all times. Treat your SI like you would any other character.

II: Know your strengths and flaws. If you can’t think of any, invent a couple. It’s only based on you after all.

III: Have a couple prereaders with good bullshit detectors who are willing to smack you upside the head when you approach the Sue Zone. Even just having someone to bounce ideas off of can do a world of good and help kill some very bad ideas.

IV: You are not an ironclad badass. In most of these series you’d be the extra who gets eaten by the aliens/demons/zombies and write accordingly. People are paranoid, panicky creatures and chances are you are no different. Remember this. Things can change with time but that’s what character development is for (See Rule VII).

V: Life is a mixed bag. Shit happens and it happens to you, don’t be afraid to torture yourself a bit. That said, remember, the good comes with the bad. With that in mind remember the following two sub-rules.

Va: Avoid wish fulfillment. Good things can happen to you (see above) but your SI should never be an engine created specifically to allow you to be awesome, loved by everyone, and get all the chicks. If that’s what you really want, I’d suggest putting down the keyboard and reaching for a kleenex.

Vb: Avoid wangst. While it's necessary for bad things to happen to create tension, drama, and to propel the plot forward, avoid throwing yourself a pity party. Someone who only has bad things happen to them is just as annoying as someone who only has good things happen. When you go too far it becomes obnoxious cartoonish.

VI: Life goes on, with or without you. Do not make the universe wait on you, for life waits for no man. This is especially important in video game SIs. If you’re actually in the universe, treat it like a living breathing world. It’s not a magical playground that sits on its hands while you randomly run around and do awesome shit.

VII: Balance your flow of time. Don’t rush what you write. While you might want to skip to the good stuff, doing so can be jarring and make your character look like a Mary Sue. Show us your character is growing and making friends, don’t just tell us. On the same note, be careful not to get bogged down in the minutia. There is such a thing as too much detail. We don’t need to see everything. If you’re training, you can show a montage. If you’re looking at a long span of time where nothing out of a ordinary is going to happen, consider a time skip. Things are permitted to happen in the background.

VIII: Throw curve balls at yourself. Even if you’re in a rather tight setting, your presence can create butterflies. In a loose one, you don’t know what’s around the bend. Good or bad, better or worse, do you find something or don’t you? I suggest the use of a randomizer. Flip a coin, roll some dice, pull pieces of paper out of a hat. Don’t let this do you thinking for you, but it can point you in directions you’d never have considered, and having a good chance to standing tall or fall flat on their face will do much to keep your character honest. But remember, you're not slave to the dice. Just let it point you in a direction, think about it, and see what comes out. You can sometimes come up with some amazing ideas that you never would have considered this way, even if it in no way resembles the original dice result.

IX: Be careful with the use of meta-knowledge. Meta-knowledge should stay that. Meta. Be careful who you tell, and only tell those you trust. If you make what you know common knowledge, you will attract all sorts, and mostly for ill. No one likes a know it all, especially evil wizards, secret societies, and evil military dictatorships bent on total domination.

X: This rule is related to rule IV and Vb in many ways, but deserves restating. In most cases you are not the main character of the universe. Events don’t revolve around you. There are others for that. You are a secondary character, if not background extra. To make yourself a main character, either hang with the mains, or do something, stand up and make the universe pay attention to you. But do remember, being a member of the central cast is a mixed bag. It often means you have the protection of plot, but on the same note, it means your life is always going to be interesting, and there is a very good reason that the ancient Chinese used it as a curse.