The Subtle Art of the Self-Insert.

Never before have I seen something divide a crowd more so among writers of all stripes than the self-insert.

Some say it’s fine, some say it’s terrible, and I have always had an itch to meet the middle ground in such debates.

So I say… it depends.

For those out of the loop, a self-insert is essentially a fictional character that acts as a stand-in or represents the writer/author of the story being written/told. And why should that be a bad thing?

Many will say that it is shameless to place yourself into the stories you write, that it’s not professional to be a part of the stories you tell or the worlds you create. It honestly scares me that people meet this trope with such blood and vinegar. In my story of “The Starlight Symphony”, I’d be lying if the main character Marcus, doesn’t share qualities similar to my own.

We both have red hair and blue eyes, we both have a love for storytelling and imagination, and we’re both not competitive, seeking to avoid conflict when we can. But I would argue that Marcus is similar, yet altogether different to myself.

He’s overly zealous, thinks fifty steps ahead, shuts down when emotions are high and sometimes lashes out when he’s under attack.

In other words, he’s flawed, as am I. As is anyone.

But when someone creates characters as the children of their thought, aren’t these characters an extension of our own selves?

Is it so wrong to become a part of the message we want to give to the world?

Self-inserts, I say, are only as good/bad as how you write them. You can tell a lot about a person by how they view themselves through a self-insert. Write one no different from how you would write any other character, with flaws, goals, ambitions, and complex inner workings. You’re not doing yourself or your reader any favors by over-glorifying your self-insert as a perfect being. That just puts your ego up on display like the Mona Lisa in the Louvre.

In addition, I became extremely sick of hardly seeing any red-haired, blue-eyed, male protagonists in stories, in both books and films. I wrote what I wanted to see more of.

As Walter Mosely puts in his Masterclass, “If you don’t write yourself into your story, your people don’t exist”.

Some of the most famous self-inserts are the ones you barely notice, look up some examples to see what I mean.

Luke Skywalker’s initials are Luke S. Sounds an awful lot like “Lucas”, doesn’t it?

The point is, you are the creator, the one playing god in your stories, do what you please. Once more, self-inserts as only as good as how well you write them. And when you do it right, with any luck, people will hardly notice anyway.

Your art always involves putting yourself and your mind up on display, as vulnerable as it may be.

To deny expressing oneself in your art is to deny expressing yourself at all.

And if you are not a part of the beauty you contribute to the world, then what’s even the point?

Thank you for reading and have a beautiful day

• Daniel