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self-insertion

{{Short description|Literary device where the author writes themself into their fictional story}}

{{Globalize|article|Western culture|date=February 2017}}

Image:Botticelli - Adoration of the Magi (Zanobi Altar) - Uffizi.jpg's painting of the Adoration of the Magi has an inserted self-portrait at the far right: the position in the corner and the gaze out to the viewer are very typical of such self-portraits.]]

Self-insertion is a literary device in which the author writes themselves into the story under the guise of, or from the perspective of, a fictional character.{{cite web|url=https://www.yourdictionary.com/self-insertion|title=Self-insertion meaning|access-date=20 February 2022}} The character, overtly or otherwise, behaves like, has the personality of, and may even be described as physically resembling the author or reader of the work.

In visual art, the equivalent of self-insertion is the inserted self-portrait, where the artist includes a self-portrait in a painting of a narrative subject. This has been a common artistic device since at least the European Renaissance.

Among professional writers, the intentional, deliberate use of first-person and third-person self-insertion techniques are commonly considered to be an unoriginal action on the author's part, and represents a paucity of creative thought in their writing.{{Cite web|url=https://jezebel.com/tv-writers-self-insert-brunson-fey-waller-bridge-kaling-1850077191|title=I Love When Women TV Writers Write Themselves Hot Love Interests|date=17 February 2023|website=Jezebel}}{{Cite web|url=https://confluence.gallatin.nyu.edu/context/interdisciplinary-seminar/triggering-manhattan-the-ethics-of-self-insertion|title="Triggering" Manhattan: The Ethics of Self-Insertion – Confluence|date=28 October 2021}}

Literary forms

Similar literary devices include the author doubling as the first-person narrator, or writing an author surrogate in the third-person, or adding in a character who is partially based on the author, whether the author included it intentionally or not. Many characters have been described as unintentional self-insertions, implying that their author is unconsciously using them as an author surrogate.{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/aug/13/fan-fiction-fifty-shades-grey|title=In the beginning, there was fan fiction: from the four gospels to Fifty Shades|first=Ewan|last=Morrison|date=13 August 2012|newspaper=The Guardian}}

Self-insertion can also be employed in a second-person narrative, utilizing the imagination of the reader and his suspension of disbelief. The reader, referred to in the second person, is depicted as interacting with another character, with the intent to encourage the reader's immersion and psychological projection of himself into the story, imaging that he, himself, is performing the written story.{{Cite web|date=2021-03-22|title=The A to Z of Fan Fiction|url=https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/380736/the-a-to-z-of-fan-fiction/|access-date=2021-10-30|website=Inquirer Lifestyle|language=en-US}} While examples in published fiction of second-person self-insertion are rare, the use of such is common in fan fiction, in which the reader is paired with a fictional character, often in an intimate setting.

Examples

{{More citations needed section|date=August 2023}}

See also

References

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{{Fiction writing}}

{{Fan fiction}}

{{Branches of the visual arts}}

{{Aesthetics}}

{{Humanities}}

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Category:Self-portraiture

Category:Narratology