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jakebe
Hmm, I knew this would happen. :)
My claim that self-insertion fiction (thanks for the name) strikes me as arrogant and lame certainly holds true...for certain specific works. But the more I thought about it, the more I could peg a few bits of self-insertion fiction that worked really, really well, and that I actually really love.
+ Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (Timequake, Breakfast of Champions)
+ "Charlie Kaufman" (Adaptation)
+ Harvey Pekar (American Splendor)
and of course
+ Sue Deer.
A lot of these are either more-or-less autobiographical stories tweaked a little to make it interesting (like Doemain of Our Own) or are more-or-less anecdotes told in a way that the author becomes just another character, as hopelessly lost in the situation as every other. "Charlie Kaufman" in Adaptation fills the same role John Malkovitch does in Being John Malkovitch, with the only difference being Malkovitch didn't write his own movie. :)
But for every really interesting bit of self-insertion you get the Kevin Costners, William Shatners, and Johnathan Frakes, where the authors make up very thinly-disguised idealized selves and have them romp around a universe where they're all-powerful and/or revered and/or the only flawless thing in a crazy mixed up world, and that's vomit-worthy. In fact, I couldn't even get into Good Will Hunting because Matt Damon had the faint stench of Costnerism all over him. A lot of self-insertion fiction, "amateur" AND professional, turns out to be nothing more than one-dimensional love-letters to yourself, and that's precisely the kind I want to avoid.
If doing self-insertion fiction, I would have to be brutally unflinchingly honest, and my ego isn't *that* eradicated that I wouldn't be tempted to embellish a little. ;) Hopefully, that's good clarification.
My claim that self-insertion fiction (thanks for the name) strikes me as arrogant and lame certainly holds true...for certain specific works. But the more I thought about it, the more I could peg a few bits of self-insertion fiction that worked really, really well, and that I actually really love.
+ Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (Timequake, Breakfast of Champions)
+ "Charlie Kaufman" (Adaptation)
+ Harvey Pekar (American Splendor)
and of course
+ Sue Deer.
A lot of these are either more-or-less autobiographical stories tweaked a little to make it interesting (like Doemain of Our Own) or are more-or-less anecdotes told in a way that the author becomes just another character, as hopelessly lost in the situation as every other. "Charlie Kaufman" in Adaptation fills the same role John Malkovitch does in Being John Malkovitch, with the only difference being Malkovitch didn't write his own movie. :)
But for every really interesting bit of self-insertion you get the Kevin Costners, William Shatners, and Johnathan Frakes, where the authors make up very thinly-disguised idealized selves and have them romp around a universe where they're all-powerful and/or revered and/or the only flawless thing in a crazy mixed up world, and that's vomit-worthy. In fact, I couldn't even get into Good Will Hunting because Matt Damon had the faint stench of Costnerism all over him. A lot of self-insertion fiction, "amateur" AND professional, turns out to be nothing more than one-dimensional love-letters to yourself, and that's precisely the kind I want to avoid.
If doing self-insertion fiction, I would have to be brutally unflinchingly honest, and my ego isn't *that* eradicated that I wouldn't be tempted to embellish a little. ;) Hopefully, that's good clarification.
