History Main / SelfInsertFic

* Basically the point of ''Film/TheRoom'' is Johnny Wiseau telling the viewer how unappreciated he is and how much his life sucks, but in the [[{{Narm}} most unintentionally hilarious way possible]].

* ''Fanfic/AsDreamsAreMadeOn'' is this trope as applied to ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'', the protagonist and narrator being a barely-fictionalized version of the author thrust into the life of Bella Swan.

* ''Fanfic/TheMostEvilTrainer'', a ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' is a bit of a deconstruction on the trope: the main character had an entire life of friends and family that they left behind; unlike most such fanfics where such things are casually brushed saide in favor of adventure and WishFulfilment, here the story follows the SI's efforts to find a way home. While he ''does'' become a Pokemon trainer, and a very successful one given enough time, it's only because acess to Legendary Pokemon, one of which the SI hopes can send him home, is restricted to elite trainers. This led to something of a BrokenBase by readership, some of whom don't understand why ''anyone'' would want to leave the Pokemon world in favor of the real one. Make of that what you will.

As the name implies, a Self-Insert Fic is one where the author has made a simulacrum of themselves, commonly called an ''[[AuthorAvatar avatar]],'' in the story's world as a key character (usually TheProtagonist, but any other role that's [[AnthropicPrinciple vital to the story]] qualifies). If the author has any sense of subtlety, the resulting character won't [[TheDanza share their name or alias]], but it's still easy to tell who that "new character" is. You technically can add your name but preferable that you don't.

* In ''LightNovel/{{The Rising Of The Shield Hero}}'', the [[JerkassGods malicious and power-hungry goddess]] [[spoiler:Medea]] does this to every world she comes across, using her RealityWarping powers to subtly insert a "fragment" of herself to sow chaos and misery for her own sadistic amusement on top of eventually driving it to ruin so she can harvest its energy to make herself (slightly) more powerful. By the way, guess whose the fragment she placed in Melromarc. Yep, it's [[spoiler:Malty.]]

As the name implies, a Self-Insert Fic is one where the author has made a simulacrum of themselves, commonly called an ''[[AuthorAvatar avatar]],'' in the story's world as a key character (usually TheProtagonist, but any other role that's [[AnthropicPrinciple vital to the story]] qualifies). If the author has any sense of subtlety, the resulting character won't [[TheDanza share their name or alias]], but it's still easy to tell who that "new character" is.

* {{Deconstructed}} in ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom''. The heroine is the Self as Existing Character variant, but instead of one of the heroes, she becomes the [[SelfDisposingVillain Self-Disposing]] AlphaBitch of an otome game. This leads her to believe that she's doomed to the character's fate of being exhiled or killed, even though the fact that her personality is so completely different that it starts driving the plot OffTheRails within the first ''week'', which leads her to attempt various things to prevent that fate, derailing the plot even further. Moreover, she doesn't have perfect recall of the game's events, several times only remembering that certain character or events were important after the fact, and has not played through one of the routes [[spoiler:as well as the secret route]] and has to rely on secondhand knowledge she got from a friend. Top it off with the fact that the point of insertion is years before the main events of the game, and by the time she reaches that point, she's already unwittingly charmed not just all the game's love interests, but also [[EvenTheGirlsWantHer the rival characters]], and soon after the original heroine, [[ObliviousToLove all the unaware of their advances]].

* Nine times out of ten, a new original senshi in any ''Franchise/SailorMoon'' fanfiction will be a self-insert, replete with godlike powers and total authority over everyone and everything -- the girl is usually related to a canon character as well. Considering the show's target audience was teenaged girls, which then became 5-13 girls when the show hit the U.S., this is not surprising.

* Possibly the most notorious self-inserter of all was the one known only as "Oscar"; his AuthorAvatar was a 13-year-old ''[[Manga/DragonBall Super Saiyan]]'' {{hermaphrodite}} (no, that is ''not'' a joke) who engaged in a sexual affair with Artemis from ''Franchise/SailorMoon''... in his ''cat'' form. (Again, that is ''not'' a joke, as much as one might wish it so.) In later stories, Oscar became "involved" with Felicia from ''VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}}'' and [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Lola Bunny]]. To top it all off, the real Oscar then mysteriously disappeared, and is now presumed dead. [[http://www.nabiki.com/mst/megane67/mst/oscarfic/ A link to an]] {{MST}} [[http://www.nabiki.com/mst/megane67/mst/oscarfic/ series of some of his work;]] linking to the actual ''stories'' would be [[NotSafeForWork NSFW]].

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' fandom is a breeding place for this type of fanfiction. A good example would be [[http://www.fanfiction.net/~highpriestessmegami Sephirothslave's]] ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1052718/1/Shinra_High Shinra High]]'' and its sequel, ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1900045/1/Shinra_SOLDIER Shinra SOLDIER.]]'' The main character is a blatant self-insert. There are few differences between the OC and its creator: it shares her name, appearance ([[BuxomIsBetter with improvements in the bust area]]), likes and dislikes, preferences, fears, desires, opinions and some skills. The self insert allows Sephirothslave to enjoy the game universe, twist the characters to her own liking, "earn" a position as Commander of the Shinra Army, Sephiroth's love and the adoration or respect of everybody except a few who hate her (and are thus automatically evil). What few seem to notice however, is that she didn't only insert herself into her fanfictions, but also her real life friends (while not even bothering to change their family names), younger sister and even her ''band teacher''. The massive ego-mania and canon defilement have earned her hundreds of negative reviews, the [[http://lian-hua.livejournal.com/ occasional]] [[{{MST}} sporking]] and the [[UnstoppableRage outrage]] of many fans of the game.

* Wiki/SCPFoundation

* The ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' side story ''[[https://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20051212 Fan Fiction]]'' has a character telling a Heterodyne Boys story to her younger brothers and modifying it to include a MarySue version of herself as the Heterodyne Boys' companion.

The ''[[Fanfic/ATrekkiesTale original]]'' [[Fanfic/ATrekkiesTale Mary Sue]] ([[TropeNamers she who gives that trope its name]]) was a ParodySue of the standard Self-Insert Fic. In the most extreme cases, which are ''[[SturgeonsLaw usually]]'' [[SturgeonsLaw but not always quite bad]], the insert character gains some degree of [[GodModeSue godlike power]], or retains considerable knowledge of the series in which he's been inserted, or both, and ''uses'' them to [[FixFic adjust things to his or her liking]]. In rare instances, it might work well, especially if the people in the setting -- heroes and villains -- react accordingly to the new situation and the character that knows all the stuff he saw in the (anime/game/etc) and the situation changes in ways they can't anticipate.

* The ''Manga/OnePiece'' fandom is full of fanfics about the cool new member of the Straw Hat crew. Variations include fics about a cool new pirate joining the Whitebeard/Red-Haired/Heart/Kid Pirates... you get the idea. These were so prevalent for a while that subversions and deconstructions of such stories became a sub-genre of their own, but since then, more talented authors have tried their hands at it, and the top 20 fics now include three stories of this sort.
** The first is ''Fanfic/SolInvictus'' by Toraffles. A play off of the reincarnation angle, the female protagonist is born as a female Luffy, possessing the knowledge of the manga from the beginning, and she resolves to change things. However, the fact that some other characters in that universe, though no other Straw Hats yet, were also gender-swapped creates unforeseen changes. Far from playing it straight, but a rather good story altogether.
** The second one is ''Fanfic/ThisBites'' by Xomniac, with assistance from [=CV12Hornet=] and The Patient One; the three of them collectively known as the Cross-Brain. Yes, the story has ''three'' authors behind it, and it says a lot both about their skill and the difficulty of the genre that ''This Bites!'' is the first SI fic to ever reach the fandom's top 10 stories. The basis is that a man called Jeremiah Cross, fanfic writer by trade and regular guy by nature, muses how cool it would be to be in ''One Piece'', and promptly has his wish granted by a (Bastard) Random Omnipotent Being. With little to no combat capabilities(happens when you're a regular guy in a superhuman world!), he forms a partnership with a Baby Transponder Snail that ate the Noise-Noise Fruit, appropriately named Soundbite, and they join the Straw Hats as the communications officers shortly before they reach Loguetown. This story plays the genre straight, and its faithfulness to the ButterflyOfDoom results in many changes, both good and bad.

** The last is ''Fanfic/TellItToTheMarines'' by Tsume Yuki. This one also plays off the reincarnation angle, with the female protagonist Dracule Riskua born as the result of a one-night stand between Dracule Raowl (Mihawk's younger sister) and Red-Haired Shanks. She develops a dream to be the greatest Haki expert in the world, gaining training to that effect from her father and uncle, and at the age of nine, she leaves her home island with Shanks at her dying mother's request, and he naturally takes her to Dawn Island where she becomes Luffy's big sister. The fic began in October 2016. It reached the Top 20 One Piece fics five months later, and the Top 10 two months after that.

* There's a picture floating around the Intertubes of director Mitsuo Fukuda and writer Chiaki Morosawa cosplaying as Kira and Lacus, respectively, from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED''. When you watch the last third of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'', that image starts to take on somewhat sinister overtones. The fact that one, Fukuda thinks of [[MarySuetopia ORB as his ideal Japan]] and two, [[DisownedAdaptation he disliked]] [[FixFic the plot-fixing shenanigans]] the ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' games did to ''Destiny'' lends a lot more credence to this idea.

* ''[[http://kleinerkiller.deviantart.com/gallery/41037509/Minecraftia-Saga Yognapped]]'' tosses a sadistically evil representation of the author into the Machinima/YogscastMinecraftSeries to serve as the BigBad. Subverted, as he [[spoiler:gets brutally slain by the heroes at the end of the first story]] and later installments distance the [[spoiler:resurrected]] character considerably as he suffers from a VillainousBreakdown.

* ''50 Cent: Bulletproof'' and its sequel ''VideoGame/FiftyCentBloodOnTheSand''. According to Wiki/TheOtherWiki, when asked to do the voice for the main character of ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'', 50 Cent replied that he would only voice himself in a video game. So these little self-insert adventures were developed for him.

* [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkar]]-err, [[PenName Psyweedle]] wrote himself in as [[GodModeSue The Webmaster]] in a fic he [[WholePlotReference plagiarized from]] Series/DoctorWho - sorry, ''came up with'' when [[OldShame he was 13]].

* Richard Marcinko, former Navy SEAL, has written the ''Literature/RogueWarrior'' series, a collection of anti-terrorism action novels with himself as the main protagonist. What is especially interesting is that the ''fictional'' Rogue Warrior books are written as sequels to the ''factual'' first book, entitled ''Rogue Warrior'', which was Marcinko's autobiography. What is even more interesting is that his real life exploits (leader and founding member of both SEAL Team Six and Red Cell, along with being a legitimate JerkassStu) make it almost impossible to draw a line between self-insertion and [[AuthorAvatar avatarhood]]. Fans and critics of the series argue over whether Marcinko's characterization in the fictional followup books is [[GodModeSue blatantly overpowered]] or whether he is, in fact, just that badass.

* In the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "Superstar", Johnathan "Short Idiot" Levinson uses demonic powers to alter reality into a painfully-bad Self-Insert Fic, complete with the Scooby Gang [[GodModeSue following him around like stunned guppies]]. It even includes a bit of TwinThreesomeFantasy for good measure.

* Sakupen in ''[[VideoGame/DadSeries Dadgame]]'' is probably a parody of this played for laughs (his power is ''really'' over the top, plus he runs away screaming when first engaged) which does not stop him from being [[ThatOneBoss atrociously]] [[GodModeSue hard]].

* [[http://www.fanfiction.net/u/40569/ Jared "Skysaber"]] [[http://www.asynjor.com/fanfic/ornstead.html Ornstead]] is known for his deliberately over-the-top self-insert character Skysaber, an interdimensional superspy-troubleshooter who was actually apotheosized into a literal god during the course of ''[[http://www.asynjor.com/fanfic/sharp.html The Bet]]''.
** His current (as of August 2007) project is a Type 2 Self Insert called ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3695419/1/My-Gilded-Life My Gilded Life,]]'', in which he has found himself taking over the life of Gilderoy Lockhart right at the end of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone''; with his knowledge of the books he is deliberately and relentlessly running roughshod over canon.

* Possibly the most infamous example of the godlike insert is Darren "Twister" Steffler and his incomplete mid-1990s megaseries ''[[http://archives.eyrie.org/anime/Twisted-Path/ Twisted Path]]''. Steffler's work started out rather crude but improved noticeably as he continued writing, although it never quite reached better than high average in quality. Nevertheless, ''Twisted Path'' was incredibly influential, prompting a number of other writers to create their own Self-Insert or pseudo-Self-Insert fics, many of which included [[ShoutOut Shout-Outs]] to ''Twisted Path'' or blatantly set themselves in the [[http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/images/xovers.jpg same multiverse]].
* One such story was Bert Van Vliet's ''[[http://www.bgcrisis.com/zone/index.html The Bubblegum Zone]]'', a ''Anime/BubblegumCrisis'' self-insert which later had an explicit crossover with ''Twisted Path'' in the latter series' fourth installment.

* ''[[http://www.mediaminer.org/fanfic/view_ch.php/22756/58253#fic_c Hikaru's Non-Redundant Self-Insertion Nadesico Fanfic]]'', in which a character in the series inserts ''herself'' into a fictionalized account of oh dear I've gone cross-eyed. It's a lot easier to understand than it is to explain. Needless to say, this is AffectionateParody of the genre.

** ''Boy Scouts ½'' takes things further by having a spin-off series called ''[[http://bs1-2.weebly.com/perspectives.html Perspectives]]'', which began when the main author of ''Boy Scouts ½'' gave three friends he had made on the internet brief cameos in ''Boy Scouts ½, part 11'' and one of those friends then began authoring a series following ''those'' characters, making it a self-insertion spin-off of a self-insertion fic!

* ''Film/AGunForGeorge'' is a dark {{Deconstruction}} of this trope, following a down-on-his-luck [[TwoFistedTales pulp fiction]] writer who's books are blatant Self-Insert Fics about a VigilanteMan that resembles himself and [[AuthorTract kills anybody he views as evil]]. Not only is there a tragic reason for this ([[spoiler:his brother was murdered by a gang, and he fantasizes about avenging him]]), but the protagonist is [[SanitySlippage gradually beginning to lose his ability to differentiate fiction and reality]]. [[spoiler:The ending heavily implies that he's about to stop writing about killing people and start doing it for real...]]

* [[http://www.wowpedia.org/Rhonin Rhonin]], a character appearing often in VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} novels written by Richard A. Knaak, is highly regarded as an insertion sue. His exploits ranging from saving the red dragon aspect from an orc warlock of greater power to going back in time to help win an ancient war (that had already been won, who knows why he felt the need to put himself in it) to banging [[http://www.wowpedia.org/Vereesa_Windrunner Sylvanas' other sister]] that never existed until Knaak decided he needed some elf ass.

* Creator/SarahPinsker's award-nominated novella, ''[[https://uncannymagazine.com/article/and-then-there-were-n-one/ And Then There Were (N-One)]]'', carries this to the extreme - every character is an AlternateSelf version of the author from a different timeline.

* Sakupen in [[VideoGame/DadSeries Dadgame]] is probably a parody of this played for laughs (his power is ''really'' over the top, plus he runs away screaming when first engaged) which does not stop him from being [[ThatOneBoss atrociously]] [[GodModeSue hard]].

* The Citadel DLC of ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' includes a Self-Insert Fic written and narrated by Mordin Solus. Said fic is a frankly silly (considering Mordin's advanced science degrees) take on a FilmNoir pairing himself as hard-boiled detective and Aria T'Loak, the unofficial ruler of [[WretchedHive Omega Station]], as the FemmeFatale.

* Possibly a parody, ''Webcomic/LeastICouldDo'' has Rayne Summers write a book, [[http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20081229 apparently with him as the protagonist]], if the visual representation is supposed to be contextual. As a possible subversion to the standard tendencies of such a thing, the text of the book says "Though he began with the best of intentions, ultimate power did what is always had. It corrupts." [[http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20090106 in reference to his character]] as a joke to how he hates Apple Inc. Also, he apparently [[http://leasticoulddo.com/comic/20090108 tries to conquer the world in it]].

* ''Webcomic/DanAndMabsFurryAdventures'' [[http://www.missmab.com/Comics/Vol_766.php mocks this]].

* ''Webcomic/TalesFromSomewhere'': Morten, the first character in ''The Legend'', was based on a character that the creator played in their ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' group, as explained [[https://www.talesfromsomewhere.com/2019/04/14/10th-anniversary/ in this news post]]. Nandiel and Brem Ghdin are based on characters created by the other players, and chosen because the players based these characters' personalities on themselves.

* Since the day the ''Webcomic/DrawYourOwnStory'' comics began on the [=CivFanatics=] forums, most of the characters were more or less Sueish self-inserts (often represented by the user's avatar.)

** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2786 SCP-2786]], "The Archetype", is an entity that goes through copies of fiction (ex. Film/TheShining, Literature/HouseOfLeaves, VideoGame/AmnesiaTheDarkDescent) to resolve the conflicts sooner than originally. As far as he knows, he's just a dimension-hopping hero... [[spoiler:until, by being in the SCP Foundation Mythos, he realizes his existence is fictional as he is trapped in his own article.]]

* In the ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' fanfic ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/6638785 Peridot's Super Stupendous Fanfiction]]'', Peridot writes an AlternateUniverseFic of [[ShowWithinAShow Camp Pining Hearts]] starring herself and various people she knows. Connie reads it and asks if it's supposed to be stupid.

* The ''Webcomic/IrregularWebcomic'' character Will Shakespeare, based loosely on [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare the playwright]], [[http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/459.html wrote himself]] into his ''Literature/HarryPotter'' fanfic. And later into his novelization of the ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' movies, as [[http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/874.html Willimir]].

[[caption-width-right:350:"[[WebAnimation/HomestarRunner Strong Bad]], I don't think that's how [[WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse they]] would act."[[note]][-[[https://tredlocity.tumblr.com/post/115744393210 Image]] by [[https://twitter.com/tredlocity tredlocity]]. Used with permission.-][[/note]]]]

[[spoiler: Kali can barely manage coherency in Part 2 due to Kira's intervention, veers into disturbingly serene sesquipedalian monologues frequently, and is psychologically shattered. Kira is amused.]]

* {{Deconstructed}} in ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom''. The heroine is the Self as Existing Character variant, but instead of one of the heroes, she becomes the [[SelfDisposingVillain Self-Disposing]] AlphaBitch of an otome game. This leads her to believe that she's doomed to the character's fate of being exhiled or killed, even though the fact that her personality is so completely different that it starts driving the plot OffTheRails within the first ''week'', which leads her to attempt various things to prevent that fate, derailing the plot even further. Moreover, she doesn't have perfect recall of the game's events, several times only remembering that certain character or events were important after the fact, and has not played through one of the routes [[spoiler: as well as the secret route]] and has to rely on secondhand knowledge she got from a friend. Top it off with the fact that the point of insertion is years before the main events of the game, and by the time she reaches that point, she's already unwittingly charmed not just all the game's love interests, but also [[EvenTheGirlsWantHer the rival characters]], and soon after the original heroine, [[ObliviousToLove all the unaware of their advances]].

* In the ''{{Literature/Redwall}}'' Series, Gonff from ''Mossflower'' was supposedly based on the author, Brian Jacques. That the later book ''Doomwyte'' [[spoiler: deals with Gonff's descendants]] probably has something to do with this.

** The franchise has also made a pair of {{deconstruct|edTrope}}ions on both this premise and the [[RelationshipSue two]] [[GodModeSue tropes]] most commonly used with them. [[spoiler: Their names are [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories Naminé]] and [[VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2 Xion]].]]

** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' encourages the player to view Venom Snake in this way. He's given the relatively clean slate of waking from a coma, he speaks very rarely in order for the player to project their own personality onto him, and the player is even given a character creation screen in order to design an alternative face for him, meaning that he can look like the player as well should they choose. The ending reveals that [[spoiler: this was done deliberately, as he isn't the original Big Boss. He really is a stand-in for the player, and he even comes with a backstory of being a minor character who just happens to be great friends with Big Boss. Symbolically, his nature as a self-insert is meant to highlight the player's role in crafting Big Boss' legend, making him into the well-respected soldier he is by the time the original Metal Gear happened.]]

** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2786 SCP-2786]], "The Archetype", is an entity that goes through copies of fiction (ex. Film/TheShining, Literature/HouseOfLeaves, VideoGame/AmnesiaTheDarkDescent) to resolve the conflicts sooner than originally. As far as he knows, he's just a dimension-hopping hero... [[spoiler: until, by being in the SCP Foundation Mythos, he realizes his existence is fictional as he is trapped in his own article.]]

* The bio for infamous [[spoiler: and not entirely stable]] fan Raksha's Transformers character Nightracer is essentially a combination self-insert, having insane gun skills (that should single-handedly win the war from a distance) and SelfInsertFic, described as being rabidly and blindly supportive of Megatron, while simultaneously dismissive of even those on her own team. The character has canon standing due to its exclusive toy and fictional use during the early "wild west" days of BotCon.

* Very common in ''Manga/FruitsBasket'' fics. The character will usually be one of Tohru's long lost relatives or a twin of of the zodiac members (to explain why they turn into [[CopycatSue the same animal]]). If it's a girl, her love interest will most likely be [[BreakoutCharacter Kyou]].