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 (see author surrogate).
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.
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.
Self-insertion can also be employed in a second-person narrative, utilizing the imagination of the reader and their 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 themselves into the story, imaging that they, themselves, are performing the written story.
Examples
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Money by Martin Amis
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The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham
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Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
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Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
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The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles
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Stan Lee is depicted as himself in different Marvel Comics comic books and movies.
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Clive Cussler, author of Dirk Pitt novels, has inserted himself as a deus ex machina character in several of his books.
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In Gargantua and Pantagruel by François Rabelais, Rabelais takes over the narration of the story and personally describes Vorarephilia as if he was physically in the story.
[ Gargantua and Pantagruel, Francois Rabelais, chapter "How Pantagruel, With His Tongue, Covered a Whole Army, and What the Author Saw In His Mouth".]
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William Blake is said to depict himself in the novel .
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The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri features the poet Dante himself as a character, visiting Hell through Heaven, where he meets people he does not like being punished, and his friends and famous historical heroes having eternal rest.
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In Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes, the novel La Galatea by Cervantes himself is mentioned among the books in Don Quixote's library; then, one of the characters adds "that Cervantes has been for many years a great friend of mine."
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Randolph Carter adds himself as a character in several spin offs of H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.
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In the Rush Revere series of books, authored by Rush Limbaugh, Limbaugh uses himself as the narrator, who is exploring various American historical settings and concepts and explaining them to readers.
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In the Twilight novel series by Stephenie Meyer, Bella Swan is argued to either be Meyer herself or a blank slate on which the reader is expected to project.
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Rayford Steele and Buck Williams make Cameo appearance as themselves in the Left Behind novel series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins.
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The title character of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë is accused of being a self-projection.
[Keith M. May. Characters of Women in Narrative Literature. Springer, 1981. ISBN 9781349166268. P. 75.]
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I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak.
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Andrew Hussie used himself to recap story beats of his webcomic, Homestuck.
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JPod by Douglas Coupland is said to employ the author as a character.
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A character in , by Stephen King, is thought to be directly based on King himself.
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Handbook for Mortals by Lani Sarem
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A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket
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The Map and the Territory by Michel Houellebecq
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Frank Owen in The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell
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Robert Langdon in the Robert Langdon book series by Dan Brown
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John Barth in the Dunyazadiad segment of John Barth's novel Chimera.
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Rohan Kishibe in Diamond Is Unbreakable by Hirohiko Araki
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Louis, a student enrolled in Wayside School, is based on author Louis Sachar.
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Rudyard Kipling writes himself a cameo in The Man Who Would Be King.
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The Thin Clergyman in The Railway Series, written by Wilbert Awdry, is said to be based on the author himself.
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Mandy from I Am Not Starfire and Kimberely Keiko "Skim" Cameron from Skim by Mariko Tamaki
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Velma Dinkley from the animated television series Velma has been cited as a self-insertion of Mindy Kaling, due to the character's mannerisms and appearance.
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Protagonist Jake Wheeler from Chucky is based the experiences of franchise creator Don Mancini as a gay teenager.
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Peter Marlowe in James Clavell's Asian Saga.
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The "Anon in Equestria" subgenre of .
See also
