Fanfiction as a whole is still a relatively new concept; while the first use of it has been speculated to be as early as the 1960s with the first pairing between the infamous detective Sherlock Holmes and his right-hand man John Watson, many people are still unsure of how to receive this form of expression.
And that’s just what it is, a form of expression for those who are invested in a particular TV show, movie, anime, or even real people within these fandoms as a form of exploring options that may or may not be canon, or in order to fix a scene that the viewer imagined going in another direction. Not only canonical, or original, characters have to be used, fans have developed a way of putting themselves into their favorite programs by using self-insert fanfiction.
What Is Self-Insert?
It’s what it sounds like: putting yourself into one of these fictional universes and being with a certain character or group and living what experiences you would have along the way. Even with real person fiction, or RPF for short, this can be used for those who are invested with certain celebrities or online presences. For example, say you shipped, an internet term for pairing two or more people together, Katniss and Gale from the Hunger Games instead of her ending up with Peeta as she does in both the books and movie.
There are multiple ways that fanfiction can allow for scenes to be altered or for entirely new things to happen, the two can even be mixed! This also goes into RPF, so if you wanted to meet a famous person like Daniel Howell (previously known as danisnotonfire) and Phil Lester (also known as AmazingPhil) from YouTube, you could write that out how you would imagine it folding out!
Categories of Fics
Depending on your writing style and preferences there are many different types of fics that you can write and among some of the most popular are: fluff, hurt/comfort, and angst. Fluff is for those who like cute things from relationships such as cuddles/snuggles and the usual cliches that go into romance like pining and requited love; it’s the softer of the three.
Hurt/comfort can be quite a rollercoaster of emotion as a problem presents itself to the characters like a simple misunderstanding that causes some level of distress; this also includes physical pain, health issues/complications, or some other type of hurting. The pain is followed by resolutions that can lead to some fluff elements added with caretaking if one’s physical, mental, emotional, or psychological health is compromised. Angst is quite a beast in its own right as it deals with unbearable hardships that come with life and the dread of the unknown, the unanswered questions that oftentimes lead to existential crises. There are also other genres that can also be used with these main three such as the alternative universe, which is where a lot of canon divergence and self-inserts come in.
Importance of Self-Insert
Why have self-insert fanfics become so popular? It depends on a mixture of the above where a person longs to be in a different situation than their own life and wants to see the endless possibilities of what could have been. This can also be done with canon divergent fics, which I will cover in another article, but for the purpose of self-inserts, the most important reason for writing and/or reading this genre can be for the representation of marginalized groups and a coping mechanism for traumatic experiences. People in any fandom relate to different characters for reasons that are sometimes left unexplained, which is why self-insert fics can be so helpful. For instance, the critically acclaimed cartoon Steven Universe shows a lot of representation for the LGBTQIA+ community especially for those who are not always portrayed on television, most prominently the transgender and non-binary community.
Simply put, the main characters in this show are beings called Gems from another planet who do not have a gender even though most go by she/her pronouns, but the half-human, half gem hybrid Steven Universe is a male child. A device in this show known as fusion shows how any relationship can form and when Steven fuses with these Gems or his human friend Connie Maheswaran, the fusion go by they/them pronouns. For people who are still trying to figure out their identity, this show can be a way for people to try out situations that would otherwise be unsafe, like coming out with the support of a character who otherwise would not be there, or by exploring how these characters would be more accepting in an environment that otherwise is not.
Written by Mordecai Russell
