Self Inserts

Jun 10, 2006 12:42

Heya-

I posted more FDL. It's a boring segment; just some more angsting and the return of the 'ghosts'. I'm a little afraid of the next segment... Holly gets drunk - Mud Man liquor - and Teh OMC is introduced. He's very fun to write, and he doesn't have a name. He doesn't strike me as a Gary Stu, which seems rather nonexistent in this fandom, but ( Read more... )

thoughts

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Comments 14

kittyrainbow June 10 2006, 17:14:25 UTC
*ignores the bit about FDL because she's lazy revising and hasn't read the new chapter yet*

2. Are characters that share similar interests to the author self-inserts

I think it depends on how many interests and personality traits, etc. that they share with the author...

3. If they are self-inserts, is that necessarily a bad thing?

If they are self-inserts of the badly written "OMG i wanna be in AF!!!1" type, yes. If they are of the "having characters share my interests means I can write more realistically" type, probably not. As long as there's a reason for canon characters being interested in something they're not canonically interested in, it should all be fine. Because you are not a twit.

4. If it is a bad thing, how would I go about fixing it?

Drink less perky juice?

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dim_aldebaran June 10 2006, 22:39:24 UTC
It's just... weird. It's not even conscious, which is what really bothers me. Though I'm glad you don't consider me a twit. ^.^

Does that happen with your OCs?

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stradivari_z June 11 2006, 09:05:17 UTC
Meh, first time using LJ.
About the OCs having the same interests as you....I think its perfectly acceptable. :) At least, I hope it is, becuase the OC in *my* fic has the same interests as me.

*laughs* You are definately *not* a twit.

You like Shu? Fur Elise? Can't say either of them are my favourites but...*shurgs* I'm weird and strange so that doesn't matter.

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dim_aldebaran June 11 2006, 19:07:14 UTC
I'm weird and strange so that doesn't matter

Aren't we all?

I loooove Schumann. I don't really like a lot of the Baroque and Classical stuff, since it seems very dry to me (though I can appreciate it, its just that it doesn't hit anything with me.) I tend to stay near the Romantic composers. There's exceptions to everything, of course, but I think a lot of my tastes has to do with me being young and emotional and such, which is what the Romance movement was all about. Who knows? Maybe when I'm thirty I'll develop a terribly logical passion for Mozart.

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blueyeti June 11 2006, 11:19:34 UTC
Well, personally I've never given any characters more than passing nods at any interests of mine - possibly because Artemis!writing!fanfic is just far too funny for words, and inevitably crack!fic of the lowest common demonimator. The other reason is that my interests *become* my plots: I'm interested in religion, so I write about an ex-goddess, or about Angeline's experiences in Hindu India. If Angeline is interested in Hindu gods it already fits my interests, but it also already fits the plot (and generally the theme ( ... )

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blueyeti June 11 2006, 11:20:00 UTC
(Continued, because LJ doesn't like long ( ... )

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blueyeti June 11 2006, 19:53:40 UTC
*replying to both of your comments in One Fell Blow*

You might have problems if the only/main elements of his characterisation rest on his musical choices.

Well, the characterization isn't all the musical choices. There's the dialogue between him and Holly, there's a huge section on her nosing around in his apartment which, if anything, would show his character... it's just that the subtle stuff would just fly by a lot of people. My writing is getting weirder and weirder, and him engaging in long circular conversations with Holly while playing a bunch of Italian Gigues isn't going to help Teh Reader. It's so fun to write, but I can only imagine that it's, well, hell to read through. There are published authors that get away with like Joyce, but it's not very practical at all. Which is mildly distressing for me, at the very least.

Unexplained it grates at me.

Hehe. Sorry. I never explain anything when I write. I just go: ooh, that looks interesting, I'll have some random character do this. I'll go back and do something about Foaly ( ... )

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stradivari_z June 12 2006, 05:49:29 UTC
Shu is okay. -I don't like alot of the baroque and classical stuff-
How can you find it DRY? I mean, how can you not like Mozart? *runs around in frustration.* (psst. It's becuase I'm more wierd than you. I like Bach's Fugues. I love them, love them love them.)

I've got nothing against Romantic era, though (yes, there are always exceptions, always, always) the only composer's music that I really like are Chopin's. Some of his work (esp. the Waltzes ? typo?) are a bit simpler than some but most of which are wide handed. *hates wide handed pieces but has to cope*.
I have to say, Debussy is probably the one I'm most passionate about. At least for Piano music. A shame he never ventured to other instruments. :( So (probably) my favourite era would be impressionistic/20thcentury/21st?century.

Shu's lullybies makes meh want to go to sleep, which, I suppose is the whole point.

Mozart's good! *claps hands to encourage you*.

You play the piano don't you?

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dim_aldebaran June 12 2006, 18:41:36 UTC
No, I don't play any instruments. I got interested in music too late to do anything. :( Music in our school starts in the sixth grade, and I didn't start getting into a lot of classical stuff, literature and music, until this year (which would be seventh.) My parents don't own a piano, but my house is in close proximity to the library, and I got a very nice CD player for my birthday last year. :) If I could play an instrument, though, I'd actually go for the harpsichord, though the piano comes in a close second.

Mozart is... I dunno. Again, I appreciate it, but it's just not something I can really listen to. I like some of his andantes and adagios, though. It's like the emotion in his pieces are too... constrained. It seems to take second place behind structure. But hey, to each his own.

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linwenilid June 12 2006, 16:04:03 UTC
And who on Earth would actually play Für Elise so many times

*raises hand* Me, and my youngest brother. Ever since I bought the keyboard, we've been wanting to learn that song, and at times it's sorta annoying to hear ourselves going on and on and on and on... My other brother prefers the Mozart's Turkish March, though, and at the moment, I've been engulfed in learning Mozart's Minuet from 'Don Juan' for a lesson.

So, nope, you're not alone in the world.

Questions:
1. Is this phenomenon unique to Teenagers in Conservative Suburbia?
2. Are characters that share similar interests to the author self-inserts
3. If they are self-inserts, is that necessarily a bad thing?
4. If it is a bad thing, how would I go about fixing it?

1. No idea. I do know it happens in the rest of the world, though. *cough*Sue*cough*

2 & 3. Hmm, well, I guess if you're blisfully ignoring canon to make the character do something you want (like Draco Malfoy going clubbing -ugh-), they're blatant self-insertions, at least of part of your personality. But if ( ... )

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dim_aldebaran June 12 2006, 18:58:28 UTC
Isn't Fur Elise prettyful? It's so simple and elegant but still so emotional and lyrical. It just... flows. Grr. I can never describe things when I have to. IMO, Vocalise and Fur Elise are the prettiest songs ever written.

Go back and re-read the books, get a beta, etc. It's not really a big problem when you're willing to improve.

A problem for me is that my usual beta, Whilily, has been off moving house for a while now. I have a beta for FDL now, but she hasn't gotten far at all and she's in it mostly for helping me with my French and my portrayal of France. Besides three FDL segments, I haven't had anything beta'd since February or so. I'm not really in a betaing relationship with anyone else. Whilily withdrawal might explain my degenerating sense of character. [/self pity]

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linwenilid June 12 2006, 19:05:52 UTC
*nods* Lovely, lovely song.

Well, it's not like you're in desperate need of a beta, really. Your work is good as it is already. If you keep on like that, what you'll be needing pretty soon is a professional editor, not a lousy net-beta. ;)

no offense to all the good-willed betas out there, please don't smack me *is afraid of t3h smacking*

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dim_aldebaran June 12 2006, 19:16:40 UTC
I like having a beta, especially one as good as Whilily. When I write something I always feel like I have no control over it, no way to make it say what I want to say, and Whilily could always see what I was trying to say and make it much more clear. It's like looking up and seeing stars with a bunch of cirrus in the way: now, they're pretty and all, but wouldn't it be better if there wasn't that little layer of clouds there so you could see them much clearer? That's what it always feels like to me, anyway. I get carried away with allusions and symbolism and such that I end up forgetting what I was trying to say in the first place.

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