{{Short description|Literary device where the author writes themself into their fictional story}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}} {{Globalize|article|Western culture|date=February 2017}}
[[Image:Botticelli - Adoration of the Magi (Zanobi Altar) - Uffizi.jpg|thumb|Sandro Botticelli's painting of the ''Adoration of the Magi'' has an inserted self-portrait at the far right: the position in the corner and the gaze out to the viewer are very typical of such self-portraits.]] '''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).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.yourdictionary.com/self-insertion|title=Self-insertion meaning|access-date=20 February 2022}}</ref> The character, overtly or otherwise, behaves like, has the personality of, and may even be described as physically resembling the author or reader of the work.
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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://jezebel.com/tv-writers-self-insert-brunson-fey-waller-bridge-kaling-1850077191|title=I Love When Women TV Writers Write Themselves Hot Love Interests|date=17 February 2023|website=Jezebel}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://confluence.gallatin.nyu.edu/context/interdisciplinary-seminar/triggering-manhattan-the-ethics-of-self-insertion|title="Triggering" Manhattan: The Ethics of Self-Insertion – Confluence|date=28 October 2021}}</ref>
== 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.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/aug/13/fan-fiction-fifty-shades-grey|title=In the beginning, there was fan fiction: from the four gospels to Fifty Shades|first=Ewan|last=Morrison|date=13 August 2012|newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref>
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, imagining that they, themselves, are performing the written story.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-03-22|title=The A to Z of Fan Fiction|url=https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/380736/the-a-to-z-of-fan-fiction/|access-date=2021-10-30|website=Inquirer Lifestyle|language=en-US}}</ref> While examples in published fiction of second-person self-insertion are rare, the use of such is common in fan fiction, in which the reader is paired with a fictional character, often in an intimate setting.
==Examples== {{More citations needed section|date=August 2023}}
*''Money'' by Martin Amis * ''The Razor's Edge'' by Somerset Maugham * ''Slaughterhouse-Five'' by Kurt Vonnegut<ref name="Mason2009">{{cite book|last=Mason|first=Fran|title=The A to Z of Postmodernist Literature and Theater|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vJRJKXy3_cgC&pg=PA338|access-date=22 September 2014|year=2009|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=9780810868557|pages=338–}}</ref><ref name="Klinkowitz1992">{{cite book|last=Klinkowitz|first=Jerome|title=Structuring the Void: The Struggle for Subject in Contemporary American Fiction|url=https://archive.org/details/structuringvoids0000klin|url-access=registration|access-date=22 September 2014|year=1992|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=9780822312055|pages=[https://archive.org/details/structuringvoids0000klin/page/52 52]–}}</ref> * ''Breakfast of Champions'' by Kurt Vonnegut * ''The French Lieutenant's Woman'' by John Fowles<ref name="Britannica">{{cite book|title=The Encyclopædia Britannica|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1102665/The-French-Lieutenants-Woman|access-date=17 November 2014|year=2014|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref> * Stan Lee is depicted as himself in different Marvel comic books and movies * Clive Cussler, author of Dirk Pitt novels, has inserted himself as a deus ex machina character in several of his books<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://clive-cussler-books.com/dirk-pitt-revealed/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151120020252/http://clive-cussler-books.com/dirk-pitt-revealed/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=20 November 2015|title=Dirk Pitt Revealed | An Official Web Site for Bestselling Adventure Novelist | Author Clive Cussler|date=16 June 2015}}</ref> * In ''Gargantua and Pantagruel'' by François Rabelais, Rabelais takes over the narration of the story and personally describes the enlarged tongue of one of the protagonists as if he was physically in the story<ref>''Gargantua and Pantagruel'', Francois Rabelais, chapter "How Pantagruel, With His Tongue, Covered a Whole Army, and What the Author Saw In His Mouth".</ref> * William Blake is said to depict himself in the novel ''Milton: A Poem in Two Books'' * 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 * 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"<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cervantes |first=Miguel de |date=1605 |title=Don Quixote |url=https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/Don_Quixote/Volume_1/Chapter_VI |website=Wikisource}}</ref> * 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 * ''I Am the Messenger'' by Markus Zusak * Andrew Hussie used himself to recap story beats of his webcomic, ''Homestuck'' * ''JPod'' by Douglas Coupland is said{{who|date=December 2025}} to employ the author as a character * A character in ''The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah'', by Stephen King, is thought to be directly based on King himself * ''Handbook for Mortals'' by Lani Sarem * ''A Series of Unfortunate Events'' by Lemony Snicket * ''The Map and the Territory'' by Michel Houellebecq * John Barth in the Dunyazadiad segment of John Barth's novel ''Chimera''. * Louis, the caretaker in ''Wayside School'', is based on author Louis Sachar * Rudyard Kipling writes himself a cameo in ''The Man Who Would Be King''
==See also== * {{anl|Cameo appearance}} * {{anl|Self-parody}} * {{anl|Self-portrait}} * {{anl|Self-reference}} * {{anl|Mary Sue}} * {{Annotated link|Author surrogate}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Fiction writing}} {{Fan fiction}} {{Branches of the visual arts}} {{Aesthetics}} {{Humanities}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Self-insertion}} Category:Self-portraiture Category:Narratology