Self-insert

A self-insert is a type of character who is not based on a character of the fictional work that a fanfic author is writing for, but rather, the author themself. As many fanfic authors are unable to view themselves critically, self-inserts also tend to often be Mary Sues.
In MarissaTheWriter stories, written primarily by various trolling identities, the term "self-insert" takes on a broader definition. In those stories, a self-insert can be based either on the trolling identity, such as MarissaTheWriter, or the person behind it, such as Doombly and ASBusinessMagnet. They can also be based on a person who does not necessarily write trollfics themself, but is nevertheless important to Marissa's development and may or may not have asked to be inserted into the stories, such as Skepkitty. This grouping is instated because these characters exhibit the same writing flaws as characters based on the authors of non-troll stories and their friends/enemies; either they are over-idealized due to being a friend and become a Mary Sue, or they are demonized due to being an enemy and become a subject of constant mockery.
==Grouping==
Both the fans of MarissaTheWriter stories and their self-inserts can be roughly divided into three camps: reel fans, who unconditionally admire Marissa's writing and characters, "consertive critisim guys", who point out various flaws, and falmer trollz, who think the flaws are so overwhelming that they simply cannot be fixed, or otherwise think that Marissa's stories are bad without giving a reason why. Each group is treated accordingly by Marissa, with reel fans getting favorable roles, such as Portal High School staff, and falmer trollz getting unflattering roles, which usually involve sudden and gruesome deaths, including resurrections only to be killed off again. While formally, consertive critisim guys are classed as reel fans, Marissa is known to not respond well to certain types of criticism, such as the appearance of Mary Sue characters, and class consertive critisim guys who point out those kinds of flaws (especially MSTers, thorough in their reviews by definition) as falmer trollz.
While the Teen Ragers, appearing in Invader Zim: Born Again Christian, also primarily have self-inserts as members (with Marissa, initially, deliberately leaving the name of the leader of the Teen Ragers blank to fill it in with a reviewer's name in a later chapter), and are also cast as villains, they have to share their role as villainous self-inserts with the falmer trollz, and both groups are treated roughly equally by Dib, the story's central villain who decides to employ all self-inserts. In addition, unlike the other three groups, the Teen Ragers are not an out-of-character group of people and therefore do not have a defined stance on Marissa's work, although their leader, Prettydog200, is an MSTer and a fan of Skepkitty.
==Known self-inserts==
Note that the name of the person involved is mentioned first, and the name of their self-insert, if different from the name of the person themself, is in parentheses.
*ASBusinessMagnet (Principal Business Man / Principal Business Lady, Business Man (IZ:BAC))
*Logic Editor (Mr. Logik Edtor / Mr. Riggs)
*Telltale Fanfic Theater 3000 (Ring Mater an the Falmer Trollz)
*Skepkitty (Skeptical Kitty Lavigne / Skep Katty, Von Kramer)
*Prettydog200 (BERZERK MAN, Prettay Dog)
*Loveable Freak (Ms. Lovobil Freek)
*Korekara (Kokoreeah)
*Progeny ex Machina (Projency Masheen)
*CadenGallic
*Library of the Damned (Damned Librarian)
*Doombly
===Based on fabricated people===
*MarissaTheWriter (Marrissa Roberts)
*Katty Smithereens
*WheatleysGurl (Kitteh)
*interdimensionalPortaller
===False self-inserts===
These characters may not be explicitly based on the person writing them, but nevertheless share a spiritual connection with them, and therefore also get labeled as self-inserts. In this case, the name of the character labeled as a self-insert is mentioned first, and the name of the person who identifies with them is second.
*Skepness Man Beauregarde (ASBusinessMagnet)"[...] the pages for both my and Doombly’s principal self-inserts [...]" (referring to Skepness Man and Marrissa Roberts respectively) - ASBusinessMagnet - URL: https://istrige-namuose.tumblr.com/post/167171561658/
==Appearances==
*ITS MY LIFE! (First appearance)
*TEEN FORTRESS 2
*MarissaxChell
*Portla 3
*Portal: The 4th Millennium: The Trollfic Edition
*Invader Zim: Born Again Christian
*The Chronicles of DA SUs
*OMG IMMA IN LOFE WIDDEN ALEEYEN!
*THE MARRISSA GAMES
*Post-SCrash Session (Mentioned only)
*Enchiridion Marrissa
*Post-SCrash Session 2: The Belorussian Aliens (Mentioned only)
*Post-SCrash Session 3: Spectators of the Host
*Additional Discoveries on Marrissaverse History
*Real Beauty
*Post-SCrash Session 4: Parody of a Parade
*HARRY POTTER AN THE KILL OF SNAPE
*Marrissaverse Stories 2015
*ITS MY LIFE!: THE FLAMES AWAKENS
*Meanie Pixies' Hour of Fame
==References==
==See also==
*Author surrogate on Wikipedia
Category:Concepts
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