hello hello!

for this video (originally part of a series i kind of forgot about), i wanted to dive a little bit into the concept of 'self insert characters,' a muchreviled form of character writing that I think gets way more flak than it should.

selfinsert characters are actually wonderful tools for any characterdriven story, and are far more common in literature & media than you'd think! let's take a look and learn how to use them :)

✨ TELL ME WHAT'S NEW WITH YOU: What sort of character archetypes do you find yourself gravitating toward? I find I often write tough/smart women with gooey middles who grapple with their weaknesses.

✨ timestamps:
0:00 title card
0:07 intro
1:09 what is a self insert character?
4:55 why self inserts are good, actually
7:58 a minor existential crisis (relatability and representation)
9:54 things to look out for when writing self inserts
13:34 outro
14:03 bonus round: famous writer who totally got away with writing blatant self inserts

as always, prescriptivist writing advice is silly—these are just my personal thoughts, and you can take them or leave them as you like. :)

thank you so much for watching! if you have the means, please feel free to drop a "tip" in my kofi link below.

✨ music:
early morning highway // louie zong
the infinite sky // louie zong
the biggest rodent // louie zong
good morning (omori) // louie zong
dream with tea // lukrembo
this is for you // lukrembo
coffee // chillboy

✨ previous:
weekend writing vlog // finishing my sapphic fantasy short story + going to a night market
   •   weekend writing vlog // finishing ...  

✨ links:
travel writings: https://wherethehellami.blog
blog: https://lynndjung.wordpress.com/​​​​​​
twitter:   / sweater_giraffe​​  
kofi: https://kofi.com/lynndjung​​​​​

✨ contact me:
[email protected]

✨ tags:
authortube, author, fantasy, writers, writing advice, sff, characters, writing craft, fiction writing, novel writing, books, screenwriting, screenplay, character arc, prose, writing issues, troubleshooting, novelist, nanowrimo 2022