Lost in the wardrobe

JRR Tolkien is hailed as the forefather of fantasy fiction, especially when it comes to epic fantasy and the like. He pretty much created the blueprint for modern fantasy fiction, often with a feudal feel complete with dwarves, elves, orcs and hobbits. While not all fantasy works contain any one or more of them, it’s apparent with fantasy brands like Dungeons and Dragons and Warhammer Fantasy as well as Warhammer 40K. But his friend and colleague CS Lewis didn’t leave much of an imprint on subsequent fantasy works, well not to the extent JRR Tolkien has done for so long. In part because some of his biggest fans were Christians, I guess that’s got more to do with seeing the fantastic in real life when it comes to miracles, answered prayers and prophecies.

These are big in Christianity, especially among the more pious. I personally feel when you do see the supernatural in real life, be it angels, demons or witchcraft this is probably the reason why you don’t see that many Christians doing speculative fiction much. If because to them, real life is already fantastical if you take these things seriously. Witches aren’t speculative superhumans, but rather truly dreadful as it was reflected in folklore before. I guess when it comes to Christians seriously believing in miracles and the like, this is possibly why CS Lewis’s influence on secular speculative fiction seems rather limited. Nonetheless, he did make an influence on some secular productions like Digimon for instance.

Not that CS Lewis didn’t influence fantasy and the like at all, but that much of his influence is more greatly felt among Christians than it is among non-Christians. Tolkien’s work seems more palatable for secular readers, since the Christian themes aren’t so blatant as it is with Narnia. That’s why he seems more influential in fantasy literature, especially when it comes to things like Dungeons and Dragons and Warhammer Fantasy.

Self-insertions

As I said before, I have the nagging feeling why self-inserts are so prevalent in some stories is that their authors don’t have any experience or interest in anything else. Not that they’re autistic as much as they have little else to say in their tales, which explains why their stories and motifs take on a repetitive tone. They’re oftentimes variations on a few other characters, the only ways to remedy this is to either interact with different kinds of people, do different kinds of things or read up on different kinds of people. It can be applied to interests, places and the like, but it will lead to the same conclusion. The best and most organic way to do something new is to be interested in something new and different, suspicions can help but it’s better to be interested in something challenging and different.

That’s why I feel self-inserts became such a substantial presence in geek fictions, again it’s not a matter whether if they’re autistic or not. But that they have little else to say about anything that has little to do with what they do, sometimes they unintentionally create self-inserts and stereotypes because they don’t have any other experience or interest. Sometimes they’re flat-out ignorant, even of themselves and others. It’s not that they’re this narrow-minded and biased, but it is important for anybody to be exposed to something new if they’re insisting on avoiding self-inserts so badly. The same can be said of stereotypes, which I think is sometimes based on ignorance. In the sense that they don’t know these people are human, deep down inside that’s why they believe black men have big penises or the reverse for East Asian men,

Regardless of what they actually look like, let alone those who don’t fit the stereotypes at all. It’s pure ignorance all the way. I personally feel this is how stereotypes come to be, they’re not only ignorant but also very much someone’s idea of a demographic ought to be. Likewise with self-inserts and stereotypes existing together, they’re almost always an author’s idea of themselves (or their peer group) and everybody else. Still, one can challenge themselves more if they inform themselves more of those who don’t fit stereotypes in any way. They can even challenge themselves to do and learn something new, to the point where they can organically create a new character this way.

To put it this way, if somebody writes more about dogs than about African countries it’s not that they don’t know about Africa at all but still tellingly less than they do with dogs. If you write more about fashion than you do with say movies, the same principle applies and so on with anything else really. Not that they’re autistic, it’s just a matter of fact based on what somebody knows best. At worst, they’re almost always what they experience. Barely, if ever taking others’ experiences and knowledge into account. Even if this leads to much richer writing, in fiction this leads to more believably different characters without making them into stereotypes.

I guess if this were applied to fanfictions and other geek fictions, it would be way too revealing when it comes to the things they indulge in and how they see the world. What they write about reveals what they know best, or sometimes what they know little of. Whatever they care about. That’s the most damning thing about writing and especially self-inserts, they’re almost always based on what the author knows best about and is into. As I said before, the only way to remedy this is to do and learn other things. Encounter different kinds of people, go somewhere else and so on. But it’s always the hard way when it comes to rooting out self-inserts at all.

Some revisions and additions

I have changed some characters’ names, most notably Akosamesew who is now Akosamesew Kanewopasikot, which’s a legitimate Cree surname by the way. Then we have Hector Yang, a Chinese man with albinism who has the ability to influence and manipulate volcanism. He’s actually one of the heroes of the story, if you don’t know while there’s a Japanese man named Inubashiri Ken. This guy can be quite cynical and spiteful, so much so he even makes his inugami (a dog familiar) attack people he doesn’t like, though sometimes he uses this to harass them regardless of his actual mood. Surprisingly, well to some, Jean Louis Lumiere likes him very much and has even begged him to assault Cyril Darkholme for taking away his powers.

Fabrice Tientcheu is a man with the ability to soften things as to make them elastic and to cause a backlash, which he uses to do surprise attacks on his opponents. He is one of the heroes of the game, a trusted ally to the electromagnetic John Zelensky (don’t blame me, I can’t think of any other Ukrainian surname). In his spare time, if he has any, he cares for cats and dogs in the animal shelter. He also enjoys stargazing, especially at night. As for John Zelensky himself, he has the ability to manipulate electricity which he uses to not only hurl lightning bolts but also magnetise and attract something, read minds and electrocute someone when necessary. He was a Goth in school and still listens to Goth music from time to time.

Pretty surprising, since his power’s to manipulate electricity. Then we have Ghislain Monkam, someone with the ability to replay/rewind things to better study them which he uses to attack his opponents later on. He’s fond of puzzles and crosswords, as well as playing the piano and sewing clothes (yes, you read that right). There’s also Kwaku Acheampong, a man who has the ability to manipulate plants. He uses this to save lives, protect himself, make quick escapes and to do sneak attacks on people. To the surprise of no one, he enjoys gardening and crofting. But he’s also something of an amateur naturalist, fond of wildlife and frequently cares for raccoons who come to his house.

He also enjoys reading books, especially if it relates to either plants or wild animals. Here’s the Russian Anatoly Sidorov, who has the ability to manipulate thermonuclear energy which he uses to create miniature nuclear bombs and make himself go through surfaces. This makes him real good at assassinating people, also if they can ever bother evading him then they’ll be careful or else he’ll kill them. At home, he keeps a pet lynx which he got from a fur farm. There’s a Russian woman who pretty much did the same thing, which got covered in the news before so. As for Maximillian Palmer, he neither has a special costume nor does he have any muscles. Actually when he takes his shirt off, he’s skinny-fat.

He also has a rather bad haircut, which makes him even more unassuming at first. But he has the ability to warp reality, often turning it into a nightmarish landscape which he uses to torment people with. Then there’s the Haida Tim Qwastiltete, somebody with the ability to create life often by turning inorganic materials into organisms. He uses this to foil people’s attacks and also to help others, when he’s by himself he often plays table tennis with his friends. I could add more if I wanted to, but for now we have a handful more for a potential game (it would be nice if it happened at all).

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Botched potentials

When it comes to characters with botched potentials, especially those coming from DC and Marvel, that I feel some of it’s got to with the way the character’s usually portrayed that undermines their potentials to be more than that. I feel when it comes to DC’s Stephanie Brown, some of the problems lie with portraying her as a giddy bimbo regardless of the fact that she sewed an outfit all to her own means writers are way better off portraying her as Batman’s answer to Edna Mode. Edna Mode is this Pixar character who designs outfits for superheroes, considering she knows how to sew she should ought to learn how to sew clothes for everybody else in the Batfamily.

In fact, she should be something of a butt-kicking Edna Mode considering she has trained under Cassandra’s wing for some time now. You might say this makes her into a Mary Sue, but in reality that’s showing something realistic. In the sense that there are things she’s real good at like sewing and things she’s gotten the hang over such as fighting, it’s not that hard if only writers took sewing seriously and she should be to sewing what Barbara is to computers. It’s not even a stretch for her to turn sewing into a business, something she could do by using Batman’s money alone. It’s not that hard for as long as you take sewing seriously.

I guess some of the problems with the way Stephanie’s written is that they kind of forget that there are things she might be really talented at, something that would’ve been remedied had they portrayed as sewing and mending costumes for the entire Bat-family. It’s not that hard really, if they also know how to sew themselves. Then you have characters that could easily go to a darker route, if only writers had the guts to go with that. Something like Marvel’s Kate Pryde becoming the X-Men’s resident assassin/hitwoman which kind of happened in Age of Apocalypse, not so much in the usual continuity even though it’s the most sensible direction to take her to.

She’s killed someone before, so having her kill people on the job would be a logical choice. Especially considering the ability she has, which’s well-suited to it really. If Invisible Woman’s powers actually lend themselves to security (if only they considered this), Kate’s own are perfectly suited to assassination and theft when one thinks about it. I guess if writers did take what’s logical for Kate to go to, it would be much darker than they would’ve wanted, especially when it comes to Age of Apocalypse, perhaps that’s why they shy away from turning her into a full-blown assassin for good in the normal continuity.

I guess why some writers don’t bother taking characters to where they’d logically go’s that either they’re held back by preconceptions of what they should be even when they can like with Stephanie Brown, or that the logical conclusion’s the more undesirable one like with Kate Pryde. There are also things that are beyond the writers’ knowledge, I guess it’s too much for some writers to know a thing or two about sewing when they don’t. Maybe that’s why they never bothered having Stephanie own her sewing skills to the point where she’d even make costumes for people and even turn it into a business with Batman’s funding.

Even if that’s the most sensible direction to take her to.

Clothing Factory

She had to work everyday

Sewing every piece of garment

Afraid of what her boss might do

To her, she had to do it soon.

She had to do it efficiently

Working together with her

Colleagues as they toil away

While they work on them.

New technology comes, they

Have to do it better and faster

They can’t slack off and do

Whatever they want to do.

She took some breaks but

Had to go back in time

To sew everything and

Anything her boss tells her.

The Sweatshop

She was sewing something on the

Go, spending hours at one garment

With her colleagues in the factory.

Education of a writer

Somebody at the Pain Comics website pointed out about the state of writing, however in comics at the time when it was written (early 2000s I think). I personally think this could easily be applied outside of comics, especially considering a good number of fanfictions get reworked into professionally published stories. The best known example would be 50 Shades of Grey, though there could be earlier examples if you head over to Fanlore. I feel some of the points the essayist makes can be applied to fanfiction and to an extent, outside of them.

Here’s what they have to say:

The point is to have read enough
to know the difference between good writing and bad, and to know enough about art,
philosophy, history, religion, politics, psychology, biology–in short, about the
world—that you to have something to say. Walter Bagehot wrote that “the reason why so
few good books are written is that so few people who can write know anything.” Hence
the disproportionate number of comic books about twentysomething slackers with
troubled relationships as opposed to the number about, say, Palestine, Weimar Berlin, or
Louis Riel.

This is also why there are so many self-inserts and reader inserts in fanfiction and also fan surrogate characters in geek fictions, they’re obviously written by people who have little experience or interest in anything else. Not that they’re autistic, but I think the only way to not write a self-insert is the hard way. That’s by developing new interests, experiences and hobbies, if somebody stuck to their comfort zone they will regurgitate the same things all over again. I don’t think people will be comfortable about this.

Again it’s not that they’re autistic, but there’s a damning possibility they have little anything else to write about given their limited experiences and interests. This is also why it’s easier to regurgitate cliches and stereotypes, it’s due to ignorance and the like. While they might be more well-read than I give them credit for, speaking as somebody who rarely reads any fiction and intermittently reads comics, I feel there’s a lot to be gained from developing different interests, experiences and hobbies.

You could more easily come up with a character who’s not like you if you developed new experiences and interests, maybe not entirely but much more than if you stuck to your lane. When it comes to coming up with a new character at all, I feel you need to know more people, places and things to create somebody who isn’t mostly like you. It’s not a matter of whether or not such a writer has autism, but a matter of knowing and doing something else.

Other it becomes more of the same thing, nothing new to write about really.

Holy Week

The Lord has come, the Lord

Had died and the Lord will

Arrive again in his time.

What’s your flava

Romance novels, like any genre fiction, is built on escapism and in this case it’s based around the near-perfect boyfriend or husband. Some of these characters tend to be super macho types like soldiers, sometimes they’re really unattainable like billionaires. Not that real life billionaires don’t find love in any form they like, in the case with Elon Musk he has no shortage of blonde lovers. But when it comes to the difference between romance novel billionaires and real life billionaires, it becomes more apparent in some regards. It’s not that one can’t be rich and have a good body, but those who do tend to be either athletes or celebrities with personal trainers.

Even then, not all athletes become rich and some who do quit due to things like abuse and do something else instead. There are romances that don’t revolve around billionaires, some even have personal trainers, which’s in my own opinion more plausible. Surely the personal trainer hero may not be rich, but the way he developed his body through training is more realistic than the billionaire hero. If because many (if not all) real life billionaires aren’t known for having hot bods and that either they inherit wealth from having rich relatives or become rich over time through having a successful business. To the point where they’d be nearing retirement age once they accumulate this much money.

I guess when it comes to the popularity of the billionaire hero, sometimes what is unattainable is more appealing coupled with the belief that they’d be good providers. Not that one can’t be fairly young, wealthy and fit but those who do, especially when it comes to billionaires, are more likely to be scions of billionaires. Not so much self-made billionaires themselves, since they wouldn’t even have the time to focus on developing hot bodies themselves. Either that or if they’re multimillionaire athletes, the latter being far likelier. But I think the fantasy of the unattainable is more plausible, if because some people want what they don’t easily or likely cannot have. Well that’s the case for some people really.

The self-made billionaire is appealing at first, in that they manage to accumulate so much money but even then it takes time for them to get to where they’re at. Not only are they older, they’re not always the best-looking either. (Musk was infamous for having quite a potbelly in one photograph.) Not that there’s anything wrong with having some financial help either, but the billionaire hero takes it to a new level where it’s based on the belief that he can spoil the heroine anytime he wants. He can easily give her the fanciest outfits, he can take her to fancy restaurants and spend holiday together in some far off country.

A man who’s a mere millionaire, say he just has 5 million dollars, is more than enough to support his financially struggling partner but even then there’s only so much so he can spoil them. While financial stability’s an appealing trait, when it comes to billionaires I have the nagging suspicion that it’s based on the idea that he can spoil her anytime she wants. If he has a billion plus dollars, she will beg him to buy her a really expensive dress or something. Admittedly, I don’t read romance novels but I think it goes beyond mere financial stability into things they don’t bother bringing up.

If my theory’s true, then it’s not so much a matter of financial stability but rather wanting to be spoilt by a romantic partner. At least for some people.

The only way is the hard way

When it comes to avoiding self-inserts in fiction, a good number of stories tend to be semi-autobiographical in some way or another when the characters or stories are based on what the authors knew in their lives or have gone through. Other characters are based on the people the authors know in some way or another, sometimes it becomes personal if said character’s based on their friends or relatives. Ed Boone named some Mortal Kombat characters after his own sisters for instance, that’s one example of somebody using their family member as a muse of sorts. Marvel’s Kate Pryde was named after a classmate John Byrne knew in school, that’s another example that proves this point right.

But the only way to not make a self-insert’s really the hard way, if because that involves opening up to many other things in life in a way it would never be if one stuck to their comfort zone. I even think the reason why some stories have self-inserts, if because the authors who make those stories and characters either have little experience in anything else or little interest in anything else (not that they’re autistic, but that they have little better to write about). Generally little anything else to say or write about, which explains why it’s so easy to create self-inserts for some people. I think the person who wrote ‘Throwing The Book At Cartoonists’ has a point that can be easily applied to those who write self-inserts a lot.

If because it precisely describes why some authors have either little interest in anything else or little experience with anything else, it’s almost always their comfort zone and their comfort zone alone. But that would be too revealing, in the sense that it’s as if these critics know those authors don’t know or do anything else in life. Their ideas, by this metric, are rather limited or few in number. Nothing better to say and do, so it seems with these people. That’s why the only way to get new ideas is to have new interests or new experiences, it can even lead to new, interesting characters and stories this way.

But that is the hard truth about not creating self-inserts.