Isekai as Self-Insert

[soc_puppet]

Finally put my finger on one of the things I really like about Isekai stories: A lot of them are basically overt self-insert fanfic, except both the character you're inserting and the world you're inserting them into are (hypothetically) original.

I never really wrote any Mary-Sues back in the day (despite reading and enjoying a lot of them), but I did write at least one fic where the characters from a fandom I was into were shunted into my world and I had to help them, and daydreamed frequently about what I would do if I visited the worlds of fandoms I was into (with my fandom knowledge intact). From what I've seen, the practice has gone pretty well out of style, but it is something I miss from time to time, and a lot of more standard power-fantasy-ish Isekai stories tend to scratch that itch.

I still kinda miss those fanfics, though. Maybe someday I'll actually do something about that...

Comments

[krait]

I have gone through the Three Fandom Stages(TM) of liking Mary-Sues, hating Mary-Sues, and liking Mary-Sues again. :D Gimme OCs all day long, I'm here for this! I generally have one document file for every fandom that's nothing but OCs having their own adventures in the background of a canon setting, with the canon characters never appearing, or only as a brief cameo.

Self-insert fic, though, has never done anything for me; isekai doesn't, either. (Readerfic, likewise.) I suspect it's one of those things that either appeals on some deep level, or else repels one that same level? I don't know that I can say why it doesn't appeal, especially when I can enjoy things that seem to be closely related like OCfic and Mary-Sues!

Relatedly, I think the "readerfic" style/trope/concept has taken the place of old-style self-insert fic, and judging by the numbers on AO3 it may be more popular than ever before.

[soc_puppet]

I think part of it for me is that, for the majority of my life, virtually everyone I've interacted with (and especially anyone in charge) seemed to have knowledge that I had no access to, especially social knowledge. So going to a world where I have that knowledge, and can use it to befriend and help the characters I've grown to love from a given fandom, is definitely a power fantasy for me. But I can just as easily imagine how it would go the other way for someone else! The same water that hardens the egg, softens the carrot, and all that. You might prefer a level playing field.

I will mention that most of my more recent self-insert fic contemplations haven't been anything very grand, but more like super quick visits where I make life just slightly more interesting for the characters involved; I rarely got so far as thinking of actual plots for them. Just like... hanging out for a couple of hours, teasing them a bit with my meta-level knowledge, then vanishing off to the next world like an unusually benevolent trickster god or spirit.

Edit: Yeah, I've definitely noticed the rise in "readerfic" stories. It's a little bit like a level up of Mary-Sues? I'm slightly baffled by them (especially the ability of anyone to read Y/N as anything but "yes/no"), but more power to those who enjoy them! Find your joy, etc!

[krait]

That is interesting!

I've always suspected that I was just a little too dubious or too aware of the fantasy-reality divide even as a kid for isekai-stuff; my brain always runs aground on problems like, "but if I was dropped into Middle Earth, I don't speak any Middle-Earth languages - I'll be a gibbering idiot nobody can understand," for example. :D So it made more sense to create an OC Elf or Hobbit, somebody from from that world who would have the baseline knowledge to work in it, if I wanted to imagine what it would be like to be part of the quest and for some reason the canon characters weren't giving me that experience. I can see why, if you're able to get past that, it would be fun to imagine hanging out with canon characters, though!


(especially the ability of anyone to read Y/N as anything but "yes/no")

Ahahahaha, I am not alone! :D

I don't know why they can't just use "Yourname;" it's less visually distracting, and just as unique for find-replace purposes, without sounding like a survey questionnaire. (It always makes me think of Discworld's City Watch Oath: I comma square bracket recruit’s name square bracket comma do solemnly swear by square bracket recruit’s deity of choice square bracket to uphold the Laws and Ordinances of the city of Ankh-Morpork comma...)

[soc_puppet]

I've always relied on the idea that whatever magical handwave sent me into whatever universe would also magically give me relevant language skills 😛 Still, the isekai novels I've been reading have been doing a better job of at least acknowledging language differences than some of the anime adaptations. Probably because it's easier to do in a text-only format than to try and figure out a good way to do it in a visual-and-audio combo format.



Right?! It's just... so anti-immersive. Give me something that won't break my visual flow, please!

[mommy]

The Devil is a Part-Timer! is more or less what you're describing. Satan loses a fight, ends up in the real world, and gets a job at McDonald's.

I've noticed that scriptfic is back in the form of chatfic. I'm still waiting for songfics to be reinvented, though.

[soc_puppet]

(WTF, how did I not reply to these comments yet...)

Oh yeah, I think I remember a friend recommending that to me once. I may have to give it a try!

Not quite sure how that one's gonna work. Still, the results are bound to be interesting.