[ SECRET POST #4764 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4764 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 28 secrets from Secret Submission Post #682.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[ninefox]

lots of nerdy awkward girls really liked harry potter

this is not complicated

[(Anonymous)]

This is true, but at the same time it's not as if they stay true to her character. I've just never really gotten the point of OC's masquerading as characters I guess.

[ninefox]

nerdy girls who read a lot and end up obsessive fans project onto the bookworm girl and then write her as an idealized version of themselves with all her ruthlessness and doggedness sacrificed for the self-insert fantasy, and her intelligence botched because intelligence is very hard for inexperienced writers to portray convincingly.

It's not about her being beloved (even if she is, in one form or another) it's about her being relatable to a huge chunk of the audience. And it's about feeling like their (probably subconscious, unacknowledged) self-insert belongs in the world, in a way OCs don't (especially back in the bad old days of really cruel flames and sporking and so on).

projecting onto a similar-to-you archetype (ie nerd girl) is both really appealing to young kids teens to validate their nebulous identities, and inevitably hugely distorting. this projection process is responsible for like, 70% of fanon that seems to have nothing to do with the canon - readers seeing themselves in a story wherever the find the closest fit. Making an actual OC would mean consciously acknowledging the lack of authenticity - that they aren't really Just Like Their (version of their) Fave, so they have to invent someone new who's actually their alter ego. Lots of people do that too, of course, but it doesn't serve the same psychological need.

[(Anonymous)]

Sorry, I noticed I typed OC instead of self-insert after I posted my comment, I figured you'd know what I meant anyways.

Honestly, I do avoid those types of fics, so the one's I have come across/the one that include those elements, were probably just the bad eggs of the bunch. It wasn't so much that they did a poor job at expressing her personality, but that she consistently lacked the character traits that specifically made her Hermione.
Personally, I never even considered putting myself in a characters shoes, or living vicariously through a character in fic. I was more interested in exploring the characters relationships with each other than anything else. Obviously being able to relate to a character is a big part of understanding them and their motives. It's when someone relates to a character so much that they begin to assimilate their beliefs on to that character by extension that I find a little bit disappointing. I don't fault them for doing so, but it's just not how I enjoy my media. If that makes any sense,