[ SECRET POST #5462 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #5462 ⌋

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


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 31 secrets from Secret Submission Post #782.
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

[fscom]

01. https://i.imgur.com/8m7xRUQ.png

[(Anonymous)]

A fellow reader/self-insert fan!! :D

I don't really have anything to say about the secret itself. I'm just glad I'm not the only one here who likes this kind of stuff.

OP

[(Anonymous)]

Hi!!!

Lol yeah. It's nice to see other people who are into the self insert/reader stuff too.

In regards to the secret, I think I'm just getting used to the current trend (at least in my fandoms) that has no particular/specific descriptions of the reader. Also trends that I've noticed (and it may be more fandom or pairing specific) are more M/MC fics popping up and quite a few gender neutral reader ones. I think it's nice to see -- everybody's welcome to the self insert party lol

Re: OP

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT

I've noticed that, too, in my previous fandom, and I'm really excited about it. I'm actually very enthusiastic about *-inserts, so the more diverse (especially re: gender) the better imo.

[(Anonymous)]

I liked self aware inserts, the ones lightly roasting the concept. Like the "insert" character is immediately out of their depth and not a power nerd like they thought (love the show Lost in Austen which is built on that concept) they'd be. Or it is a male nerd and they are incarnated in the insert-fic as a female character. Those used to be comic gold in Evangelion fanfic especially.

God mode inserts or straight romantic inserts (shout out to all the Snape Wives) are just dire.

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT

I don't know if it's fandom or site-specific, but I personally haven't encountered many fics like that (only about one or two that I can remember) in recent years. Most of the fics I've come across tend to treat the insert character as if they were always apart of the world (meaning they were born and raised there). Honestly, I've read more isekai web novels with a plot like you described than insert fic, and I've been reading insert fic for practically a decade at this point.

As for god-mode and romance-centered inserts, as far as I'm concerned, as long as the author is having fun, that's all that matters. Besides, they're how I originally got into all of this, so I'm actually quite fond of them.

[(Anonymous)]

If the character is born and raised in the world, that is an OC or a side character centric fic. A self insert is, or was anyway, the author inserting themself into the world as themselves. An author can use the conceit of "I woke up as...[character name]" and that isn't OC/Side character, because the insert author is still maintaining their own fictionalized self-persona.

Isekai is a genre that is character falls into a new fictional world from their old fictional world. The Narnia novels, are, technically, Isekai (although they pre-date the coining of the name by several decades). However the character experiencing the new world and the author of the story are distinct entities. It is important not to confuse mere first person narration with self insert though. Nobody is accusing Ben Aaronovitch as writing self insert fic with his Rivers of London books, for example, despite the first person narration from the main character.

Is there room for overlap of all those components, yes of course, are they the same? No, they are not.

[(Anonymous)]

OP

I find these distinctions interesting, as much like AYRT I came into fandom (as a whole) through the romantic/adventure self insert/MC route. And even then, in the specific archive and fandom I was in, there were only one or two stories that had the "It's me, OP, dropping into this world" Isekai style stories.

In my experience across all the fandoms I've been in (self insert/MC and some OC/MC) the majority would fall under what you've termed "OC or side character centric" fic. I personally still group all of them more or less under the same umbrella of self insert/OC (it's just easier to blend them) as the self insert is really never truly quite like YOU, and the OC is at least clear about being an OC (that you as the reader can also project on). And I think that's the major thing -- a character that is easily moldable, one the reader can project themselves on -- whether it's because they feel completely or partially represented, or the character is the more bad ass, hot, wild, submissive, whatever version of themselves. That, imo has just always been the point. That and having fun. Which is why something like Isekai (which I'm going to guess is a genre) has always kind of been treated as just a possible convention within self insert. Just one of the many ways you as the reader can appear in the story, and less as a genre in and of itself.

Granted, this is just my observation, across fandoms and times lol (I've got like...7 to 10 fandoms I rotate through). I think that's also what I like about the self insert niche of fandom. In my experience, nobody's going to try to tell you how to label things, which conventions to follow. I mean, we're already "breaking the rules" by daring to show up in the story; it's just fun and have at it if you like. It becomes that recipe that everybody adds something to and it changes every time.

TL;DR: they may not be the same, but in my experience across different fandoms Isekai is easily corralled under the larger self insert umbrella as merely a situation, less a genre in and of itself. And what you describe as "OC/side character centric" fic is essentially how most self insert fics introduce the "You" into the fic. Again, just my observations/experience. I think the distinctions are interesting, but don't necessarily play a role (in the least a conscious role) in most fics (everything is covered under the umbrella of MC/Reader).

[(Anonymous)]

I thought 'isekai' meant, character enters a world that they understand as fictional? Like, girl enters the world of Lord of the Rings, having already read the book.

Back when I was a teen, stories like Narnia were called 'portal fantasies'.

Anyone want to weigh in? Were they always synonyms and I just misunderstood, or have people started conflating the terms?

[(Anonymous)]

NAYRT

I think what happened is, one, the kinds of stories that were originally published and identified as isekai started slowly drifting away from the original, strictly-bound premise; two, the kinds of people who are very likely to use the term 'isekai' are not very likely to use the term 'portal fantasy' for various demographic reasons.

So I wouldn't say that they've been conflated, rather they're used by different people to mean similar things

[(Anonymous)]

I'm curious OP, are there other cheesy phrases common in non-pale skinned self-insert fic? :)

[(Anonymous)]

OP

Lol I'm sure there are, but descriptions (unless it's specifically a brown/darker skinned reader -- and it's literally spelled out as "your brown skin") are kept vague and tend more toward "the heat rose to your cheeks"; it almost becomes an exercise in using your other senses/how else can this feeling be described other than visually?

I will admit I've been guilty of using food and nature comparisons for complexions, smh. I personally don't mind the nature ones too much, but the food ones just...nahhh. It's partly the same reason creamy doesn't work for me lol. Just kills me.

Thank you SecretMaker

[(Anonymous)]

For the lovely flowers and making my secret :)

[(Anonymous)]

"Creamy" along with "milky" and "peach" are such overused character skin descriptors that I can't take it seriously when someone says that skin/food comparisons like "chocolate" and "mocha" are racist and would never happen to white characters. Um, they already do, as your secret and my examples show.

[(Anonymous)]

This.

[(Anonymous)]

I never understood that either. Like, it constantly gets used for white characters? And it's not like the food comparisons for dark skin are somehow "lower", quite on the contrary. And if you have to use flowery descriptions to better describe an exact tone, food that has a certain colour is by far the best option.