So. A bunch of people have asked for some recommendations of well written "self-insert" fanfiction.

The majority of them are from the Naruto archive, which is where it's most popular.

Most of my personal recs have female main characters, since that's my preference for most fiction, but there are a couple of dude ones.

NARUTO

Dreaming of Sunshine is most popular SI in the archive, right now. It's well written and last update fairly recently. It also has a tvtropes page, which includes spoilers, so beware.

Little Acorn is a more subtle self insert. Last I read the main character wasn't actually aware of being from "our world" just vague thoughts ect.

Hecia el sol includes the Hyuga's as the SI's family which seems to be a sort of sub-genre in the SI archive.

Iryo-nin Kasa (医療忍 傘), not much to say about this one. It's pretty long, and it's what I'm reading right now.

MASS EFFECT

I don't actually rec this story, but it's the most popular Mass Effect SI in the archive so, Mass Vexations. It's complete and has a bunch of sequels. It's tvtropes page.

There is a bunch more and I'll add them here when I can bothered.

 

I don't think I have ever seen a good HP-SI.
Are there any you know of?

 

I think In Bad Faith is the only one I've read in the Harry Potter archive, and it has it's problems.

I'll start looking though!

 

In Bad Faith is probably the best, unfortunately. JBean210 is a fairly prolific writer with good style, pacing, and plot.. but there's one problem with this stories. Once you read one... yeah. Vault of Mystery is probably his best story, though.

 

Neville Longbottom and the Harry Potter is almost a good story.

 

I'll have to check that one out.

 

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6749873/1/A-Cage-of-Blood-and-Circumstance

You've been inserted into the body of someone in Konoha. Do you become a Ninja; killing others and likely dying, or run and live? An OC-insert into one of the worst possible people in the Narutoverse – Hyūga Hinata. AU. No bashing or serious relationships. INDEFINITE HIATUS.

 

Yeah, that's one of the stories I was gonna rec and was referring to when I mentioned the Hyuga family sub-genre.

Thanks for finding it so I don't have to.

 

I liked that story when it began, but the more time went on, the more unlikeable it became.
For me, it jumped the shark, a cheetah and two penguins, when even more random characters started popping in, and when

Spoiler

Art took over the control of the main ME mission for a while, since Shepard was detained.

I'm not 100% sure about the spoiler-ed part, but I vaguely remember something like that happening.

In any case, it got worse as it went along.

For the same genre, there's Masses to Masses, of similar quality.

The main difference is, it get's better as it goes - and has loads of original stuff. Not to be too perfect the quality - or my interest, I guess - fell as it reached the fourth part, (masses to masses 4), and everything started to drag on a bit - and I haven't been up to date with the very latest updates.

It has similar problems as most self inserts do, but I've actually seen the character grow in power and competence with believable steps, even if some of the stuff isn't handled too well at the very beginning.

All in all, I haven't regretted reading the first three parts, at the very least.
Also, huge bonus points for having 2/3 parts showing things not seen on the actual Mass Effect game properly.

 

Vapors
This ninja business? It isn't for the faint of heart. Luckily Aiko is far from faint, even if she did get stuck with a ridiculously girly name. SI, OC, whatever you want to call it. Rating is for language.
Rated: Fiction T - English - Adventure - Naruto U. - Chapters: 21 - Words: 114,191 - Reviews: 207 - Favs: 268 - Follows: 296 - Updated: Jan 7 - Published: Nov 18, 2013 - id: 9855872

This is another SI fic in the Naruto fandom which I like. It has a good update rate and while there could be more changes it certainly isn't a canon rehash. The SI is Narutos sister, which made me wary at first, but it really isn't that bad. While certainly not a 5/5 story, this alongside 'Dreaming of Sunshine' is currently the only SI story I consider 'good'.

 

Cywscross's For Whom the Bell Tolls was a promising start at a Naruto one with the SI posing as Jiraiya's illegitimate daughter, but it appears abandoned (like pretty much everything by this author after the initial rush-to-concept thirty-thousand or so words).

Silver Queen's other Naruto SI, the one-shot Reincarnation Roulette, is also very good, though also very dark.

 

Man, I really tried reading "Dreaming of Sunshine", because I'm interested in well done self inserts, but I just can't get into any anime fanfiction. It's awful stuff, the abbreviated story telling style, the cartoonish (!) characters... Not for me.

 

I've been thinking about writing my own, though it wouldn't be an actual me insert, since I'm way to boring. And it'd be either set in 1930's, Tom Riddle/Grindelwald's era. Or like... Pre-Dumbledore era. Because Reasons.

 

I went through a phase where I scoured the FFnet archives for and read nothing but completed OC self-insert stories. It didn't last very long though, because there are so very few.

Leaving aside the ones already mentioned here (I've read most of them) I remember enjoying the KOTOR one by CPunchMaster, but my standards were pretty low in that phase so I have no idea how well it stands up.

 

And you've just pointed out just what is wrong with the genre.

That way of SI - when you're not even pretending to write about yourself - it's perfectly fine.

The way usual SI go, it's not.

I found that I can only enjoy a SI story if I distance the author and their SI person-self as much as possible.

I think I've ranted about this a while ago, so I'll leave it at that.

 

What if DLP did a group effort?

Basically, we would brainstorm a character to be inserted into the HP world. We would come up with their Real-World background and we would invent their 'new origin' in the Potterverse.

Are they a boy or a girl? Are they a muggleborn or a pureblood? Were they reborn or simply thrown into the world of the books?

What are their political views? How old are they?

I bet that if DLP really worked at this, we could create an interesting enough person to read about.

 

Here's a HP one: Good for a laugh and maybe will show you some things to avoid, if you do write one.

A Curse of Truth

By: butalerner
An avid fanfiction reader falls into the Harry Potter Universe just before the Triwizard Tournament, and has to come to terms with what he's lost, take advantage of what he's gained, and figure out how to deal with the truths he's hiding. Complete! Detailed rune magic, witty banter...not your usual SI, so give it a shot! See my author page for more info.
Rated: Fiction M - English - Drama/Humor - Harry P., Hermione G., OC, Daphne G. - Chapters: 28 - Words: 198,847 - Reviews: 566 - Favs: 727 - Follows: 384 - Updated: Mar 3, 2013 - Published: Oct 6, 2012 - Status: Complete - id: 8586147

 

You linked to Chapter 9. No wonder I had no idea what was going on.

 

There is Hybrid Theory by Blade and Epsilon.
It's Ranma 1/2 with 2 self-inserts.
Fanfiction Link

Summary: You know the story of the typical selfinsert? This is not that story.

From TvTropes: "[It] deconstructs and satirizes the self-insert phenomenon while at the same time subverting the Mega Crossover."

It's also really long. (>1 million words)

 

Cause and Mass Effect is pretty good. It's interesting, although it also has 'Q' from Star Trek in it(he's apparently the one who brings the self-insert into the Mass Effect world). It's pretty good so far, yet it can't seem to tell if it wants to have the SI paired with Shepard or Miranda.