Author character

An author character (commonly referred to as an AC) or "self-insertion" is a guest appearance of the author of a story or a character created by the author, usually in fan fiction, that interacts with the plot and characters as if they were created in the original work (whichever medium it may have been).

Author characters in fan fiction (often considered to be "Mary Sues") are frowned upon in many circles as it is seen as sacrificing the integrity and quality of the original story in favor of living out the author's fantasy or mental image of themselves in the form of fiction.

It can however be used for comedic effect within fan-fiction, the Authors doing 'wacky' things with canon characters and pointing out said canon characters own state of fiction (causing a technical paradox).

AC's happen relatively rarely in professionally published fiction. Famous examples of it, however, include Stephen King's rendition of himself in the Dark Tower novels, Paul Auster's appearance in his New York Trilogy, Robert A. Heinlein in his "The Number of the Beast", John Fowles in his "The French Lieutenant's Woman", Kurt Vonnegut in his "Breakfast of Champions", Clive Cussler in each of his books, and Grant Morrison in one issue of the comic book "Animal Man". Philip K. Dick's novel "Radio Free Albemuth" includes a major character named Philip K. Dick, but is written from another character's first person point of view.

In non-fiction (or slightly idealized history), a famous example is Julius Caesar's book "Commentarii de Bello Gallico" ("Commentaries on the Gallic War"), which is an account written by Julius Caesar (in the third person) about his nine years of war in Gaul.

ee also

*Author surrogate
*Fan fiction