What are the signs of accidental self insertion?

Question

I am currently writing a novel where the main character will be far more powerful than most of the people in the world and I am worried that I will end up losing sight of what I am writing and start writing a power fantasy where the main character will be a Mary Sue with every hot guy kneeling before her and telling her just how beautiful she is and that she is the only woman they will love. The last part may be a bit of an exaggeration I am using to make a point. What I want to ask is: what are the warnings signs I should watch out for in order to not end up with a character that is obviously self inserted?

Answer 1

Well, having characters that help you connect to the world you want to write is not a bad thing but having no conflict is.

I suggest to think about the issues or problems you want to include in your story. Then reflect on how unrealistic that this character would be able to solve this problem on the first time. Think about not only how your character succeeds but how do they fail? How do they handle failure? Do they crumble or do they get back up? If they have abilities make sure it's limited, example maybe its their body ( like spells can cause fatigue so there is a limit to how many you can do), or knowledge ( they need to know a certain type of magic to do certain spells or can do only one type). Also make sure the character grows , readers want to see and connect to the growth of a character as they progress through the story. By the end of the tale the character should be different than what they were.

For romance if you want hot guys fawning over your character, do it! I wouldn't say its a bad thing, the tried a true love triangle is a thing. But look into how much you want romance in your story. Make sure the character still grows, the love or romance does too. If they are a perfect match off the bat its kinda stale . Have the characters struggle, make them have flaws that they grow with.

Hope this helps!