In fanfiction what is Reincarnation Self-Insert/Original Character?
Reincarnation is the rebirth of a soul in a new body and usually in fanfiction it occurs to an Original Character or the Author of the fanfiction (which is Self-Insert). Most of the times being reborn results in the Original Character or the Author also entering a new world, specifically a fictional world.
A great number of these stories are enjoyable to read, but they tend to be a bit predictable. Once a character is reborn there are two ways it can start out – they remember everything from their past life or they slowly gain their memories (usually in the form of dreams) back as they grow older. Surprising enough, the former is the most common that I’ve read and it raises some questions.
Such as, what’s the connection between the human soul and memories? And just how is it that an infant’s brain is able to handle all those past life memories/intelligence when the brain is still in the early stages of development and continues to grow until the age of 25? Even then, the brain still is maturing – specifically the area known as the “prefrontal cortex.”
I imagine the outcome of an adult inside a baby’s body would lead to a rapid brain development before the age of 5. That would certainly frighten the adults and baffled doctors. Depending on the fictional world that the character is in, it can be a good or a bad thing, along with other factors. Some people might call them geniuses or mutant freaks.
In those stories the writer forgets that infant eyes/visual system aren’t fully developed. So everything will be bright, colorful (well the infant’s color vision is not as sensitive as an adult’s – at least not until the fifth month) and blurry during the first week. Those who wear glasses would probably understand what that’s like. In their first months of life, the eyes start working together and vision rapidly improves. Eye-hand coordination begins to develop as the infant starts tracking moving objects with their eyes and reaching for them. By eight weeks, babies begin to more easily focus their eyes on the faces of a parent or other person near them.
At around 9 months of age, babies begin to pull themselves up to a standing position. By 10 months of age, a baby should be able to grasp objects with thumb and forefinger.
By twelve months of age, most babies will be crawling and trying to walk. And can now judge distances fairly well and throw things with precision.
By two years of age, a child’s eye-hand coordination and depth perception should be well developed. At this age, children are highly interested in exploring their environment and in looking and listening. They recognize familiar objects and pictures in books and can scribble with crayon or pencil.
But all of this could have been known if a little research was done. Sometimes I see the effort in the stories and the other times I don’t. I’m not saying that it’s not interesting to read what it might be like if an adult was reborn into a baby’s body, but I do like a little logic added. it can help make a story more believable. I know we’re dealing with fan fiction, but the less reasons your readers have to suspend their disbelief the better.
There’s also the type of reincarnation in which the Original Character or the Self-Insert is reborn into a canon character’s body. Personally I’m not that fond of them. I just don’t see the appeal or purpose. Maybe that’s because they tend to be blatant sues and I’ve only come across one that was done pretty well. The story was a little more complex, being that the canon character’s soul wasn’t erased since they shared their body with the reborn soul.
Before I forget, I find it fascinating when the OC or Self-Insert is originally female, but is than reborn as a male or vice verse. It’s interesting and adds a whole other layer into the story, especially if it’s done well. Also, I never put much thought into what an adult in a baby’s body would face during childbirth. Most stories tend to skip the messy part of it, but a few not so much and I find it a bit amusing as well traumatizing (or at least I’m traumatize for the character) when I read from their perspective. My advice when it comes to that aspect in the story is for the writers to determine how realistic they want to be and if those details are necessary.
 DamnBlackHeart · Sun May 22, 2016 @ 10:11pm · 0 Comments |
