Is it considered narcissistic that my main character is an exaggeration of me?

[PixyByte]

This has happened twice, IRL where someone who hears about my comic and hasn't seen any of my comic strips, mentions that the fact that I'm in my comic is narcissistic. I really don't want my comic to come off as seeming like I'm so full of myself that I have to put myself in the center of attention. My comic is called Pixy Byte and it's about the adventures and daily issues that I go through (as Pixy) with my friends Penguin, Flippers, and Poot. Pixy is an extreme exaggeration of myself, as a pixie who can fly. It just pokes fun out of myself and my friends and daily situations, I don't see it as narcissistic.
Is it just because the people hadn't seen an episode of it? Or is there something along those lines that puts people off of my comic?
What should I do?
I'm really looking for some feedback and advice, I wasn't sure whether to put this in the question or feedback category.

[nathankschulz]

Well if the comic is LITERALLY about you and your experiences then how can it be narcissistic? Only if you make yourself look awesome and perfect would there be any problem. And after reading your comic... you're good! Don't worry.

[joannekwan]

I think once they learn it's a comedy strip they wouldn't criticize it as much since it's fairly common in that genre.

Perhaps they were thinking you were doing an epic adventure comic where the fate of the world is on the line and you inserted yourself as the savior THEN that would be narcissistic.

[sarrowsmith10]

A famous and wise person somewhere once said, "write what you know." EVERY great writer in history has inserted themselves in their work somewhere. It's only natural. I don't think its narcissistic at all. If you aren't inserting yourself at least a little bit, how can you relate to the characters? Perhaps maybe if you were doing a Mary Sue/Stu type dealio it might be different. But I don't get that vibe.

I think you are just fine.

[PixyByte]

@nathankschulz Thanks

@joannekwan That's what I kept thinking, I knew I wasn't the only person to put myself in a comic. Yeah, Pixy isn't going to save the day, just make fun of random stuff XD.

@sarrowsmith10 Exactly, I thought being in a comic would make it seem more authentic and real. I mean, I know I poke fun of things in my comic, and the real me isn't 2 feet tall with pointed ears and wings, so how could it possibly be narcissistic? I wanted to make sure it wasn't coming off that way to other people. It's not my intention at all. Thank you so much for the feedback

Thanks guys, you really put my worries to rest!

[Aspie_Gamer]

As others have said, it would only come across as narcissistic if it was a long form adventure type of comic you were working on. In my comic, Life of an Aspie Susan being an aspie would definitely take the most inspiration from me so far as I based her experiences with Asperger's Syndrome with my experiences as a fellow aspie. That said, I've done some research on girls with Asperger's Syndrome so that I can give Susan a couple of unique female aspie traits. That way, she doesn't come across as a blatant female version of me irl. XD

[shazzbaa]

Self-inserts have a bad reputation! I don't agree that it only applies to adventure stories -- sometimes even a comedy thing can come across as "WOW GUYS, LOOK HOW CLUMSY AND WACKY I AM! Everyone thinks I'm sooooooo weird!!" or "lol I can act out and ignore my friends and they all love me anyway!" and either of those definitely CAN feel narcissistic if pushed too far.

But it seems really possible that they don't mean anything by it, just "lol wow you wrote a comic about yourself? how narcissistic hahaha" not intended as an actual critique or anything. I don't think you have to worry about that statement by itself! I mean, I've mentioned to you before that I created a comic about my life for four years, so I definitely think you can have a lot of fun sharing real-life events in an entertaining way! xD

I think the thing to be careful of is the same thing that "mary-sue-ish" characters have to be careful of -- you don't want to get defensive. If you feel the need to immediately justify yourself with "Um NO it's NOT narcissistic because she's an EXAGGERATION and it's DIFFERENT, I CANT FLY OBVIOUSLY" then it'll sound kinda defensive, and I would think really hard about whether you might want to separate yourself from the character a little. But if it's just

"lol well she's kinda based on me except I'm not a pixie"
"wow that's kinda narcissistic"
"haha maybe so! but it's fun : ) "

then I wouldn't be concerned. ;u;

[AshKetchup]

As others have said, it would only come across as narcissistic if it was a long form adventure type of comic you were working on

Well... shit...

To be honest I have an idea for a comic that I'll be making in the future and the MC basically exists because I was trying to make myself the main character. However this was a few years ago and my MC has changed a lot so I think I'm safe if I say that he's his own person... Though his appearance is a tiny bit similar to mine in terms of hair and eye colour

[vitamindy]

Gonna share a bit of a story: many years ago, I made a comic about two gamer girls who lived in an apartment and their lives together (it was actually called the same thing I'm calling my comic now). I based bits of their personalities on different aspects of myself, but I never really considered either of my characters to be "me."

When I mentioned my comic to one of my colleagues, he casually said "oh yeah the comic about you."

Because of that comment, I felt like I was being narcissistic, so I tried to make my characters more and more different from myself and guess what? I stopped making comics. I wrote myself into a ditch.

Fast forward to today - I'm older, wiser - at least I'd like to think so haha- and I give less of a damn what other people think. "Write what you know" and I happen to know a lot about my life so that's what I'm going to write about.

So, to answer your question: I don't think it's narcissistic to make a comic based on yourself and your experiences. (sorry if that seemed a bit long-winded).

[SirHellsir]

they are mixing slice of life/comedy with pretty-much-any-genre-where-the-prot-can-save-the-day.
It's normal for you to be in your comic if it's about your daily experiences

[Vikiro_Hop]

I've been doing pretty much the same thing for a bit now and there are more than a handful of comic creators taht do the same. It honestly feels like the opposite of narcissism given I use the comic to make fun of myself and such.

[AnnaLandin]

It's not narcissistic - it's just fun! Lots of people draw comics about themselves - exaggerated versions and true to life versions both. Trust me, I'm Swedish - autobiographical comics are a national speciality over here.

Drawing comics about yourself isn't about being self-obsessed - it's about using something you know well (yourself) to tell a story to your readers, whether that story is fictionalised or non-fictional.

[jessiepolfliet]

Many writers say that you should write what you know. And who do you know better than yourself.
It isn't that uncommon either since a lot of writers make characters based in themselves. Such as my character.

[hushicho]

It's not narcissistic. It sounds like they don't know what the term "narcissism" actually refers to. It refers to excessive fixation upon oneself and attributes that one finds positive in oneself. Narcissism is an obsession and, while not strictly a denotation of the term, tends to denigrate others. It also has the tendency to play up more positive features of oneself, or even exaggerate them.

A "mary sue" type character -- that is to say, a self-insertion character that is perfect and has nowhere to develop -- usually comes off as narcissistic. But a character representing you as the author doesn't have to be a "mary sue" or any sort of wish fulfillment. Wish fulfillment is also not always a bad thing either, but that's a whole other matter I won't get into right now. It's usually only when they turn into perfect flawless things or get close to it that the character tends to suffer for it, because at that point they tend to have nowhere to go, no arc of development or added levels of complexity.

It's my philosophy that most of the time, most of the characters that authors create are aspects of ourselves taken out of the context of us and allowed to become their own full people. At the very least, that's how I often approach and see characters -- and those of other creators -- and how it makes them accessible in their own ways. I don't find anything wrong with this, and it is in its own way taking characters out of ourselves.

[RewindLabs]

You are not a narcissist if you mention this: "I really don't want my comic to come off as seeming like I'm so full of myself that I have to put myself in the center of attention."

[ToonDoctor]

No, it's not a problem. It' your comic, you make it what you want to be. Self biographies are very popular with the Seattle school of comics - Fantagraphics, TopShelf, Drawn & Quarterly.

[ratique]

My old illustration professor once said in his strong Russian accent, while his pipe was hanging out of his mouth (he was quite a character):

"You will always draw yourself in your work."

I will never forget that and always found it to be true in one way or another.

[PixyByte]

Thanks again, guys. I'm so glad most of you are saying it's natural to write about what you know in your comics, and you will know you better than anyone else! I guess it's just how to write yourself into the comic, Pixy isn't going to ever be some ego-maniac so I guess I'm safe