5 Times a Bestselling Author Put Themselves in the Book and Nailed It

Clive Cussler in the Dirk Pitt Novels
One wouldn’t normally think of Clive Cussler as a source of existential writing, or ruminations on reality and existence. A source of adventure, sure. Excitement, of course. Humor, history, and surprising storytelling? Yes, yes, and yes. But in the Dirk Pitt novels, things get delightfully weird, because Cussler routinely inserts himself into the books when his character needs some help or advice. Not only does Cussler literally cast himself as the deus in the story’s deus ex machina, Dirk Pitt is widely regarded as a fictionalized version of Cussler to begin with. The fact that Pitt hilariously fails to recognize Cussler each time they meet just confirms it: Cussler is being extremely clever.

Stephen King in the Dark Tower Novels
On first blush, when the characters Roland and Eddie visit Stephen King, who is presented as the Stephen King, as in the actual writer of the book you are holding in your hands, it might seem a bit indulgent. But King does something truly inspired, first presenting himself as not entirely wonderful or even likable, then weaving real-life events into the story, with his 1999 car crash envisioned as an attempt on his life by evil forces from the book’s universe. The melding of reality with fiction and King’s almost palpable self-loathing in these sections turns this from indulgent to affecting—and brilliant.

David Wong in John Dies at the End
What makes the character of “David Wong” so interesting in John Dies at the End is the way Wong plays with perception and expectations. The character does some terrible things—but is he always himself? Is he always in control? In a story about alternate universes, identity is a powerful story component to play with. Over the course of the novel we have to wrestle first with the idea that the David Wong in the story is the David Wong, the author. Later, we have top wrestle with the idea that the David Wong in the story is not even the David Wong we thought he was. Feeling lightheaded? That’s because the use of the author as character in this book is pure genius.

Kurt Vonnegut in Breakfast of Champions
Kurt Vonnegut is an author who learned all the usual techniques for writing a novel then threw them out the window, creating some of the most interesting and challenging books of the modern age. In Breakfast of Champions, Vonnegut plays with the concept of free will in a story involving an author handing one of his books to a deranged man, who accepts the novel’s declaration that only he, the reader, is a real person as truth, sparking a violent rampage. The author of that novel is Vonnegut’s famous avatar Kilgore Trout—but then, just when you’re starting to get comfortable with what you think Vonnegut is saying, Vonnegut himself, as the narrator of the book thus far, steps into the story to tell Trout he is, in fact, a real person. Is Vonnegut messing with us? Making a profound statement about agency and reality? As with most Vonnegut works, you can’t know. You can only make your best case one way or the other. And so on.
Bret Easton Ellis in Lunar Park

One of the little-discussed aspects of Ellis’s writing is the fact that over the course of his novels he’s created a very complex and inter-related universe. Characters and events appear in multiple books, meaning all of the horrible things Ellis has written have occurred in one single universe populated by a small number of misanthropes. He wins in Lunar Park because he begins the story based in reality: the early goings of the novel are a more or less accurate (and personal) retelling of Ellis’s actual experiences in the early years of his fame. In fact, if you’re unfamiliar with Ellis, you won’t even know when he begins to edge into fiction—which means, in the end, his whole life is part of the awful, amazing universe he’s created.