Experience Tumblr Like Never Before
Y'all, I'm sorry, but I just gotta ramble here for a second.
If you are writing an "x reader", do not 👏 describe 👏 the reader 👏 in anyway 👏 unless it's 👏 specified 👏 in the 👏 title (like short!reader or plus-sized!reader or female!reader). It's called "x reader" for a reason; so ALL readers can enjoy. It's very clear you look a certain way, or think your readers look a certain way, whenever you describe them. DON'T. Long hair? Even if the reader is female, they might not have long hair; short-haired and medium-length and bald women exist. They read, too. And not all readers are shorter than the character they're shipping themselves with. Sure, if the character is abnormally large or a lot taller than average, they're most likely not taller (they shouldn't be, at least-), but it's frustrating for people who are taller when they read something that's obviously meant for shorter people. My point is stop assuming. If you can only write for a certain type of reader, then specify that in an author's note or a pinned post or something. But, if you're not someone who specifies, literally make it as gender-neutral as possible! 😭😭 Not all readers are women (like myself and many other men or people who of any other gender)!
Also, stop tagging your "OC x characters"s as "reader x character"?? And naming the reader??? (Mostly a problem on AO3.) That literally destroys the purpose of an "x reader". If you don't wanna call the reader "Y/N", that's completely fine, just literally do not mention it. Say something like "[character] uttered your name softly" instead of "oh, Y/N". It's literally not that hard (if it is, or if you write in third person, I don't know what to tell you). And the reader is not the same as an OC? Sure, people might use their OC's names or think of their OCs in place of themselves when reading those types of fics, but it makes no sense when you have a full-fledged character and tag it as an "x reader". Like, what the hell?? I sure am not anyone's character the last time I checked.
Thank you for coming to my TEDtalk. 🥰🥰