#sub genres

(Based on a post by astrhology on Instagram)

Aquarius (Action/Sci-Fi)

- The Avengers (2012)

- Avatar (2009)

- Inception (2010)

- The Matrix (1999)

- Terminator (1984)

- Jurassic Park (1993)

- X-Men (2000)

- The Fifth Element (1997)

- I, Robot (2004)

- Push (2009)

Virgo (Action/Mystery)

- What Happened To Monday (2017)

- Limitless (2011)

- The Game (1997)

- Oldboy (2003)

- Eagle Eye (2008)

- The Bourne Identity (2002)

- Fight Club (1999)

- Now You See Me (2013)

- Shutter Island (2010)

- Minority Report (2002)

Aries (Action/Horror)

- Blade (1998)

- Overlord (2018)

- Resident Evil (2002)

- Predator (1987)

- The Hitcher (2007)

- From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)

- Planet Terror (2007)

- 28 Days Later (2003)

- Don’t Breathe (2016)

Stories written from an OC’s POV in second tense are not Reader-Inserts. Stories written from an OC’s POV in second tense are not Reader-Inserts. Stories written from an OC’s POV in second tense are not Reader-Inserts

IF YOU HAVE A PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION FOR YOUR CHARACTER, IT IS AN OC They are not the reader, who is me. They are not the reader, who is everyone reading the fic.

IF YOU HAVE A DETAILED PAST FOR YOUR CHARACTER, IT IS AN OC It is not the reader, who is me. They are not the reader, who is everyone reading the fic.

It is okay and expected for a reader insert to have traits that I do not have. I am in a wheelchair. I may walk, but realistically, I cannot run. Most readers can. I am autistic, and the reader-character may react in more neurotypical ways than I do. That’s okay. In real life I have a weird name, and people will comment on it and ask how to pronounce it. But characters in reader inserts don’t ask me to verify it. That’s okay. In the story I may live with a vague caring parent, or drive a car, or have a healthy past. That’s all okay.

A reader-insert is a written story. It cannot give me multiple options like a visual novel does. It cannot choose my appearence nor can I choose my personality or history.

But what it does give me is leverage to insert myself into the story. Typically an Au!self.

But the more details you add, the more it breaks the mold. The more I feel like “this cannot be me, in any alternate universe”.

While blank names such as (y/n) or _____ are important for reader inserts, they are not the entirety of reader inserts. A blank name is not enough for me to delve into the illusion of a reader insert story. It’s only the top of the iceberg.

But if a blank name and second tense is all you have to call the story a “reader insert”, then the illusion is broken.  It doesn’t matter whether you tell me it’s me and let me use my name. This person is not me. If Agent of Asgard had a blank-name, would that mean it’s a reader insert? No. Because it’s obviously about Loki.

Just because it’s a blank name doesn’t mean it’s about me. Just because you use “you” doesn’t mean it’s about me, or any of the other readers. If you write in detailed details about their physical appearence, their past, their personality then the illusion is broken.

There are many people named Jessica. If I were named Jessica, and I read an OC with the name Jessica, and the story is written in first or second person, does that mean this character named Jessica is me? No. They are clearly, vehemently not me. I can read about them, but they are not me, the reader.

The entire point of a reader insert is to insert the reader into the story. A good reader insert will draw the reader in and, temporarily, let them live that fantasy. It is an illusion that has a delicate balance. It balances the reader-character’s personality with the reader’s  personality. The reader-character may be short tempered, they may be sweet, they may have a bad past or a healthy past, they may live alone or with roomates or family.

But they always, always have a vagueness to them. They do not tell me how to feel unless it’s relevant to the story. And usually, the good ones show me how to feel rather than tell me how to feel.

He held your pale hand in his. Squeezed it. You felt your heart racing. What could he be thinking?

“You see, the thing is...ever since  I saw you underneath the bridge, I’ve  been enamoured with you.”

‘He...was in love with me?’ you thought. ‘I’m not sure how I feel about that.’ A part of you wanted him. But a part of you was worried. You didn’t want to ruin your friendship. You run your fingers thru your hair, and the wind stires up your long hair.

Now let’s fix it up a tad.

He held your hand in his. Squeezed it. You  felt your heart racing. What could he be thinking?

“You see, the thing is...ever since  I saw you underneath the bridge, I’ve  been enamoured with you.”

‘He...was in love with me?’ you thought. ‘I’m not sure how I feel about that.’ A part of you wanted it. But a part of you was worried. You didn’t want to ruin your friendship.  You run your fingers thru your hair, and the wind stires up your hair.

Now, more.

He holds your hand in his. Squeezes it. Your heart races. What could he be thinking?

“You see, the thing is...ever since  I saw you underneath the bridge, I’ve  been enamoured with you.”

He was in love with you?  A part of you wanted him. But would your friendship suffer? You run your fingers across your head, and the wind stirs.

This is pretty darn good. But we can still change it even more if we want to:

He holds your hand in his. Squeezes it.

“You see, the thing is...ever since  I saw you underneath the bridge, I’ve  been enamoured with you.”

He was in love with you? A part of you wants him. But what about your friendship? You run your fingers across your head, and the wind stirs.

When we give the reader room to feel, we allow the illusion to take place. Your readers get to dive into the fantasy while still letting their au!self have their own feelings, which they now get to feel.

But when you do not achieve- or rather, even try- to maintain this balance, it just becomes a regular story. All fiction books contain original characters. All official characters are OCs. The idea behind a reader-insert is to draw the reader in and see the protagonist as themselves. Which means cutting down on that characterization to allow the reader to characterize themselves.

Even published books do this. Even published works have reader inserts, but they work very differently due to publication standards.

Remember Twilight? Of course you do. Remember how Bella was criticized for having “no personality”?

Guess why she had no personality. You get one guess.

That’s right! Because she was supposed to be a reader insert. But in the romance novel industry, reader inserts are really more like reader proxies. So you get undeveloped protagonists with their own name (because the publishers are NOT OKAY with blank names) who have a detailed past with no personalities so that you can put yourself into their place. Edward/Bella isn’t Edward/Bella, it’s Edward/Reader.

This setting works for some people. Some people are able to use proxies this way. Some people are just okay with reading them as underdeveloped OCs and are happy that way.

But not everyone is happy with that, which is why reader inserts developed. Reader inserts developed to give people a chance to hear characters say their names over a blank instead of over a name. Reader inserts developed so that they could be described as “you” instead of “I” or “he/she/” like most stories have in the past. Reader inserts were devoloped to counter OCs. And to support that counter, writers would lessen their descriptions of their readers feelings. An author knows how their OC feels, but an author doesn’t know how their readers feel. They’re entirely seperate individuals after all, and there are (hopefully) many of them. But then reader inserts became hype, and so youngsters in their self-insert/OC phase hopped on the blank name/second tense vote and now call these reader inserts.

If you don’t tag it correctly, then you’re misrepresenting the genre. It’s really hurting the reader insert culture by not tagging it correctly. It means I have to search and sort thru tons of fics of an entire different sub-genre just to find ones in mine. It also changes the way people who would actually like reader inserts percieve reader inserts. Can you imagine that there are people who love visual novels and hate reader inserts? Oh, they’ll date Thor in a visual novel. But in a reader insert? No way. These two are basically the same thing on different platforms: video games vs fully written word. They both contain second POV, chosen names, lots of reading, and being able to date the character you want. But for some people visual novels are lit and reader inserts are cringey. How could this be? I think it’s because people who make visual novels are more likely to take time and care in their work. Even using Ren’py takes a months of hard work to complete a demo (from what I understand). But when you’re typing on a computer, it all happens so fast. And people in highschool or below are less likely to revise their work. Ya’ll don’t give reader inserts the care they need, and it shows. Both works can be cringey. But reader inserts are judged worse because of the huge influx of kids making not only bad work, but labelling it incorrectly. It’s so easy to write what’s immediately on your mind and slap whatever tags and title you want on it.

And, I’m not saying that kids shouldn’t write. I’m 100% okay with children creating fanfics as a form of creative expression. But when children dominate a romance genre without caring about how their readers actually feel about their work, it leads to some problems. It makes the adults like the genre look bad, and it makes it hard for us to find the fanfics meant for us. It makes us feel disappointed that we can’t indulge in a genre we created.