Reader Insert Fanfiction
by BeccaAnne814

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a superhero fighting alongside Batman or the Avengers? What about a singer on tour with your favorite band? How would you like to go on adventures with the characters from Star Wars? Whatever your favorite fandom is, Reader Insert Fanfiction is perfect for you!

When you write a Reader Insert story, you can imagine that you are a character in your own story, and the best part is, anyone who reads it can experience that same thrill of being a part of the action.

The key to a successful Reader Insert story is to make your main character as vague and general as possible so than anyone reading your story can imagine that it's actually them living out the plot of your story. Reader Insert is different from creating an Original Character because the character you're writing doesn't have a name, a specific age, or ethnicity. That being said, there are some writers who are branching off from traditional Reader Insert to create specific types of Readers such as a PlusSized!Reader, a Muslim!Reader, a POC!Reader, etc. These characters still fall under the Reader Insert umbrella, but the writer has chosen to give them a defining characteristic so that people will have an easier time identifying with the Reader in the story.

In the years that I've been reading and writing Reader Insert Fanfiction, I've paid attention to constructive criticism people have offered to both me and other writers I follow, and I have tried to be more mindful of how I describe my characters based on the suggestions of my followers and other writers. You never know who is reading your story, so beware of accidentally adding in details about yourself. When it comes to describing your Reader, general and vague is the key.

Below is a list of ways to avoid common pitfalls when describing your Reader:

✗ Hair:
To be on the safe side, never mention hair at all unless you have your Reader in a wig. There are too many different hair styles/lengths/textures to make it general. It's tempting to have your male protagonist tuck a stray strand of hair behind the Reader's ear, but not everyone has hair long enough to be tucked behind their ear.

✗ Eyes:
I never mention my Reader's eye color. Instead, refer to how beautiful the Reader's eyes are. You can describe how they light up when they see the male protagonist, or that they darkened with anger when they are face to face with the villain. Eyes can also narrow in anger, grow wide in shock, roll in frustration or amusement, or glare at someone.

✗Lips:
Stay away from describing what the Reader's lips look like - instead write about how they move. "The corner of her mouth lifted in a smirk when she caught him staring at her." Lips can smile, frown, or purse together in frustration. A person can lick their lips, bite their bottom lip, or use their lips to pout.

✗Face:
There are a wide variety of face shapes, so avoid mentioning the shape of your Reader's chin, nose, ears, cheeks, or forehead. Another common critique I see is when a writer describes the Reader blushing when she is embarrassed. Not everyone blushes, so I tend to use general phrases such as "She felt embarrassment wash over her." The person reading the story can imagine they are blushing if that's something they do, but others will imagine that sinking feeling they get in the pit of their stomach when they are embarrassed.

✗Body:
Not all women have super curvy bodies, so avoid mentioning the size of breasts, hips, or buttocks. Women also vary in height, so avoid having the Reader "look up" to the male protagonist - some women are just as tall or taller than the male protagonist in your story.

✗Personality:
Most people who read Reader Insert Fanfiction are looking for an escape from reality, so they can easily imagine themselves as superheroes or famous actresses/singers, but if the personality of the Reader is completely opposite of the person reading your story, they may be turned off and stop reading. Most of these issues center around morality. Some people may be okay with the Reader cheating on a significant other, or sleeping with two guys at the same time, but that may be a deal breaker for other people, so be careful when writing these themes.

Some keys to remember when writing a Reader Insert story is that your main character (whether they are male or female) uses some form of YN as their name. YN simply stands for "Your Name." I prefer to use YN since it's less to type, but I've seen it written as Y/N, (Y/N), or even (YFN) to represent "Your First Name." Again there's no rule to how this is supposed to be notated, so it's up to your own personal preference. Some stories you write may have your main character being related to one of the canon characters. In that case, it's perfectly fine for the main character to be given the canon character's last name. For all other Readers, you'll want to use some form of YLN to signify that the other characters are using the Reader's last name instead of their first name.

Most Reader Insert stories are written in 2nd Person, but there's no hard and fast rule that says you can't write in 1st Person, or even 3rd Person. There's a section in this book that specifically deals with Point of View, so I'll just give you a brief refresher:

1st Person – "I wanted. . ." "We went. . ." "She told me. . ."
2nd Person – "You decided. . ." "He looked into your eyes. . ."
3rd Person – "She saw. . ." "He spoke. . ." "They sang. . ."

I began writing in 2nd Person since that was the format I'd been introduced to once I started reading Fanfiction and discovered the Reader Insert stories. Now I've switched over to 3rd Person Omniscient since it allows me the opportunity to get inside the heads of the other characters in my story. I write my Reader as a female because that's what I'm most comfortable with, but there are some writers that write from a male perspective, and there are even some that keep their Readers gender neutral.

Some authors like to use abbreviations throughout their story to signify "Your Favorite Movie" (YFM), "Your Favorite Song" (YFS), etc. I find that using too many abbreviations can interrupt the flow of the story since your audience has to try to remember what each one means. I find it's easier to just mention that the Reader's favorite song came on the radio. The person reading the story will automatically think of their favorite song and insert it in the story as they read. Just make sure not to add details that may contradict. For instance, if someone's favorite song is a slow song, you wouldn't want to say the Reader jumped up and started bouncing around the room. You can be always be more specific, such as "YN's favorite pop song," "YN's favorite cereal," "YN's favorite soft drink," etc. If you do want to add abbreviations to your story, a rule of thumb is to create a list of abbreviations at the beginning of the story for reference.

One last tip I would give is to be careful of how your character behaves. You have no idea whether your audience is introverted or extroverted, or whether or not they have a religious preference. Most people who read Reader Insert Fanfiction are pretty open minded and understand that it is a work of fiction, so they can overlook some minor inconsistencies with the Reader and themselves. If you feel the need to add a paragraph at the beginning of your story describing your character's personality and physical description, then you might want to reconsider writing Reader Insert and just create your own original character. It may seem like a lot of rules to remember, but the main thing to keep in mind is to have fun! No one is perfect and this style of writing is constantly evolving, so as long as you enjoy what you write, that's all that matters. Good luck!

Special thanks to:
Anika @avengerofyourheart and
Tesla @bovaria for proofreading this for me and offering suggestions.

Do you like to write/read Reader Insert Fanfictions?