Do Not Tag Your Fic As Reader-insert If They’re An Original Character!

goodness i’m so tired of seeing this over and over again, both on ao3 and on tumblr.

do not tag your fic as reader-insert if they’re an original character!

that’s literally the opposite of a reader-insert, which is when the character is a blank slate, devoid of any physical characteristics such as skin/hair/eye colour etc and without a name.

there is no such thing as “reader is an ofc, not y/n.”

again, that’s just an original character, not a reader-insert. do not tag it as a reader-insert.

you’re clogging up tags that don’t apply to your story. write all the ocs you want, go ham and crazy and etc. but use the right tags for the love of god.

i’m sick of having to scroll through dozens of oc fics and getting tricked into clicking on a story i thought was a reader-insert just for it to end up being abt a white woman with a ~quirky~ name 🤷🏽‍♀️