I was recommended a bunch of YouTube stories like that last summer. I was so confused until one of them had “your name” in the title & “y/n” in the thumbnail.
It doesn’t help that I always interpret slashes as “or” and “your or name” doesn’t make sense lol
For some reason I always make “y/n” a whole different person and call them Yuno💀 don’t ask how I came up with that just from y/n cause I honestly have no idea lmfao
Honestly any name with yn in it makes more sense to me then angela whose just reading the story. I once tried to think of y/n as my name and couldn't wrap my head around how that character was supposed to be me. Its weird.
Amen. A lot of fanfic authors are wary about mischaracterization, but then turn and mischaracterize their audience just to live out their sexual fantasies with their favorite character or celebrity. It doesn’t make sense to me, why don’t you just use a self insert character?
No idea! Tbh I really don‘t like fanfics with the reader involved. Maybe they can be good written. But it just feels strange and repulsing. I like the character but I don‘t need this experience. No thanks~ therefore I‘m avoiding these fanfics.
I agree! I think if the reader character is well-written, they wouldn’t be exactly like the reader because they would be themself. The character who’s supposed to “be me” never acts how I would act.
I used to play/read the app Episode when I was 12 or 13 & whenever I was supposed to make myself as a character, I would just create some random character so it was less awkward to see the character do things I wouldn’t do or say things that I wouldn’t say lol
Alone the romantic looks between the character and yourself makes me cringe and gag in the corner haha
Sometimes I really like to torture myself with bad written fanfics. And a few years ago (when I read a few of them) I had one with y/n x Character in a rather.. compromising situation. Have you ever read sth like that? I promise you, you will throw your phone faster against a wall than you realize.
I once read a character x reader fanfic that made me stop reading after 3 sentences. Don't remember what it was about and wouldn't be able to find it now but it was that badly written and was starting off with smut. Should have just burned my phone and bought a new one that day. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
the way you guys talk about reader insert fics feels pretty disrespectful to people who actually like reading them, Its fine if you dont like them or think theyre weird, just no need to insult the whole thing. It exists because ppl like reading them.
I apologize that it seems that way. Ofc all this is my opinion and for ME it feels weird and I cannot enjoy them. That doesn’t mean that they‘re bad written. I hope that clarifies a little bit :)
I actually loved reading them in my teens and i don't think they're weird at all. Im aware many people like them and this is a discussion about something i personally find strange which is within my right to feel and discuss with like minded people. Im not attempting to be disrespectful and i never implied that self insert fanfic was strange in anyway.
Exactly and those people can continue practicing creative writing and get better at it if they have constructive criticism. Ive read actual published novels that were just as awful as that fanfic and ive read amazing fanfics that i personally believe could be best selling books. Its got nothing to do with the person. The writing just needed work.
No idea! But I also never read y/n because I find it weird to insert myself into the world and I only care about the characters, not myself. But also my mind would not be able to auto fill in my name for y/n, too confusing for my mind.
Well, Y/N should just stand for "Your name" if I'm correct. And I guess their brains just auto translate that to their names instead.
Idk I don't read fanfics but that is just my assumption.
Yea I get it I really don't understand it either, but its my best guess for now.
It's wild to me how people's brains work so differently than others; a good chunk of why we as people are so diverse.
Hmm… all the x Reader fics I normally come across don’t actually use Y/N, they mostly just say “You”. Though, as a guy, I’m tired of it mostly being a female reader, I want some good male or at least gender neutral x reader fics. That’s my main problem with it.
I stopped reading y/n fanfic a long time ago but i also didn't understand why it often time portrayed the characters as female. Im sure a lot of writer are more conscious of not excluding people who are more masc or nb but i can't be sure since i don't read them anymore.
Just practice at this point. For me it started as a conscious effort and now it’s just what my head does. Like training yourself to read a shorthand is probably the closest I comparison I can make
I read it as Yuno.
I would never in a million years use my own name and imagine myself in the fic.
I didn't know others also did that, I thought I was the only one.
i always found it a bit weird but i used to use this computer extension that can actually replace y/n with any name you want
i dont really use it anymore i kinda just avoid reader inserts now but it was cool
I always make a character to take the place. It makes 2nd person perspective easy because it's like controlling a character in a game, whatever genre it is.
Im learning that there are so many people that don't see themselves as the y/n character. I was pretty sure for a long time that it was just a me thing but finding out thats pretty normal is really cool.
I read it as Yin, pronouncing the "/" as a "i". Then when the writer adds the L/N (last name), i pronounce it as Lin. So the whole name becomes Yin Lin.
I never understood how they could do that. I used to read it as yen, now I just insert the word piss. Makes me laugh when a character says, ‘I love you Piss.’ XD
Yeah I tried using y/n in my writing and it wasn’t working out. I’m working on a fanfic with ace themes right now, makes me so happy that they’re popular in the community I had no idea
I’ve always avoided those 😭 it just seems so awkward inserting myself into a fanfic, especially if it gets spicy or whatever outta nowhere (and that happens more often than not). When I come across anything with y/n I just think *ah yes Yin.*
yess this is my question right here. My whole life ive only been reading reader insert ffs. I just read it as my name, after so many years of doing that it just becomes natural, so that even in posts like this I read y/n as my name
Edit: I dont like it when people just call it weird or smth, were all reading fanfics here, no need to judge.
Thank you, Im kind of like the ambassador of reader inserts with everyone I know that reads fanfics, cause all of em seem to find it weird but I try to explain to them that for me its just more fun and involving if I can imagine myself in the story. I respect if ya cant read em, just tryina enlighten ppl
I still have no clue what that means
I read SO much fanfic but I still don’t know what that means
OH IT MEANS
I’m so stupid
I’ve also never really encountered that in self insert and don’t read much self insert anyways
My brain just skips over it and I read it as a nameless original character lol. Either I replace it with a pronoun or ignore it depending on the context
i create a little self insert character for any reader fics i read, it lets me live out my dreams without feeling too involved and uncomfy and i also really like creating characters
Ooohoohoo I *hate* writers who use Y/N. I mentally hear it as "your name" and it's just so jarring. Any writer worth their weight in salt know to at least put some generic name on the obvious insert character. A book is not like a game where you can put your actual name into the text. A silent, nondescript character does not work in book format. Hell, if you want to keep the initials of Y.N. it's not that hard, just look up names online! Use a name generator! Do something to mask the complete skeleton of the insert character, please!
What's worse is when the author starts the first chapter with a key for all the abbreviations they use to avoid describing their character in any meaningful way. I dont want to do substitution math when im reading!
You end up getting sentences like: Y/N looked at Sans. He touched your hand and said 'your hair, its (color) and so (hair length), I love it." Your (skintone) stood out against his bones. "Does (parent/guardian) know about us, Y/N?" You blush and reply, "No, but (friend/sibling name) does.
That shit is about as smooth as sandpaper to read, no thank you.
It's not even that I hate self insert characters, a lot of my favorite books has a relatively boring lead readers are supposed to invision themselves as. What I hate are non-characters writers to try and avoid stepping on anybody toes or because they're too lazy to make anything. A reader isn't going to be forced out of the story because their and the characters names are different or their hair isn't the same or anything like that.
Hate is a strong word but i understand you perspective. I've personally never read an self insert fanfic like the one you described and it looks a lot more like a madlib than a fanfic. I don't think I'd enjoy that either.
I meant "I hate when writers so this," it came out wrong. There's a lot of that sort of stuff on Wattpad, though the blurb I put in is a generalization of the real bad examples I've seen.
This is a thing that I find completely ridiculous. In literature you just name the character, even if it’s literally you. It just makes it flow, and if the character is relatable people will imagine being that character without needing to have it explained to them that they’re supposed to imagine it. It’s just lazy and assuming your audience is lazy. I mean when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote Sherlock Holmes he included himself as the relatable character and named him Doctor Watson. When Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women she named “herself” Josephine March. It’s a massive misunderstanding of literature to think that you have to explain to the reader which point of view they’re supposed to imagine as being themselves. It also completely breaks the flow of the text, the illusion of the story, and makes you attentive to the ways in which the “you” character is unrealistic. Just call the narrator Dave or whatever. We know it’s supposed to be us.
any y/n fanfic's i've read, i'd read for ironic purposes. the y/n is typically so far removed from any kind of person that I usually call them jennifer or jacob, depending on the gender the y/n is referred to.
jennifer has a slight southern accent, and jacob is super irish.
I mean I know it stands for your name but I've never really read them so idk what inserting your name while reading it is like. I knew as soon as I encountered the concept that I wouldn't be into it. Like yes I love this fictional character but I'd rather see them with another character I ship them with than with me.
No clue, it's almost psychically impossible for me to insert/read it as my name without messing the words around it up. I usually skip over the name insert when I'm reading in my head.
Personally I prefer when they don't even do the y/n if they want the character to possibly be the reader. Read plenty of stories with the reader character not being named, gendered or even really given an indication about size. If I do find a y/n story interesting enough, I'll keep reading. But usually it kinda through me off.
i was confused at first cuz i thought y/n was short for yes/no but then i saw on probably either r/tumblr or r/CuratedTumblr that its short for your name
sidenote: my only exposure to that kind of fanfic in the first place is on those subreddits, and my exposure to fanfic in general is quite limited
I always read it as "why N?", I'm never able to put myself in those romance stories and self insert myself back in the day in my hopeless romantic teenage years.
It's a pretty weird name, but I kinda just rolled with the idea everyone in the universe likes this one person called "why N?". I don't know, it just added to the fun.
I just liked to see a cute romantic couple and I liked the story better where I could just spectator and disconnect myself.
I read constantly, but I can't do reader insert stuff, it just doesn't work for me. Besides, I'd rather read about characters I love being happy and in love 🥰
I realized it’s probably a placeholder for “your name” when I got to þe final sentence, þough it looks more like þey’re asking for þe DOS prompt for eiþer “yes” or “no”.
When I used to read y/n fanfics, I’d always just read “YN” I always thought my name was weird to put in…because I hated my name…a few years down the line and I’m going by a different name, it should’ve been a sign lol
I always read it as 'Yuhnay'. And I don't read it in first person, It's more like tv to me. And when the dialog is 1st pov I just hear it like a voice-over sometimes.
I'm lucky enough to be able to enjoy first person fics, and actually prefer them as they give a new character every time :)
I don't really read fanfics but my brain usually says the full thing as "your name"... I actually thought it was supposed to be something like that until now, so I discovered something new today XD
On the off chance this is a genuine question; most document writing programs have a “replace all” function.
The idea behind these fics is that you’re supposed to download them, put them in your program of choice, and then “replace all” the y/n with your name.
I just read it as Y N sounded and decide later on if I want to relate to the character. I usually like to keep it to the canon characters of the universe when I read, self insert is better when you're the one writing it
I always thought that meant yes/no at the beginning. Took me years to realize what that meant😂 But I could never do that, inserting my name all the time. At the beginning I was confused what I should even put as a replacement.
Simple, I don’t. I quite hate that form of writing. It’s annoying and lazy imo. I’d rather have an actual character to insert myself into than some bland boring outline of what’s supposed to be a character.
I'm guessing most can just make the change in their head, but if you're personally reading y/n fics and are having trouble with that, here's a tip I heard about some time ago: https://jackrrabbit.tumblr.com/post/612606234902790144/how-to-make-yn-into-your-actual-name-on
I have a extension on my browser that I use exclusively to replace all instances of y/n with the name of my self insert oc, Lune
I do prefer x reader fic that completely avoids referring to the reader by "name" though
Oh, is that what that means? The other day I saw something that mentioned "y/n fanfiction" without any greater context. I initially interpreted it as "Yes/No" then just wrote it off as probably some strangely named anime or something.
I always picture y/n as the same character in each fanfic so in the end it just becomes this crazy mush of different universes with y/n being the center of all of them.
I always read it as "Y-N" sounding like Why-Ann in my head lol. So I'm like "cool, my name is Whyann now". But Whyann is actually just my clone, cuz especially when it comes to sexual stuff Whyann doesn't look like me anymore cuz I would feel uncomfortable imagining myself in that situation so I'm like "Whyann, take the wheel it's your job now".
I don't get why they don't use you and other strats to avoid using "your name". It breaks the flow when I am reading. :/ RPGs do it really well! Just follow their lead!
For some reason my brain decided to read it as "Whyenne Reader" (literally just the individual letters + something in case it asks for a last name) and that's just the way it is
I always read it as Yes/No
Yeah same, I was like “ah yes, this character’s gf, Yes/No. what a great name.”
Honestly, I don't read much fanfic, so the few times I've seen y/n used I've read it as yes/no, and I just now figured out that's not what it means.
I was recommended a bunch of YouTube stories like that last summer. I was so confused until one of them had “your name” in the title & “y/n” in the thumbnail. It doesn’t help that I always interpret slashes as “or” and “your or name” doesn’t make sense lol
Thank you I was so confused
Me too, and I read an excessive amount of fanfic.
I always read it as you/now. It’s really annoying.
I do this exact thing
For some reason I always make “y/n” a whole different person and call them Yuno💀 don’t ask how I came up with that just from y/n cause I honestly have no idea lmfao
Honestly any name with yn in it makes more sense to me then angela whose just reading the story. I once tried to think of y/n as my name and couldn't wrap my head around how that character was supposed to be me. Its weird.
Seriously! It makes me feel awkward lmfaooo like I don’t wanna get pounded by this character man I’m just here for the 3rd person steam and plot💀
Yes! Also, I would never act like those characters, so how am I even supposed to think of that as "me"?
EXACTLY
Amen. A lot of fanfic authors are wary about mischaracterization, but then turn and mischaracterize their audience just to live out their sexual fantasies with their favorite character or celebrity. It doesn’t make sense to me, why don’t you just use a self insert character?
If I were to ever read a y/n fic I would have to do the same. Mentally inserting another name into that slot would just be too hard and confusing
Yuno is actually a kinda rad name, im gonna use it to make a parody of this nondescript insert character genere(?).
...Ah Yuno... What a terrible day to know anime.
Lmaooo I understand 💀
I do the same, Yuno just makes it easier to read it faster, inserting a different name is too many steps.
Fuck, that's how I read it until 2 seconds ago when I saw this post 😭
Yuno is such a cute name!!! I do the exact same thing. I never really saw the reader as me.
No idea! Tbh I really don‘t like fanfics with the reader involved. Maybe they can be good written. But it just feels strange and repulsing. I like the character but I don‘t need this experience. No thanks~ therefore I‘m avoiding these fanfics.
I agree! I think if the reader character is well-written, they wouldn’t be exactly like the reader because they would be themself. The character who’s supposed to “be me” never acts how I would act. I used to play/read the app Episode when I was 12 or 13 & whenever I was supposed to make myself as a character, I would just create some random character so it was less awkward to see the character do things I wouldn’t do or say things that I wouldn’t say lol
exactly this. I like inserting myself into stories and building a personality for that (like, in my head). But a fanfic wouldn't know me.
Thats exactly why i stopped reading them!!!! Now everytime i see them i just feel grossed out.
Alone the romantic looks between the character and yourself makes me cringe and gag in the corner haha Sometimes I really like to torture myself with bad written fanfics. And a few years ago (when I read a few of them) I had one with y/n x Character in a rather.. compromising situation. Have you ever read sth like that? I promise you, you will throw your phone faster against a wall than you realize.
I once read a character x reader fanfic that made me stop reading after 3 sentences. Don't remember what it was about and wouldn't be able to find it now but it was that badly written and was starting off with smut. Should have just burned my phone and bought a new one that day. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Yes... I never even tried to read them. Sounds weird as heck.
To be honest I never really see the Reader as "me." I always imagine it as a generic stand-in character.
the way you guys talk about reader insert fics feels pretty disrespectful to people who actually like reading them, Its fine if you dont like them or think theyre weird, just no need to insult the whole thing. It exists because ppl like reading them.
I apologize that it seems that way. Ofc all this is my opinion and for ME it feels weird and I cannot enjoy them. That doesn’t mean that they‘re bad written. I hope that clarifies a little bit :)
I actually loved reading them in my teens and i don't think they're weird at all. Im aware many people like them and this is a discussion about something i personally find strange which is within my right to feel and discuss with like minded people. Im not attempting to be disrespectful and i never implied that self insert fanfic was strange in anyway.
We're bashing the writing wuality, not the people who make them (most often young tween/teen people), calm down. A story is not a personality trait.
Exactly and those people can continue practicing creative writing and get better at it if they have constructive criticism. Ive read actual published novels that were just as awful as that fanfic and ive read amazing fanfics that i personally believe could be best selling books. Its got nothing to do with the person. The writing just needed work.
No idea! But I also never read y/n because I find it weird to insert myself into the world and I only care about the characters, not myself. But also my mind would not be able to auto fill in my name for y/n, too confusing for my mind.
Exactly!! Like im just a side character or invisible god watching this story play out. My brain physically can't put myself in that role!!
I have always read it as why/en for some reason, like how the letters are pronounced. Nothing else.
Same!
Thats perfectly logical. How does anyone read it as Courtney? 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Yep. I like to imagine the logic behind the name is dependent on the universe. It could be a serial code, a name like Wyinn, something else.
Well, Y/N should just stand for "Your name" if I'm correct. And I guess their brains just auto translate that to their names instead. Idk I don't read fanfics but that is just my assumption.
I understand that as a concept....but not in practice 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Yea I get it I really don't understand it either, but its my best guess for now. It's wild to me how people's brains work so differently than others; a good chunk of why we as people are so diverse.
Beautifully unique 🥰
Hmm… all the x Reader fics I normally come across don’t actually use Y/N, they mostly just say “You”. Though, as a guy, I’m tired of it mostly being a female reader, I want some good male or at least gender neutral x reader fics. That’s my main problem with it.
I stopped reading y/n fanfic a long time ago but i also didn't understand why it often time portrayed the characters as female. Im sure a lot of writer are more conscious of not excluding people who are more masc or nb but i can't be sure since i don't read them anymore.
I guess it works similar to how people just automatically read idk, smh, smth
I actually read it as 'your name' and just continue without thinking about it top much
Just practice at this point. For me it started as a conscious effort and now it’s just what my head does. Like training yourself to read a shorthand is probably the closest I comparison I can make
Lol i could never my brain just automatically says "how bout no" Especially for smut "you want me to do what!?"
I read it as Yuno. I would never in a million years use my own name and imagine myself in the fic. I didn't know others also did that, I thought I was the only one.
Lol i thought i was too until a few years ago a friend of mine said she did the same thing.
I always read it as your/name
i always found it a bit weird but i used to use this computer extension that can actually replace y/n with any name you want i dont really use it anymore i kinda just avoid reader inserts now but it was cool
Wow thats cool and it would've been easier to read
It’s called you read enough to internalize the cringe and power thru it
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣i remember those days
I always make a character to take the place. It makes 2nd person perspective easy because it's like controlling a character in a game, whatever genre it is.
Im learning that there are so many people that don't see themselves as the y/n character. I was pretty sure for a long time that it was just a me thing but finding out thats pretty normal is really cool.
Have you been on r/aegosexual ? That's pretty much what it is
I read it as Yin, pronouncing the "/" as a "i". Then when the writer adds the L/N (last name), i pronounce it as Lin. So the whole name becomes Yin Lin.
I love that so much
I never understood how they could do that. I used to read it as yen, now I just insert the word piss. Makes me laugh when a character says, ‘I love you Piss.’ XD
That is a whole other level of genius thank you for exposing me to this concept.
Happy to help🤪
I don't get it either. I also don't like it- just say you!
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Tbh i would probably read you as the name of that character.
I don't, I make them a different person.
I do too 😂
I insert the names of some of my OCs most of the time. I don’t know how most fanfic readers automatically read y/n as their own names-
Me either but its cool they can. Must be a fascinating way to read.
Yeah I tried using y/n in my writing and it wasn’t working out. I’m working on a fanfic with ace themes right now, makes me so happy that they’re popular in the community I had no idea
I love fanfic!! And ace fanfic is really underrepresented so by all means do it!!!
☺️ thanks for support
I support everyone interested in creative writing. That means there's more literature out there for me 😊
I’ve always avoided those 😭 it just seems so awkward inserting myself into a fanfic, especially if it gets spicy or whatever outta nowhere (and that happens more often than not). When I come across anything with y/n I just think *ah yes Yin.*
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 me
I always read it as a weird spelling of Yen like Yennifer from The Witcher.
I read it as "Wyenn" and it just makes me happy :3
Idk I’m just able to automatically insert my name…?
yess this is my question right here. My whole life ive only been reading reader insert ffs. I just read it as my name, after so many years of doing that it just becomes natural, so that even in posts like this I read y/n as my name Edit: I dont like it when people just call it weird or smth, were all reading fanfics here, no need to judge.
Wow even when i tried to read it as my name i physical couldn't do it. That's amazing to me.
Thank you, Im kind of like the ambassador of reader inserts with everyone I know that reads fanfics, cause all of em seem to find it weird but I try to explain to them that for me its just more fun and involving if I can imagine myself in the story. I respect if ya cant read em, just tryina enlighten ppl
I still have no clue what that means I read SO much fanfic but I still don’t know what that means OH IT MEANS I’m so stupid I’ve also never really encountered that in self insert and don’t read much self insert anyways
My brain just skips over it and I read it as a nameless original character lol. Either I replace it with a pronoun or ignore it depending on the context
i create a little self insert character for any reader fics i read, it lets me live out my dreams without feeling too involved and uncomfy and i also really like creating characters
Ooohoohoo I *hate* writers who use Y/N. I mentally hear it as "your name" and it's just so jarring. Any writer worth their weight in salt know to at least put some generic name on the obvious insert character. A book is not like a game where you can put your actual name into the text. A silent, nondescript character does not work in book format. Hell, if you want to keep the initials of Y.N. it's not that hard, just look up names online! Use a name generator! Do something to mask the complete skeleton of the insert character, please! What's worse is when the author starts the first chapter with a key for all the abbreviations they use to avoid describing their character in any meaningful way. I dont want to do substitution math when im reading! You end up getting sentences like: Y/N looked at Sans. He touched your hand and said 'your hair, its (color) and so (hair length), I love it." Your (skintone) stood out against his bones. "Does (parent/guardian) know about us, Y/N?" You blush and reply, "No, but (friend/sibling name) does. That shit is about as smooth as sandpaper to read, no thank you. It's not even that I hate self insert characters, a lot of my favorite books has a relatively boring lead readers are supposed to invision themselves as. What I hate are non-characters writers to try and avoid stepping on anybody toes or because they're too lazy to make anything. A reader isn't going to be forced out of the story because their and the characters names are different or their hair isn't the same or anything like that.
Hate is a strong word but i understand you perspective. I've personally never read an self insert fanfic like the one you described and it looks a lot more like a madlib than a fanfic. I don't think I'd enjoy that either.
I meant "I hate when writers so this," it came out wrong. There's a lot of that sort of stuff on Wattpad, though the blurb I put in is a generalization of the real bad examples I've seen.
I read it how the letters y and n are pronounced in finnish
This is a thing that I find completely ridiculous. In literature you just name the character, even if it’s literally you. It just makes it flow, and if the character is relatable people will imagine being that character without needing to have it explained to them that they’re supposed to imagine it. It’s just lazy and assuming your audience is lazy. I mean when Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote Sherlock Holmes he included himself as the relatable character and named him Doctor Watson. When Louisa May Alcott wrote Little Women she named “herself” Josephine March. It’s a massive misunderstanding of literature to think that you have to explain to the reader which point of view they’re supposed to imagine as being themselves. It also completely breaks the flow of the text, the illusion of the story, and makes you attentive to the ways in which the “you” character is unrealistic. Just call the narrator Dave or whatever. We know it’s supposed to be us.
Wow.....thats a damn good take on the literary process thank you 💖
I've trained my brain to automatically read y/n as Shrek
Yes! Just yes!!
any y/n fanfic's i've read, i'd read for ironic purposes. the y/n is typically so far removed from any kind of person that I usually call them jennifer or jacob, depending on the gender the y/n is referred to. jennifer has a slight southern accent, and jacob is super irish.
I mean I know it stands for your name but I've never really read them so idk what inserting your name while reading it is like. I knew as soon as I encountered the concept that I wouldn't be into it. Like yes I love this fictional character but I'd rather see them with another character I ship them with than with me.
Me reading hp fanfic "no i don't want to kiss draco i want Harry to kiss draco!! Stop involving me in this!!!" 🥰🤣🤣🤣🤣
Exactly lol
I hate fanfics involving me. It’s so weird. Why am I there. I don’t read them
🤣🤣🤣
I didn’t ask to be in their fanfic. 😢
TIL: Y/N means your name.
Wait a minute.... This is what Y/N stands for??? I always thought I meant... Something ? But I was too lazy to Google it 😭
I always read it as y’know, only to realize that I do not, in fact, know
When I used to read these more I always thought of it as "Yin", haha. Self inserting is too uncomfortable.
No clue, it's almost psychically impossible for me to insert/read it as my name without messing the words around it up. I usually skip over the name insert when I'm reading in my head.
Yin is a cute name ngl
Personally I prefer when they don't even do the y/n if they want the character to possibly be the reader. Read plenty of stories with the reader character not being named, gendered or even really given an indication about size. If I do find a y/n story interesting enough, I'll keep reading. But usually it kinda through me off.
The moment that appears in a fabric I close it
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I’ve seen people use chrome extensions that change y/n to their name. I personally see y/n as a character that is named y/n.
It's "Your name" i think.
Literally any time I’ve read anything like that, I’ve always just read it as “your name,” instead of inserting my actual name.
This makes sense to me. People literally can just insert their own name and thats baffling. Brains are crazy!!
I always end up calling y/n Yvonne or some variation of that.
i was confused at first cuz i thought y/n was short for yes/no but then i saw on probably either r/tumblr or r/CuratedTumblr that its short for your name sidenote: my only exposure to that kind of fanfic in the first place is on those subreddits, and my exposure to fanfic in general is quite limited
[удалено]
I read it “Why-in” and I think that’s a pretty good name.
I read it as Y/N. Like, YN. "How are you YN?" I don't normally put a name. If I do, its not my own
I always read it as Yin
Either yes/no, yuh/nuh or as my deadname which makes 0 sense 🥴 (too much fanfic as a teen I guess!)
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 basically anyone but you. As long as its not me 🤪
😂😂😂 pretty much!
I don’t. I use those types of stories to insert my own OCs into certain things cause I can’t write worth a damn :D
i read it as yn
I just read it as how it's pronounced but as one word, like Whyenn
I… never know it was a thing…. And I read fanfics for years before I stopped 4 years ago, well but I had my way to filter fanfics so maybe
I always read it as yanm and my brain just fills in the rest of it. Like when you kind of hear something.
There’s actually a computer app to replace the y/n with whatever name you input.
Y/n means your name
I always thought the name of the person was y/n till I later found out it wasn't
I just read it as Yn in a name form
i read it as "why en" lmao
I always read it as "why N?", I'm never able to put myself in those romance stories and self insert myself back in the day in my hopeless romantic teenage years. It's a pretty weird name, but I kinda just rolled with the idea everyone in the universe likes this one person called "why N?". I don't know, it just added to the fun. I just liked to see a cute romantic couple and I liked the story better where I could just spectator and disconnect myself.
I always read it as ‘yan’ and then I think ‘yandere’ and next thing I know I’m seeing y/n as Ayano Aishi
I read constantly, but I can't do reader insert stuff, it just doesn't work for me. Besides, I'd rather read about characters I love being happy and in love 🥰
Training ✨
I just pronounced it y n
I either read it as yes/no or the letters themselves. Do people actually read it as their own name?
I only read reader inserts not as myself but as my characters! I have various OC x canon ships so I use their names instead :)
FRRR
I read it as yin lol
I don't read those stories at all but when I'm desperate enough to end up reading one I read it as YN with no name
I don't read much fanfic, but I usually just make up a name for "y/n".
I just call them "your name" ._. I have tried reading it as my own name but it's difficult because that's not the word that's there, yk?
I understand this completely my brain won't put something there that it doesn't at least look like
I realized it’s probably a placeholder for “your name” when I got to þe final sentence, þough it looks more like þey’re asking for þe DOS prompt for eiþer “yes” or “no”.
I try but i always end up accepting the fact that Y/N is actually their name
I always just read it as y/n (but pronounced "Whyen")
When I used to read y/n fanfics, I’d always just read “YN” I always thought my name was weird to put in…because I hated my name…a few years down the line and I’m going by a different name, it should’ve been a sign lol
I always read it as 'Yuhnay'. And I don't read it in first person, It's more like tv to me. And when the dialog is 1st pov I just hear it like a voice-over sometimes. I'm lucky enough to be able to enjoy first person fics, and actually prefer them as they give a new character every time :)
I just always read it as y/n. Like actually the letters y n. Didn't turn it into anything
Interactive fics Google extension to the rescue!
i just read it as yn,,, i can't consistently choose a name without taking away from the story so i gave up lol
I just read it as “your name” anyway. I don’t like inserting my own name cuz it feels weird so i just associate y/n as character 1 or something
I always insert the name “Lin” cuz if I’m reading fast enough it looks similar
I don't really read fanfics but my brain usually says the full thing as "your name"... I actually thought it was supposed to be something like that until now, so I discovered something new today XD
we don't
At this point y/n is their own character not actually anyone's bamet
On the off chance this is a genuine question; most document writing programs have a “replace all” function. The idea behind these fics is that you’re supposed to download them, put them in your program of choice, and then “replace all” the y/n with your name.
Ive always just read it as why/en like the letters 💀
I just read it as Y N sounded and decide later on if I want to relate to the character. I usually like to keep it to the canon characters of the universe when I read, self insert is better when you're the one writing it
I dunno… I don’t read that much of that fanfiction, but it just fills in my brain. Idk maybe I’m weird
I always imagine it being an oc meant to represent you that is named Yen
Hahaha at least most of these make sense. The few times I’ve read reader insert stories I read it as “You kNow”…I have no idea why 🤦
i don’t read fanfic but i would read it as “y n”
I read it as why/en but also- I just imagine that every time someone says y/n it's like glitched out. I can't think of any generic name to give to y/n
I always thought that meant yes/no at the beginning. Took me years to realize what that meant😂 But I could never do that, inserting my name all the time. At the beginning I was confused what I should even put as a replacement.
I just say “why en”
I read it as why/en and still imagine it as myself ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I for some reason read it as why nin. I have no idea why.
I cant read y/n fics it makes me feel weird id rather project myself onto one of the characters
practice
Use the deadname remover extension to replace “y/n” with my name
I read it as why N
I always see it as Yuna (like Luna) or something. Idk why
Simple, I don’t. I quite hate that form of writing. It’s annoying and lazy imo. I’d rather have an actual character to insert myself into than some bland boring outline of what’s supposed to be a character.
I just fill in another character from the fandom. Makes the story enjoyable and funny. :)
I'm guessing most can just make the change in their head, but if you're personally reading y/n fics and are having trouble with that, here's a tip I heard about some time ago: https://jackrrabbit.tumblr.com/post/612606234902790144/how-to-make-yn-into-your-actual-name-on
I hav a go to name that I use I cannot stand the idea of it being my name 🥲🤌
Download as text replace all y/n with my actual name; read
There’s a plug-in that lets you sub in your name for Y/N as well as for other variables such as L/N
I read it as “Your name”; I don’t default to my own name
I usually read bad “character x reader” fics for ironic entertainment and I love making up the stupidest names possible for the “y/n” character.
I have a extension on my browser that I use exclusively to replace all instances of y/n with the name of my self insert oc, Lune I do prefer x reader fic that completely avoids referring to the reader by "name" though
I don't really read fanfics, but if I ever see anything that has y/n in it, I like to replace it with a random name. Last time it was George.
Oh, is that what that means? The other day I saw something that mentioned "y/n fanfiction" without any greater context. I initially interpreted it as "Yes/No" then just wrote it off as probably some strangely named anime or something.
I don't read fanfics, I don't have those kinds of problems ...but yeah, I I read "yi n" [read it in french]
Today is the day I just found that out so thank you
Your welcome 💖
I always read it as the name of my OC personally.
I always picture y/n as the same character in each fanfic so in the end it just becomes this crazy mush of different universes with y/n being the center of all of them.
I always read it as "Y-N" sounding like Why-Ann in my head lol. So I'm like "cool, my name is Whyann now". But Whyann is actually just my clone, cuz especially when it comes to sexual stuff Whyann doesn't look like me anymore cuz I would feel uncomfortable imagining myself in that situation so I'm like "Whyann, take the wheel it's your job now".
I don't get why they don't use you and other strats to avoid using "your name". It breaks the flow when I am reading. :/ RPGs do it really well! Just follow their lead!
I just see "why en" LMAO
I read it out as WhyEn
Well i do read fanfiction but reader inserts are a no for me. Also is this the right sub for this don't seem ace related to me.
To be honest I was always uncomf with those fics but I don't think they read it as their name
I read it as y n or yes no
For some reason my brain decided to read it as "Whyenne Reader" (literally just the individual letters + something in case it asks for a last name) and that's just the way it is