Drowsing in the minds of children from the very time of birth - before, even - live fantasies of other realms. Mothers reciting poems to their swollen belly, singing songs of faraway places. Fathers reading from tattered volumes under the soft shimmer of candlelight, their little ones tucked safely into bed. Storybooks, more often than not, told tales of sweet, rebellious girls whisked away to another land. Hair groomed into silken plaits or gilded coils, dresses made from the finest velvet and lace. Swept up in a magicked wind from some nameless, dusty, depressing place, only to be deposited into paradise, shining and ambrosial. Slow-falling for days into rabbit holes with the leisure to have tea and jam on the way down, read the papers even, and come to rest softly on a nest of leaves at the bottom.
Symphonies of miniature harps and seashell horns were played by the tiniest of gossamer fairies in these stories, ephemeral, and fading in and out like the tide. Clouds floated pink and blue, spun from sugar. Garden blooms shifted from color to color, and in some lands, in some places, the very blades would whisper limericks into your ear. It was into these stories, the stories of illusion and fancy, that every rebellious little girl wanted to go. Sometimes, even still, Manon would dream of a land full of rainbows and speaking cats. Sometimes, though, the evils of the real world crept inside, insidious and contagious, and bit by bit her utopia grew ill.
People should learn to distinguish between attachment and connection. You might be deeply attached to someone with whom you do not actually have a connection with, meanwhile you can also have a genuine connection with someone whom you are not attached to - aka not feel strong emotions towards.
Attachment is an illusion of the mind. It tricks you. It simply means you are ‘so used to someone’. Not that you are really connected to someone.
Stay aware. Do not mistake attachment for a connection.
*May trigger those who write OC’s instead of ‘readers’*
New trend: readers are people before they’re the objects of your fantasy. Like, if you want to put an OC, don’t tag it as ’ x reader.’ And I certainly do not want to read about the pretty blond reader with pretty much non-existent boobs and athletic. Like, write an OC.
A reader is a form of how people read about what they could do with either idols, stars or fictional characters. At most, what we should promote when writing ‘x Reader’ stories is the sexuality of said readers so they can feel like it’s talking about them not for you to put on your appearance. Of course, we are not the same, and we won’t react the same way, and that’s okay, but do I have to be described as a blonde, pale-skinned, blue-eyed, athletic slim girl when -while still being white- I am not like that at all?
I’ve seen many people talk about the lack of black or Hispanic or any other POC on the ‘x reader’ tag. All I can think about is that do we even need to know about everything else? Can the reader be just not presented physically? Except when it’s asked as a commission or if I don’t know if it’s relevant for the story, I don’t need to know that the reader was a very catholic and petite girl with doe eyes and pursed lips most of the time.
I’ve seen great 'x readers’ stories who didn’t pinpoint what the reader looked like because it has nothing to do with the story. It’s not right to force your preferred look upon innocent readers who want to read about themselves with their favourite characters/idols/stars/whatever.
The most you can do with features that you could have would be in headcanon titled, such as: With an S/O with glasses, or With an S/O with Anxiety. Those are comforting for people who have those features and can be refreshing to read about, but in an 'x readers’ one-shot, those details are not necessary (again, not if it’s relevant for a plot).
Also, can we stop to write (M/N) when the reader is specifically male? If I’m a boy, and my name was Nathan, then it’s my name, not my male name. A name is a name. I’m not talking about dead names, that’s something else and is entirely irrelevant to this here, but if it’s about a dead name, then it’s not going to be either (F/N) or (M/N) it’s going to be (D/N)*.
What I’m trying to say is that if you’re to write about specificity in an 'X readers’ story, reflect on if it’s relevant for your story before. Suppose it’s not, like hair colours of activities, or religion (we don’t need to write about beliefs if it’s optional *). Be respectful of the shell an 'x readers’ tag is supposed to give and think about the context.
But please, don’t stop writing about chubby!Readers, POC!Readers, etc., it is essential to write about difference, advertise it before though, present your writing, and put it in the right tags, because finding smut in the fluff section can be very triggering, even if it’s soft smut.
*Not as in Daughter name
*Believe in anyone you want, just don’t put it in the middle of something unrelated like… shopping? Not everybody goes to church, and it could be triggering so thank you
Ok, hear me out… - he has no sense of loyalty but expects it from anybody - is paranoid and psychotic - kills for stupid reasons and puts the blame on the victim - brainwashes millions of people into believing his bullshit side of the story - is homophobic - is racist - sees women only as a walking womb - made up some fantasy BS and put it in a book, and now acts as if it’s real - raises his children away from reality, basing their education on said book - wants to tell you what you should and shouldn’t eat and drink - hates tattoos and has negative opinions on tattooed people - flood the planet… with an endless stream of crappy albums - has no sense of style - is easily triggered - has a white beard
