Not Some Of The Female Obey Me! Fans Getting Pissed Off At The Male Obey Me! Fans Cause Theyre Male.

Not some of the female Obey Me! fans getting pissed off at the male Obey Me! fans cause they’re male. 🤨

Erm, isn’t MC gender neutral in the game? There is no she/her, it’s they/them. Just because MC is a pink sheep does not mean that they can only be female. If the game wanted female fans only, they would have made the MC she/her.

That’s why so many people are in love with this game, because it is gender neutral. So many dating sims and otome games have the standard “young woman with brown hair, white pale fair skin, and brown eyes” as their MC. They immediately label their MC so much to where it can be hard for certain ones to relate to it. Obey Me! is their haven of peace. Males, Non-binary, and or Trans peoples don’t have to worry about not being accepted or not because every aspect of the game is built around YOU — the MC, not the characters or what the devs want. You can’t say it’s a girl’s game because it isn’t and wasn’t made to be that way.

And even if MC was identified as a female in the game, males have a right to play the game still… I mean it’s free and it’s not like they can’t just replace the pronouns with their own when they read the dialogue. The males of Obey Me! are just as into it as y’all, instead of detesting them, love and accept them as fellow fans.

Ladies, stop trying to take everything away from the guys, learn how to share. 🙄✋

Black Lives Still Matter!!!!!!!!!

We are NOT your trend. Your timeline may be back to "normal", but remember that black lives still matter. My people and what we go through and have gone through are NOT your trend.

Wait so I realized something a little while ago, during all the craziness at STYX, where the hell is Crowley??? Like, didn’t he get taken too?? Man’s too sus for his own good damn

🗣Anyone using a period tracker app needs to very strongly consider deleting it. Not now, but RIGHT NOW!

Your personal data that is being collected can and has already been mined and sold to marketing firms and law enforcement. You don’t need to be Margaret Atwood to imagine who your private information might be sold to, or what period-tracking data might be used for in a Republican state, or in a conservative court of law.

I really hate to sound alarmist, but this is Christofascist America in 2022, please protect yourself and act accordingly.

👉🏿 https://www.consumerreports.org/health-privacy/what-your-period-tracker-app-knows-about-you-a8701683935/

👉🏿 https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/05/04/abortion-digital-privacy/

👉🏿 https://www.newsnationnow.com/business/tech/abortion-data-privacy-question/

A Guide to Writing Inclusive Reader-Inserts

I’ve been really fired up about what @renniecirque has been posting about recently, and I want to do everything in my power to help promote inclusivity in the TWST fandom, as well as every other fandom that people write for. So below, I’ve compiled a comprehensive list of literary elements I use in my writing that make writing for characters of all backgrounds, sexualities, genders, races, and appearances much easier and much, much simpler.

1. Second Person Perspective

Alright guys, this is a big one, and the quickest way to make a big immediate change in your reader inserts. In my opinion, this should be the standard for all reader insert writing, and I’m surprised by how little I see it. I acknowledge that people may use first and/or third person for preferential or stylistic reasons, and that’s okay. But if that doesn’t matter as much to you, then I highly recommend switching to second person in all your works.

How to use:

Address the reader with you/yours pronouns when writing the narrative. It’s genderless, easy to stick to, and most importantly, it creates a genuine connection between the real-life reader and the person they’re acting out in the story! In my experience, all of the best reader inserts are written in second person.

Even if it’s an explicitly stated reader insert, hearing the word “I” used when referring to the reader can create this sense that you’re reading someone else’s experience. And that’s not the point! You want to enable your reader to immerse themselves fully into the story and without feeling awkward or like they’re intruding. I know it may be hard to get away from writing in first-person if that’s what you’re used to, but I can promise that even with a little bit of effort, it can be easily fixed. It’s also a helpful exercise for writing in different perspectives!

This also makes it unnecessary to use pronouns for the reader at all (except when they’re being referred to in dialogue—but you can easily work around it by avoiding pronouns altogether when referring to the reader, and when it’s necessary to make that distinction, call them by name). You’ll find this will be a lot easier to differentiate the reader’s actions versus the characters’ actions. And it also makes it unnecessary for you to use placeholders for names like (y/n), MC, Yuu, etc in every other paragraph, so the writing overall looks more cohesive and professional.

This is also done in mainstream visual novels such as Obey Me!, The Arcana (technically uses first person, but there are seldom gendered pronouns) and Twisted Wonderland. The player hardly ever gets referred to by specific pronouns in favor of the characters calling them by name, and even with specific pronouns, the default is they/them. Personally, I always use gender neutral terms in my writing, as sparse as it may be. Because the great thing about it is that it can apply to anyone and everyone, since it’s neutral!

Overall, this is the quickest and easiest way to make your writing more inclusive!

2. Forgo Descriptions of the Reader

I am a huge advocate for a person’s appearance, gender, and inherent personality traits not having any impact on whether or not it’s possible for them to be loved, especially in a reader insert fic. But descriptions are everywhere—how can you get away from the age-old sea-blue eyes, the ivory skin, the voracious curves that have become the cornerstone of all your reader insert stories? Well, I can promise that it is indeed possible.

How to use:

I get it, you’re used to describing the immediate features of a character you’re introducing, which is expected, and what you should be doing! But it can be off-putting to a potential reader to read that the person they’re supposed to be has traits that they don’t have. However, the use of second person perspective as described previously does a good job of getting rid of that need for you! The reader already knows what they look like, how they act, you don’t need to tell them. By all means, keep descriptions of other characters—they’re necessary for development and visualization. But by using second person, you implicitly establish that everyone already knows what you look like, act like, etc; and even if they don’t, it’s not told from their perspective!

But say you still want your reader to have certain features—an attractive face, a timid demeanor, a charismatic presence—as it has an impact on the plot. There are ways to do that without stating those exact things specifically. Show, don’t tell! I know you’ve probably heard this from English teachers, journalists, and writing advice articles, but in practice, it can make or break your story. Don’t say that they’re pretty, show people in the halls pausing to take a second glance at them as they pass. Don’t say they’re shy, show their reluctance to speak up in class. Don’t say they’re charismatic, show the way their friends’ faces light up when they enter a room, the way their peers stare in rapt attention when they speak. This not only makes it easier for the reader to better imagine themselves in the scenario, but it strengthens your writing overall.

3. Labels and Tags!

While I may be a huge advocate for gender neutral defaults and ambiguous descriptions, I’m also a huge advocate for writing whatever the fuck you want. You wanna write for a reader with specific characteristics? Do it! A certain scenario that only applies to a niche group of people? Have at it, my dude! And if a person doesn’t like it, it’s not your problem; they can keep scrolling. But guys, I genuinely cannot express the importance of telling your readers what they’re getting into before they start. This is the internet, and anyone can post anything—trigger warnings and SFW/NSFW tags exist for this very reason. Once something is read, it cannot be unread. But labels and tags aren’t just important for explicit scenes or abusive relationships in a story; the little things matter, too.

How to use:

Include gender of the reader, even if it’s just implied, in the title or description. This kind of goes without saying—if it’s a male reader, tell people it’s a male reader. If it’s a female reader, tell people it’s a female reader. If the reader is gender neutral or gender is not mentioned, tell people it’s gender neutral! And yet, all too often I see people posting fics centered around an explicitly stated female reader without tagging it as such. It really is a simple thing to add, and I promise, it won’t effect the views and popularity of your posts; if a person doesn’t like it to begin with, they’re going to keep scrolling. More than anything, this saves the reader from having to start a fic only to be put off by the wrong pronouns, and (if used with the previous two devices) it saves the writer from having to add in gender-based terms. You could also skip specific labels and just include the pronouns used when referring to the reader.

Include if there are explicitly stated features. If you’re writing specifically for a certain group of people with specific traits, tag it as such! And if the specific trait doesn’t have an impact on what happens on the story, I promise you, it does not need to be included at all.

I’m sure there are plenty of other things that people can do to promote inclusivity, but I’ve found these three principles to be the most effective while also being the easiest to remember. And even if you’re not used to writing in second person perspective or without explicit descriptions of the reader, there’s no harm in trying it out! If you decide you don’t like it or it’s too difficult, you can simply stop. In the long run, it will only make you a better writer.

I would apologize for this being such a long post, but I’m really not sorry; I could talk rhetorical analysis and literary devices all day. And if you scrolled this far, I can only assume you do, too. I’m afraid that Roy Peter Clark (a renowned journalist and the author of Reading Critically and Writing Well, which I highly recommend) has entered my bloodstream directly, and I simply cannot shut up about this kind of stuff. I may not be a professional, but writing has been a passion of mine for years, and these things are just my take on ways to improve your writing.

I’d love for this post to be reblogged as many times as possible, especially if your platform is heavy on fanfiction writers. Inclusivity will never not be important.

Feel free to comment your own advice or ask questions!

Also important for Twisted Wonderland players!

What I need Obey Me! players to remember: the entire playerbase is not comprised of cis girls who use she/her pronouns. The devs understood this and thus, canonically, mc uses they/them pronouns. Please do not default to she/her for mc unless you're specifically talking about you or your mc.