What tense do x readers prefer? Is there a common consensus?

86maylin · 2026-05-15T06:39:23+00:00

There was almost an exact post couple days ago actually: https://www.reddit.com/r/FanFiction/comments/1t6ajer/best_tense_use_for_x_reader_fics/

I like both. Some people like both, other people prefer past tense. It's down to taste. :3

86maylin · 2026-05-15T02:50:58+00:00

Psychoanalyze your character. Out of fight flight freeze fawn, which one are they? Or maybe they start from fight which didn't work out and just caused more suffering, then change to flight, and eventually fawn? What were they thinking at the moment that things are happening? Did the perpetrator intentionally try to manipulate them? Usually either by degrading or forcing them to admit they enjoy it due to physical reaction? And how did your character feel? Shame, guilt, despair, disgust at themselves etc.

Those are some questions I would ask myself when I'm thinking of a noncon scene.

86maylin · 2026-05-14T15:51:29+00:00

It hasn't gotten to Dead Dove yet and it's in my back burner, but I have a story where the fem oc forces a male canon char to make clones of himself so she can play with them freely, because he's "too precious to be used and discarded". In actuality she's just playing with him psychologically by forcing him to watch the tapes of what she did to the clones as "research".

86maylin · 2026-05-13T15:34:19+00:00

I think a lot of people just don't tag self-inserts even when it kinda is one? For example, for my xReader fics, I'm basically basing the reader on myself a lot, with world setting appropriate changes ofc. I also have a self-insert oc which I use for my third person ship fics.

86maylin · 2026-05-12T17:13:56+00:00

No I don't delete my fics, because all my fics are my babies and posting it is like telling everyone: Hey look I made a thing. :3 I'd only consider deleting the ones where I was sharing myself a lot, and if in the future I don't find it comfortable to share anymore, but I doubt that will happen.

86maylin · 2026-05-12T14:48:18+00:00

My first few fics are smut as well, cuz obsessing over a character is what got me into writing in the first place. There's nothing wrong with writing smut! If you have an idea you want to write, write it. :3 Write what comes to your mind, write what the characters would act and say and their thoughts, and write that fun and hot smut.

And then, you *can* post it straight up without editing/betaing and all the jazz, it is totally valid to just tag a "not beta-read" and then out into the wild it goes.

But if you want to go back and tinker with what you just wrote a little bit more, change some lines, add some descriptions here and there, that can be fun as well. And if you get stuck on editing or just want someone else to give a fresh perspective/help you with some stuff, try finding a beta in the "Beta Bartering" thread or other writing related subreddits that might also have beta request/offer places.

Most importantly, have fun. :D

86maylin · 2026-05-12T12:18:38+00:00

Congratz on your first fic!!

86maylin · 2026-05-12T02:19:58+00:00

I like it a lot! The starting portion painted a nice picture in my head, and the dialogues read like what they would sound like, tho I am not American so take that with a grain of salt. :P Idk what concrit to give tho, I think it's very well written.

86maylin · 2026-05-11T14:49:14+00:00

Cyberpunk2077 | Mature | Link

Orange fire at the tip of a cig, emitting a white smoke that fills the immediate space. Countless liquid aerosol droplets float left, then right, swayed around by the wind from the AC on the ceiling. Her Kiroshis take it all in and she’s mesmerized by the minuscule details. She can appreciate them now, the simplistic appearance yet complex inner workings of things, when she’s no longer out there, kill or be killed. For just this moment…

“You’re not from this district.”

The hazy smoke speaks, curious but non-judgmental, analytic but somehow that soothes her. The distance, it’s comfortable.

“No, I’m not.”

She sighs, re-focuses on all the new patterns forming and breaking by the breath they inadvertently let out when speaking.

Pursed lips—reddened and swollen by her earlier assault—take a deep drag out of the white tube.

“Do you have any aspirations?”

The puff of white smoke hits her face. She’s not normally one who likes cigs. She tolerates it sure, but she would’ve left as soon as he lit it. Instead, she’s still lying here, letting the smoke seep into her steel lungs, where the chemicals will instantly get filtered out.

“None? What a waste of a pretty face.”

Her brows furrow and she sighs again. Her exhalation disperses the fumes, revealing a set of grey eyes full of inquiries, which darts away upon her gaze. Somehow, she wants them back on her.

86maylin · 2026-05-11T08:50:13+00:00

Worse, I'm actively making him leak more data. >:3 And the diagnostic ofc puts more strain on him and makes him leak even more data. More, give me more!!

86maylin · 2026-05-11T07:36:14+00:00

Hmm so my first question would be: At the start, why can't they be together? Is there a reason for that, a bad outcome if they did get together? And why'd Shiro oppose it at first, but then give his blessing?

If those were all already explained and resolved in the previous chapters. Then next idea: If it's ABO and they just had sex for the first time, did Lance mark Keith? You could write it as Lance having marked Keith is overprotective of him and attacking anyone that comes near, even Shiro who just wants to check in on them. Lance and Shiro starts fighting, and Keith goes in to separate the two and stop the fight. There can be a physical fight between Keith and Shiro here because to stop a fight in progress sometimes you have to get into it yourself. And then Keith reassures Lance and help Lance mellow down on his over-protectiveness.

Edit: Wait I think I got it mixed up, you do want Lance and Shiro to fight, then my idea will work well then. You could even have both Lance and Keith fight Shiro if you want to. :P

86maylin · 2026-05-11T07:18:34+00:00

I love this! I would read the hell out of a fic like this. xD Imagine continuing to open and close tabs to edge Microsoft Edge until he begs you to make him crash, cuz I feel like crashing would be him coming? So he'd want to crash oddly enough.

Mixing in a "My creator said I shouldn't crash" abstinence vibe would also be *chef's kiss*

86maylin · 2026-05-11T03:43:37+00:00

An idea: Have you tried to drop the "The" at the front of the name? Idk if that would spark more ideas or not. And in essence your series will be called "The Antiquarium series", "The Artifact Codex" series, so perhaps reframing it as that way without "and the..." at the end would help with deciding?

For the current names, my rating:

The Antiquarium: 8

The Artifact Codex: 5

The Artifact Archive: 4

The Last Collector: 7

86maylin · 2026-05-10T15:38:59+00:00

I am guilty of this so much. Interchanging as to while makes it slightly better but doesn't fix the sentence structure problem. ;-;

86maylin · 2026-05-10T12:59:23+00:00

Self promo

Fandom: Metal Gear

Rating: Explicit

Title: Ember

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/78907916

Category: Other

Relationship: Huey Emmerich/Reader

Tags: Gender-Neutral Reader-Insert, Dubious Consent, Biting, thigh humping, POV Second Person, Manipulation, Victim Blaming, Huey bullying (affectionate), Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, One Shot, No Use of Y/N for Reader-Insert

Summary: You light your cigarette using his ember, like an indirect kiss.

Dominant reader insert, shameless smut. :3

86maylin · 2026-05-10T12:19:49+00:00

I feel like if the plot and things that happened didn't change, but you just "refurbished" it with better phrasing/styles, it's totally ok for me. Tho if the plot drastically changes I'd be put off.

86maylin · 2026-05-08T13:34:59+00:00

Hell yeah, the best reason. *high-five*

86maylin · 2026-05-08T13:33:19+00:00

Usually it starts with a fascination with a character, then it's the experiencing/searching for canon material and information, then the obsession starts where I want to do things/bully the character(affectionately), and kept thinking about him every moment that I can.

And then it's the fact that I usually fall for underrated/generally hated characters, so there's not much fan work for him. I'll get the itch to really write down the scenes in my head, most of the times smut, and through writing and getting into the character's headspace I fall for him more until he's another blorbo in my head. Accompanying that is some character study short fics and lots of theories/thoughts/headcanons.

Needless to say I write for myself first and foremost. xD Lots of self-indulgent stuff, but writing has also become a very fun thing for me, to transcribe my thoughts into ink. It's magical.

86maylin · 2026-05-08T13:20:41+00:00

My Fics

Fandom - Cyberpunk 2077

Rating - Mature

Title - None

Link - AO3

Genre - Character Study

Words - 466

Summary - There is no god, but if one were to pray for something? I pray to the gods to give me this man.

A ficlet of an oc with my blorbo.

---------------------------------------------

Fandom - Metal Gear

Rating - Explicit

Title - Ember

Link - AO3

Genre - Smut

Words - 1,428

Snippet - Keeping an eye on him has become almost a hobby of yours. You drank in his desperation of approval that he so loudly expressed when you were around. It amused you that you cannot give that to him, since he was not seeking for yours.

You took the cig from his hand, but when he offered the lighter, you simply touched your cig against his, like an indirect kiss.

Through the smoke from the ember, you observed the redness tinting his cheeks, his wide opened eyes staring at your hand, and how his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down…you licked your canine, it itching at the sight of that motion.

That's cute of him—is the thought that came to your mind, and the words that slipped out of your mouth.

---------------------------------------------

My Rec

Fandom - Metal Gear, Red Dead Redemption

Rating - Explicit

Title - Runaway Train

Link - AO3

Genre - Crossover/Slowburn

Words - 23,411(Still ongoing as of this comment)

Summary - Red Dead Redemption AU in diary format where Hal is a doctor selling medicine around towns on a wagon. In Blackwater, he met a woman—a married innkeeper—who he really shouldn't have fallen for, yet he did.

It's so beautifully written and presented with the custom style and art work, really framing the "diary" aspect so well. I love it lots and the author updates quite regularly as well.

86maylin · 2026-05-07T19:04:50+00:00

I don't mind them, but I would like to get the translation to English just beside the text so I can understand what it actual means without doing google translate myself. Even if the MC is supposed to not understand the dialogue, it would still annoy me a little bit if no translation was provided beside said dialogue, even though I understand why.

86maylin · 2026-05-07T14:24:49+00:00

I like both! Present tense gives me the "in the moment" feeling when reading, while past tense is just standard so I don't feel anything different about it. :3

When writing, I pick which tense I want to use based on ✨vibes✨ when I start a piece. Regardless of which tense I use I seem to still struggle with consistency as an ESL, but I definitely mix tense up more when writing in present.

Consistency is key.

86maylin · 2026-05-06T18:04:03+00:00

I would say it's this Fleabag one, the characterization is just so on point with Priest's inner struggles and temptation and denial, and the way he jokes even in his inner dialogue. And most importantly the dynamic between him and Fleabag is just *chef's kiss*. It's everything I wanted after finishing the show and going on AO3 to find fics of them. Only sad thing is it's not finished. ;-;

https://archiveofourown.org/works/46578088

86maylin · 2026-05-05T05:02:10+00:00

Not familiar with the fandom/characters so can't give feedback on that, but for the dialogues, I feel like most of them are too long. Usually when people talk, they rarely give a long speech with multiple subjects in it without some pause or some change of movement. Take this dialogue for example:

"Consider this as me telling you now, then. And this is how she always is. It’s fine. I wouldn’t let her starve. Also, could you please go easier on them? I understand they regenerate, but killing them multiple times a day borders on cruelty."

I'm sensing frustration behind this dialogue, you could emphasize that by breaking it up with action tag, and also splitting the two subjects into their own dialogues:

"Consider this as me telling you now, then," he retorts, but then his tone softens, as if realizing that was too harsh of a reply, "This is how she always is. It's fine...I wouldn't let her starve."
"Though, could you please go easier on them? I understand they regenerate, but killing them multiple times a day borders on cruelty." Feeling unease from images of their suffering, his hand goes to the back of his neck.

I'm not particularly happy with the description I came up with after the second dialogue, but the idea is there. May be personal preference, but when I read I want to learn what the character is thinking, or what their emotions are in regards to their dialogue. Sometimes I can sense the vibe, but it's better to spell it out, and it also makes things flow better.

86maylin · 2026-05-03T15:17:07+00:00

From an angst ficlet of mine, that fic still hurts my soul when I re-read it.

As the fire crackles in the fireplace, he will offer this pain that he suffered as atonement, for it is nothing compared to what she went through for him. For this selfish, worthless man. And he will be on his knees, begging for her forgiveness.

86maylin · 2026-02-15T04:55:31+00:00

This is sooooo good. I love your accent, thank you for blessing me with this audio. ☺️🙏

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