⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ꔛ ⠀𝜗𝜚 ⠀Meaning of "Yume"⠀ ✧

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⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ །⁺ ꒰৯ ⠀Directory⠀ ✧

1⠀.⠀Meaning of "Yume".
2⠀.⠀Terms Glossary.
⠀⠀ ⠀ – Gendered Terms.
⠀⠀ ⠀ – Common terms.
⠀⠀ ⠀ – Self- Shipping, Self-Insert, etc.
3⠀.⠀Sharing Etiquette.
4⠀.⠀Why do people do this?
⠀⠀ ⠀ – How do I know if I'm a Yume?
6⠀.⠀Useful Links & Content.

⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ꔛ ⠀𝜗𝜚 ⠀Meaning of "Yume"⠀ ✧

Yume (夢) means "dream" in japanese. "Yume" is used to refer content involving people Self-Shipping with their favorite characters. Yumes can represent themselves with Self-Inserts or Original Characters.

It is a fandom & literature subculture originated in Japan from "Dream Novels" (夢小説 — "yume shousetsu"), or in other words: Self-Insert novels. Most stories stem from original stories, manga, anime, otome games, books, or live-action movies, et cetera. Dream Novels aren't one-size-fits-all, the way the author writes how Self-Insert character looks and behaves like can be vague or set in stone, the latter making it difficult to relate to for anyone outside of the select group of people being represented.

It could also hail from "Yume Muke" (夢向け — lit. aimed at dreamers), a sub-genre of female-targeted media that usually features an original character who is presumed to be yourself, or a character that is so basic and "non dimentional" that you can easily mold them to represent you both in personality and appearance.

Lots of Yumes are also Otaku, Oshikatsu, Fujoshi or Himejoshi. There is quite a bit of overlapping with these communities and the Yume community! Specially with the oshikatsu & otaku community.

Summary: "Yume" is basically just Self-Shipping, but with more terms and content dedicated for the community.

⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ꔛ ⠀𝜗𝜚 ⠀Terms Glossary⠀ ✧

— Gendered Terms :

Yumejoshi (夢女子 — dream girl) :
Japanese-originated term for a female or fem-aligned person who ships herself in a dedicated, romantic relationship with a fictional character.
- 女子 (joshi) means Girl/Woman.
Yumedanshi (夢男子 — dream boy) :
The male/masc-aligned term of 'yumejoshi'.
- 男子 (danshi) means Boy/Man.
Gender Neutral :
'Yumejin' is a gender neutral term developed by western-based communities. A more accurate pronunciation is 'yumebito' or 'yumehito' (夢人 — dream person). It is not commonly used by the EA community.
'Yume' (夢) by itself is also a neutral catchall for anyone who engages in the community. Other terms include 'ドリーマー’ (dreamer) and 夢者 (musha).
- Lots of people use Yumejoshi and Yumedanshi interchangably.

I also noticed that japanese Yumes use Oshi terms quite a lot, which would make this list insanely long if I were to list them all, so I recommend reading this blog if you want to know about them!

— Common Terms : Used by Yumes online.

Fictional Other (f/o) :
Term for the fictional character a Self-Shipper pairs themselves with.
Although 'f/o' is mostly used in a romantic or romantic-adjacent way, the term can also be used for platonic, familial, and other types of relationships as well.
Comfort Character :
Not exclusive to Yume.
Term for a fictional character, usually from a book, movie, TV show, video game, etc, that someone feels a strong emotional connection to and finds comfort in. These characters often possess qualities or characteristics that the person relates to.
People use comfort characters for various reasons, such as a Coping Mechanism, Emotional Support, Escapism and Companionship.
The reason why a character could be a Comfort Character for someone is completely dependant to what the person in question has or is experiencing in real life.
Doubles :
Term for when two or more people share the same f/o. This term isn't used in a bad manner most of the time, unlike the meaning this term has had in other communities (iykwim).

— Self- Shipping, Self-Insert, etc :

Shipping / Ship :
A term used to describe fan fictions that take previously created characters and put them as a pair. It usually refers to romantic relationships, but it can refer to platonic and familial relationships as well.
Self-Shipping :
Act of shipping oneself with a fictional character. You'll also see people use "Yumeshipping" online, this would literally mean Dream-shipping, and means self-shipping as stated before.
Yumeshu/Yumenushi (夢主 — dream master) :
It refers to as the protagonist of the dream. So it takes OC, Sonas, or Self-Inserts and put it into one single category.
- The male term for this is 男主 (male master) or 夢ヒーロー (dream hero).
- The female term is 女主 (female master) or 夢ヒロイン (dream heroine).
Self-Insert :
A literal self-insert, or a character that is based on the Yume at some degree. Sometimes the things in common between the self-insert and the Yume will be close to none to the point it's basically an OC, but if the Yume prefers to call it a Self-Insert instead of the other term, they are free to do so.
Original Character (OC) :
Fictional character created by an author or artist and is entirely their own creation. They have their own backstory, personality traits, appearance, and unique qualities that make them distinct and recognizable.
Fan Character or Fan Original Character (FC or FOC) :
Fictional character created by a fan of an existing franchise, that is based around and borrows ideas, concepts, characters, and lore from that franchise. Fan Characters are popularly called OC's online, since that term is more popular.
Canon Character (CC) :
Term for character that are canonically part of a franchise.
OCxCC or OC/Canon :
This means an Original Character being shipped with a Canon Character. This also includes Fan Characters.
CCxCC or Canon/Canon :
This is used when refering to a non-yume related ship from a franchise, as in, common or rare ships from any media.

There are Yumes that have complicated feelings towards "sharing" their characters, this can be for many reasons, but the most common and simple to understand reasons for this is that they Self-Ship as a coping mechanism, their fictional others are their comfort characters, and that mental illnesses can affect the way a Yume feels about sharing their characters.

Boundaries are placed by Yumes most if not all of the time to avoid problems and keeping the community peaceful. If you see profiles with the following terms, please respect their boundaries! It costs nothing to be nice, and if you don't want to see Yumes being "chronically online", then block them yourself, you aren't forced to interact with their accounts.

Sharing OK, Sharing Welcome or synonyms :
This means that the Yume in question is totally okay with interacting and friending other Yumes that share the same fictional others as them, as well as being fine with seeing other Yumes talk about their shared fictional others, without being competitive.
Sharing with Friends Only or synonyms :
As the name says, this Yume will only share with their friends. It depends on the person if they mean friends in general (mutuals, online friends) or only close friends.
Sharing Iffy, Sharing is Conditional or synonyms :
This is a more complex and individual type of boundary.
The Yume may feel comfortable interacting with those who pursue the same character under most circumstances but then dislike it under others, they were once comfortable sharing and aren't any longer, or they don't want to publically state what exactly their boundaries are for their own comfort.
- Using me as an example: I am fine with sharing most of my f/o, except 2 characters in particular that i feel extremely iffy sharing with others, since one of them has been my f/o for almost a decade, and the other one is my biggest comfort character! I rarely block others, and when I do it, it's becuase the other person is very vocal about their love for these 2 characters I yumeship with, and it makes me uncomfortable. I don't hate the people I block, I just block to not develop any hard feelings towards them!
Non-Sharing, Sharing No Good or synonyms :
Again, as the name says, this Yume doesn't like sharing their f/o. Most of the time they announce that they block anyone who shares the same characters as them, people that say they're (the biggest) fan of said characters, or they call them romantic pet names like "Girlfriend / Boyfriend or Wife / Husband".

⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ꔛ ⠀𝜗𝜚 ⠀Why do people do this?⠀ ✧

Or, "Why do Yumes exist?"

In simple words, it makes them happy.
Like I said before, most people that self-ship do it as a coping mechanism. It's a fun hobby with a great community— I could go on for hours talking about why do I like it and how it has helped me, but that would be only my experience, so I recommend asking Yumes you know about it, if they are comfortable with it.

— How do I know if I'm a Yume :
Well, as someone who "simply knew" and became a self-shipper out of nowhere too long ago to remember exactly how it came to be, I can only make a simple list of questions that could help in some way.

1 . Do you have strong feelings towards one or more of your favorite characters, as in something more than "I like them"?
2 . Do you enjoy consuming content about them constantly, if not daily?
3 . Do you like calling them "My wife/husband/girlfriend/boyfriend" far too much, and does it feel way too good doing that?
4 . Is this character also a comfort character, or something close to it?
5 . (If you can) Do you like buying merch, writing or making fanart of your favorite characters a lot?
If the answer to most or all of the above is Yes, then congrats! You kind-of get what being a Yume is!

If you've never Self-Shipped or done OC x Canon ships, then... Try it!
Read some Reader x Character fanfics, try drawing yourself or an OC with your favorite character, write about them, talk about them with your friends, etc etc.

Now, the most important questions :

1 . Do you enjoy self-shipping or doing oc x canon ships?
If the answer if No, then you aren't a Yume (^^;) That is the main thing about being a Yume!
Maybe being just a big fan is your calling.

2 . Do you feel comfortable calling yourself or being called "Yumejoshi / danshi / jin" ?
If you don't but still enjoy self-shipping etc, then you aren't a Yume. Not everyone is comfortable being a Yume and there is nothing wrong with that!
You can use the term Self-Shipper and interact with the Yume community, even though Self-Ship is also a label and community by itself.

If you did say Yes to almost every question, then you have your answer. You probably are a Yume!

⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ꔛ ⠀𝜗𝜚 ⠀Useful Links & Content⠀ ✧

Accounts
There are multiple twitter accounts dedicated to Yume content I recommend! They have interactive posts, (anon) ask boxs, threads of things useful for selfshippers, etc etc. I also recommend looking through the hashtags #yumetwt #selfshiptwt to find people you might get along with ~

Character Creators
I decided to list these here ! Includes picrews and nekas, it has :

Fandom character creators
Masterlist for black / not-pale character creators
2 Character scenarios
Misc character creators I like !

Cool relationship chart templates

https://x.com/otp_memes
https://x.com/SelfShipSpace/status/1819463219230240862 - This is a masterlist!
https://x.com/tealkoiji/status/1815561256725627017

Sites I got most info from

by @billcipherlover twt by @flancoded twt

⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ꔛ ⠀𝜗𝜚 ⠀Meaning of "Yume"⠀ ✧

⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ꔛ ⠀𝜗𝜚 ⠀Terms Glossary⠀ ✧

⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ꔛ ⠀𝜗𝜚 ⠀Sharing Etiquette⠀ ✧

⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ꔛ ⠀𝜗𝜚 ⠀Why do people do this?⠀ ✧

⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ꔛ ⠀𝜗𝜚 ⠀Useful Links & Content⠀ ✧