Anybody who feels that they are completely pathetic – c’mere, I got the cure right here!
About thirteen years ago, during the renaissance of the internet forum, I got a bad case of Shipper Disease. This was around the time on Buffy the Vampire Slayer that Willow got herself a new friend, Tara. I was one of the few who spotted the nascent chemistry between the characters. Imagine my joy when the 'ship became canon (although it was MONTHS before they even let the characters kiss…)
I started writing fanfic and posting it on a W/T forum. It was the first creative writing that I had done in years and it was a great outlet. I wrote a few short stories, nothing really graphic (I just never had an interest in writing porn. Reading…that’s another story.) My magnum opus was a 90,000 word novel that crossed over into the Star Trek universe.
I will be the first to admit: it was the feedback that was the major payoff in all this. Nothing pleased me more than when someone reviewed a story with Willow and Tara, saying “You got the voices exactly right!” or in a similar vein.
I was fortunate that my wife indulged this madness with no more than token derisive comments. Being a writer herself, she gave me encouragement and let me be.
After a couple of years of this, I started losing interest. Being halfway through the sequel to the Trek story, I just sort of drifted away from it. I suppose I kinda lost interest. The forum is still there, but I just don’t sign on all that much anymore.
Which brings us to now. A few weeks ago, I discovered my latest Unhealthy Obsession ™: Rizzoli and Isles. More to the point, I discovered the shipper community obsessed with seeing these female characters hook up, in spite of the fact that they are flaming heterosexuals.
As much as I did try to resist it…I’m writing fanfic again. I wasn’t even sure I was going to write it as “Rizzles” (the preferred portmanteau designating it as “slashfic”) but I got a little browbeat into it by some of my early reviewers (e.g. “I only read ‘Rizzles’”) Well, you gotta give 'em what they want.
:dubious: