🔥 Ships!
[ Send me a “ 🔥 “ for an unpopular opinion. | Accepting! ]
Oh boy! This one is one that is a fairly delicate one for me to discuss but I will try!
Shipping is one of those things that turn the wheels in fandom as we know it. If your character has a good design, a great lovable personality, and the proper connections they create an interesting dynamic that many people can never get tired of. People are hit by a specific narrative cord and they begin to weave their own tale of how these respective ships would act. Whether be through art, written words of a novel, or even casual discussion in chats.
If written well, it comes off as an interesting subplot in a novel I can never tire of. I have my own tropes that I enjoy seeing in action. After all romantic love, can be the greatest driving force in stories.
But there are times in stories people assume you know what love and desire feels like. It doesn’t have to be explained because it’s all a part of the human condition. Many are banking on you to identify with the situation without explaining it. Many have grown lazy with explaining the song and dance because they know the steps, the reasons of why they fall for each other. Is it purely physical desire? Is emotional? Is it going to send them down a bad path spiraling to self-destruction? Will this conflict with their goals, their dreams – what is stronger? Sometimes this is never explained and that bores me.
Many people go down the same established path, where romantic plots are a shorthand means for characterization. Sometimes it works, but I noticed it’s most easily stomached when it’s not being pushed directly into your face. Poorly conceived romances are always a great struggle for me to get invested in especially when they two are the only characters who seem to exist in an otherwise endless void with nobody to penetrate that bubbled reality other than to serve as antagonistic forces as best or wing men.
But generally speaking, I do not judge people’s pairings of choice or even what they choose to write, what they enjoy and so on. (As long as it’s not hurting others.) But I completely understand why many people are not interested in others and do my best to respect it.
Now here is the big question that’s on people’s minds. Do I ship things? Yes. I’ll never be confident ever write it out however, simply because I don’t believe I understand the human condition enough to write it out in the interesting way I want it to be. The way I would ideally write it, it would be mixed in a greater plot. Something I don’t believe I have the competence to write it out successfully.
Would I personally roleplay a ship? It all depends on the dynamic and the other writer! If it happens, it happens. But if it’s forced expect my characters to rebuff it somehow. Inherently, all the characters I play are hard to love so the choice to pursue them could be disastrous. But if anyone is foolhardy enough to try recklessly without understanding them, it’d be kind of entertaining in it’s own right.
