Inspired by
redsnake05 in
this entry, I wanted to throw out some thoughts to everyone.
All of us are obviously into fandom and have quite the active imagination. The first time I remember playing "pretend" was with
Jem and the Holograms For some reason, I wasn't happy with just watching the cartoon. I went outside, took my plastic vacuum cleaner, hide behind my house, and danced and sang like I was member of the band, using the vacuum cleaner as my microphone. My mother poked her head out the widow and demanded to know what was going on. I sheepishly explained, and the vacuum cleaner was confiscated. Now that part was because I grew up in an extremely conservative/ubber scary prison-like home (in the South), but I quickly learned that some imagination shouldn't be shared.
As I got older, and pretended to be an American Gladiator, Carmen Sandiego, and one of the characters in Mr. Rodgers' neighborhood, I hide/only included certain people in my fantasy world and knew (even at a young age) that not everyone would understand.
Let's face it: All children have active imaginations, but some of "us" (thankfully) never grew up. I'm constantly creating stories in my head, whether it's fanfiction, original stories, or different endings to conversation/situations. Obviously, not everyone is like me/us. We don't shout to the world that we're into fandom. I feel like it's a whole new level of "outing myself" when I meet someone and fanfic is discussed.
What turns off the "imagination station" in others? Like I suggested to
redsnake05 does it have something to do with a massive amount of heterosexual relationships being depicted in books, tv, and movies, (be it both healthy and unhealthy), and some of us yearn for something we can relate too? I don't feel that's 100% accurate because, as we all know, het fic exists, as to het writers, so something else drives fanfic writers to ummm write.
Wanting to see a f/f relationship (especially one that's almost canon due to subtext) is probably my personal drive, but what is yours? Why do you think some adults are weirded out by fandom and don't understand that we're very much attached to reality, realize these characters aren't real, but want to expand what the original writer's didn't? Granted, I'm relatively new, as I've only been writing fanfic since June, but I can't turn off/stop the story lines and would potentially go crazy if I tried.
Edit: I'm in no way attempting to link fannish behavior to a childlike mentality. I'm simply referring to when I first remembered imagining, and wondered if that's where it began with me. I want to know where everyone's drive to write fanfic is from. I realize that children have a very basic knowledge of characters and situations and what we do is far more developed.