Why “Shipping” is so important.

It’s a term I hadn’t actually come across until a couple years ago, but I’ve been doing it my whole life: Shipping. As in rooting for a relationship in a book, television, movies, ect. It’s in every fandom across the web. My earliest “ship” was Link and Princess Zelda from The Legend of Zelda. It’s likely what drove my five year old self, who sort of idolized the princess and thought Link was goofy and charming, to have such a passion for a story that my current self knows inside out. Actually, I can carry on conversations about their fictional world and history than I can of my actual country.

But it’s important that fans have that drive, especially in chick-lit. If fans aren’t rooting for a specific relationship to happen, then they aren’t really connecting. Not that all chick-lit is romance based, but a lot of it is. And since shipping isn’t limited to romance (bromances and bffs), even the chick-lit based in friendships need to “shippers”. While many people wanted Rachel to end up with Dex in Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin, there was a small percentage who wanted her to stay true to BFF Darcy. It’s what drives you through the story, to see who Rachel chooses. It’s the same with all works of fiction that involves relationships. If you don’t have that, then the reader isn’t going to be interested.

While I may not be an expert, I can say this is the most likely way to tell if you’re going to have readers turning pages to find out if they get their wish: shipping your own characters. Yep, if you don’t have a burning desire to see your love interests or future friends together (even if you know they won’t), then why would your readers? It will come across in your writing, causing the reader to become more involved with your characters lives.

But then again, I’m not an expert, so maybe not. All I know is that twenty-three years later I still get excited for that almost kiss, or even the hint of an ever after, every time I finish a Legend of Zelda game.