Confessions of a Fangirl

Ladies and gentlemen: My name is Jeanette Grey, and I…am a fangirl.

What is a fangirl, you may ask? Much like its opposite gender counterpart, the fanboy, a fangirl is someone who is unapologetically fanatical about something. A book, a TV show, a movie, a comic, a celebrity. Maybe several of these. Maybe lots of these. She reads the fansites—maybe she creates the fansites. She can tell you her favorite actor’s filmography, salient points from his personal life, her favorite character’s entire life story and birthday, and the date when the next movie in her favorite series will be released, even if it’s three years out. She has Opinions about every casting choice and every minute detail that wasn’t exactly the same in the movie as it was in the book. She reads obsessively, rewatches episodes hundreds of times, can recite dialogue word-for-word, and maybe even writes fan fiction or draws fan art.

And maybe, just maybe, she goes to fan conventions. And dresses up.

I write this missive to you on the heels of my second ever Dragon*Con, where I had an absolute blast, communing with my people and giving myself a break from writing to just revel in my obsessive love of fictional worlds—the very obsessive love that led me to want to be a writer in the first place.

I went to panels on writing fight scenes, and heard comic book authors talking about their experiences. I saw the original puppeteers of Fraggle Rock performing as Red and Moki and the nine year old girl inside of me had a complete and total mental breakdown from sheer joy. I hung out with people in cool costumes and people-watched for the best geeky T-shirts.

And yes. I dressed up.

2013dragoncon-winter-hotel  2013draconcon-fury-hotel

Me as The Winter Soldier (left) and Nick Fury and the Avenge-bears (right).

Before I ever wrote, I read, and I watched movies. Before I made up love stories about attractive men, I ogled attractive, famous men. At heart, I’m a fangirl. And every now and then, there’s absolutely nothing like letting that particular part of me have free rein. 🙂

4 Comments:

  1. My name is Heather McGovern and I approve of this message.

    I think a lot of writers were fangirls first. Even our historical romance sisters fangirled the hell out of some Mr. Darcy, Heathcliffe, and Rochester in their tween and teen years.

    One prong of my “desire to write trident” is wanting to share these stories that pop into my head and, hopefully, bring other people joy – they way books and comics, movies and tv shows have brought and continue to bring me joy. Fangirling is also my total escape. It brings me more zen than kickboxing, dancing, and yoga combined. If that makes me a lil freaky, well…look how much I care. 😀

    Great post bb!

  2. Love the mask!!! Sounds like a blast. Great post fangirl. 🙂

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