Once you've decided to take the fanfic plunge, the single most important--and obvious--reason for choosing to write about a character is because you like him or her. Nobody's going to spend so much time and effort on a character they can't stand--unless it's to torture this individual in some way to make up for their 'betrayal' of your 'main squeeze' or satisfy some other primal urge. (Sometimes it's best not to ask.) But even that bout of vindictiveness doesn't usually last for very long, and you soon go back to lavishing all your (positive) attention on the character(s) you love.

A lot of relationships begin with infatuation, and this is true of fandom as well. Say you're watching a new show for the first time, more or less enjoying yourself or just checking out the buzz, and then all of a sudden--BOOM! Enter The Character Of Your Dreams. Maybe it's their looks, maybe it's their intelligence, or even their quirky behavior; whatever the driving force, you are smitten. You want to know more about them, are interested in plumbing the depths of their personality or how they'd react in certain circumstances. Sure, you can go hunting for other people's fic focusing on the object of your affection, but after a while that just isn't enough. You want a more personal connection. So you put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and before you know it, you're off and running in the full flush of a new romance. Whether the bloom will soon be off the rose i.e. you exhaust the limits of your imagination or get Jossed, or the relationship lasts for years, isn't important. Right now, you're in love and that's all that matters.

Regardless of fandom, most fanficcers say writing is a way of drawing closer to the characters. We hear their voices in our heads, they haunt our waking hours and appear in our dreams. We know their smile, the color of their eyes and hair, their preferences and dislikes in terms of food, music, sports, books. We know their childhood traumas and secret pasts, and envision the final scenes of their lives.

The attraction is not necessarily sexual, though there are authors who frankly state they would love to have a physical relationship with The Character. In general, what better way is there to explore a character than through the use of romance? Often, the person who's regularly paired with The Character (for example, Kirk with Spock, or Torres with Paris) becomes the writer's stand-in. Some authors take this even further--why settle for a substitute, when it's possible to Mary Sue ourselves into the picture? Not all fanficcers are guilty of this, of course, though most of us do have at least one example of the dreaded MS story buried deep in our closets (or hard drives).

The bond a writer feels for The Character can be as deep and fathomless as the ocean, as baffling and rewarding as real life. Maybe this is the friend/parent/boss/lover you've always longed for. Maybe you don't know just what it is that draws you to The Character; all you know is that it exists, and on more than one level. If the attraction was only skin deep--if it was only the sex we were interested in--a few PWP's later and we'd be expected to have it out of our system and move on to the next character.

But most writers are loyal to their idols. They may take on a Secondary Character--particularly if he or she makes a good or consistent foil or romantic pairing for our leading lady/man--but there is never any doubt as to who is the brightest star in our firmament. A sure-fire way of determining this is by noting the POV usage--do the stories show the other person reflecting on The Character's behavior or appearance? Is a romantic relationship viewed through that other person's eyes? As one Voyager writer put it, "Chakotay seems to be my preferred voice, which is kind of strange since I really don't even like him--but he's one of the best lenses through which to view Janeway." In some cases, this approach is even more intimate than getting into The Character's head--and we reveal more about ourselves and our likes and dislikes when reflecting on the object of our worship.

Almost every writer comes up with at least one story in which we put The Character through the wringer, either emotionally or physically. Some people enjoy letting the angst bunny out to play on occasion; others are interested in bringing out and exploring the 'Dark Side.' Those not feeling the allure might be forgiven for wondering, "If you like The Character so much, why do you insist on torturing him in your stories?" Some authors admittedly wallow, but others prove there is a method to their madness, namely to show how The Character rises above the travail, remaining true to himself or falling short in the process.

One of the more amazing things about fanfic is the way in which we can each give our own individual spin to The Character. In Trek, Spock is the original 'tabula rasa', a blank slate on which we find whatever we hope to see; his enigmatic reserve and the challenge of drawing emotion from a seemingly emotionless being are too tempting for many writers to pass up. Other Vulcans get handled in much the same way--T'Pol on Enterprise, and to a lesser degree, Tuvok on Voyager.

The 'tabula rasa' theory can also be expressed as follows: The Character is a screen upon which we all project our own wishes and desires, thoughts and fantasies. Take Janeway, for example. Some writers are attracted to her strength under fire (Action!Kate), others to her almost maternal compassion (how many "Janeway is my mother!" stories are out there, anyway?), and still others to her edginess/erratic behavior/repressed sexuality (time for a walk on the Wild Side). The end result is an astonishing array of Janeways, all very different from each other, but in the hands of good writers, all equally compelling.

The appeal of a heroic character is obvious, yet some writers seem to be drawn more to the anti-hero type. Just what is it about the 'inner darkness', anyway?

As one multifandom writer put it, "I'm attracted to characters struggling with their dark sides, and struggling with what it means to be a good person. They're often people pressed up against the window of a 'normal life' looking in at every one else. I loved writing Mulder (X-Files) because he was a man on the quest for the truth but fighting the 'good fight' destroyed every other part of his life. He was very much the outsider, struggling with his personal demons but somehow still managing to retain a quirky sense of humour. I love writing Tom (Voyager) because he was a man who had made some serious mistakes in his life. He'd learned humility the hard way and he had to struggle to get to where he is. Much like Mulder, he's had to battle his own demons. Again, he'd also managed to retain a quirky sense of humour despite it all. And despite his relationship with B'Elanna he was still something of an outsider on Voyager. I can write other characters but they're all too busy having 'nice' lives."

As is often the case with RL partners, many writers find they tend to go for a particular type again and again--when switching fandoms they're drawn repeatedly to the same type of character, or situation. One former Voyager writer whose J/C stories always focused on the 'as long as we serve together we can never get involved' aspect now writes strikingly similar stories for Sam and Jack in Stargate. Another two writers who shared an interest in Janeway noticed they found themselves attracted to yet another strong female when they moved on to a different fandom--although this time they each picked different characters.

Does gender matter in determining the object of our attraction? The vast majority of fanfic writers are female, but the preference for a particular character is evenly divided among males and females. Romantic feelings transcend gender lines, as do personalities and characteristics. We choose The Character not because of who they are, but because of what they are. The question then arises, is it because we see them as a reflection of ourselves, or are we attracted to them because they represent traits we lack? The jury is still out on that one.

By now you're probably saying, "Enough! Just tell us, which characters attract more writers than others!" Clearly the 'leading man/lady' gets the lion's share of attention. In the Trek fandom, an informal survey says that the captains or first officers are the subjects of more stories than the rest of the senior staff. Most Original Series stories deal with Kirk and Spock (often paired together) or in various BOTW (babe of the week) encounters. Picard is the main focus of most TNG stories, as are Janeway and Chakotay in Voyager. Enterprise seems to be conforming to the pattern as well, with the majority of stories dealing with either Archer or T'Pol . DS9 appears to be the exception, with Sisko stories being relatively few and far between.

Characters who are part of a canon couple (or those that should be canon, based on the amount of UST dripping from the TV screen each week) are also very popular. Thus we have large amounts of Paris/Torres and Janeway/Chakotay (Voyager), T'Pol/Tucker (Enterprise), and Garak/Bashir (DS9). And let's not forget Mulder/Scully (X-Files) or Spuffy (BtVS) or Toby/CJ and Josh/Donna (West Wing). What makes a pairing hot or appealing? We'll leave that to another article.

Aside from captains, other characters given a disproportionate amount of attention are usually the 'outsiders' spoken of earlier, the ones in the process of 'finding their true selves.' Spock was the template, followed by Data in TNG. Several candidates appear to fit the bill on both DS9 and Voyager, particularly Seven of Nine, but this practice is not limited to Trek. Over in BtVS, that role is filled by Anya.

Some writers deliberately eschew the 'popular' characters and instead strike out on their own, choosing for their subjects the characters who are strangers to the limelight. Fanfic is known for its ability to 'fill in the blanks', and by that token, many authors argue that it is precisely the minor characters who are more attractive to write--because this is untrodden ground. For example, TOS has been around for 35 years. As one writer said, "You could argue that there's nothing new left to explore as far as Kirk and Spock are concerned. But the minor characters like Sulu, Uhura (neither of whom were even given first names in the series canon!), Chekov, Rand---all these are basically untapped treasures for the taking." Over in JAG, Palmer only appeared in a small number of episodes, and yet at least one author has made him a fully fleshed-out character. The same could be said of Ainsley in West Wing.

Another multifandom writer stated that she felt, "characters who have just a hint of something more going beneath the surface are the ones that attract many people- the ones who aren't entirely 'what you see is what you get.' Those are the ones that are so ficcable, because there is so much there that can be constructed, especially if canon doesn't step in to fill the void." Perhaps this explains the large numbers of Garak stories in DS9, or Snape tales in Harry Potter.

Some relatively minor characters show up in an astonishing amount of fic, simply because they are so versatile: Tom Paris, for example, has been called the 'Everyman' of Voyager by more than one writer. "He makes a good narrator, a good angst subject/object, a good boyfriend/husband/butt-monkey/lover/adulterer, and a great source or object of comedy. Just name a character, and Tom's been paired with them." Of course by that token (and in the opinion of many Paris-ites), he qualifies as a 'leading man' in his own right.

To summarize, regardless of the explanations that we give when pressed to say why we prefer to write about a particular character, what it really comes down to is a labor of love. Otherwise, we wouldn't be here.

Rocky , not to be confused with a character portrayed by Sylvester Stallone or a cartoon flying squirrel, has a full and rewarding 'real life' away from the computer. In terms of fandom, she has been a fan of Star Trek since the days when TOS was the only game in town. She has a particular fondness for Captain Janeway, though in the last year or so she has branched out to writing about different characters in the VOY universe.