Not necessarily pearls of wisdom, but dewdrops of advice, from a long-time shipper.

Ship whomever you want to!

This is my number one piece of advice to you.  It doesn't matter how outrageous you think your couple is, how outlandish, how "never gonna happen even if all the writers and producers go on crack and write the series in an alternative universe," really, ship whom you like.  Cause I guarantee you, you are not the only one who likes those two as a couple!  I have shipped some strange pairs in my day, pairs that I thought I was the only one who would ever want together, when low and behold, I'd be talking to someone or surfing the net, and discover that I wasn't the only one who liked this ship!

So if you feel alone in your ship, you feel strange and twisted in your little bizarre shipping world, just know that you really aren't alone.  Someone out there has thought of those two characters together too, you're not the only one.

And you know what, even if you can't find someone out there who likes your particular couple, still ship them!  Even if your couple has no shot in Hades of ever getting together, if you enjoy them, enjoy them!  Shipping is about fun and romance, it doesn't have to fit in the show, just in your little world.  That's really all that matters

Be prepared for WAR

Unfortunately as a shipper you are going to run into many people who are adamantly anti-shipping.   On top of those people, you are also going to run into those who are adamantly against your specific ship.  Whether because they hate one of your characters, or your ship somehow interferes with their ship, they hate you, and they are out to get you.  It's not about "shipping and let shipping" for them, it's about doing everything in their power to make you miserable.  They're going to make it personal, they're going to make it dirty, and they're going to do everything in their power to make your shipping life hell.  You can't reason with these people, you can't argue with them, but you will find them everywhere.  Some groups are more prolific with them in others, but make no mistake, these people are in every group, and my advice to you is to stay away from them.

Far away from them.

Stick to places that are your-ship friendly

This advice goes hand in hand with the piece above: stick to places that are pro-yourship.  Or at the very least, friendly towards your ship.  

At the general fan sites for your particular show, you'll probably run into a bunch of people who are not into any kind of shipping.  They prefer the show to stick to noromo ("no romance"), but they're tolerant of shippers.  They know we're out there, and they generally "put up" with us.  If you don't mind those types of people, who aren't continually negative of your ship, but are against it, then you might not have a problem there.  But there are going to be those who will argue with you about your ship, who will try and put you down for shipping your couple, or for shipping at all.  I have some friends who don't mind getting into these types of arguments, but me personally, I hate them.  I'm the "I like who I like, you like who you like, and let's just leave it at that" type of person.   

But aside from the anti-romance people, at the general sites you are going to run into the anti-yourship people too, who have unreasonable hatred for your ship for whatever reason.  It's a general site, which means they're there too, so be prepared.  

Really, my best advice to you is to stick to places that are specifically geared for your ship.  That's what I do.  But even there, be prepared for some invaders who make it their point in life to make yours miserable.  I don't know why these people decide to make it their life's goal to target members of a shipping group, I guess it's just that their lives are so meaningless and sad that this fulfills some emptiness in it, but whatever, they are nasty and annoying little trolls that all shipper groups have to put  up with.  So stick to places that are friendly yourship and ignore the little trolls who occasionally drop by those places.   

Have fun!

Really, shipping should be fun!  Enjoy it, wallow in the romance of your couple.  If it isn't happening on the show, search out some place on the net where it is happening.  I bet you that for every possible couple out there, there is probably a site or group out there shipping them!  Find those places, indulge in some fanfic, get into some conversations with your fellow shippers.  Surf the sites, browse the message boards.  Really, it is a lot of fun, and it's always great to meet your fellow shippers.  I've met some of my closest friends that way, and even though our couple hasn't been together for years, we're still friends.   

So ship, and be merry!  There's nothing like it

Heather

April, 2003