Shipping (fandom) - Fan Works

Fan Works

In fan fiction circles, authors often let their shipping tendencies influence their work and espouse a certain romantic pairing between two particular characters in their fiction; in fact, the pairings found within are considered such a defining factor that story summaries in fiction archives often notify the potential reader of them while neglecting other important features. The extremity of this phenomenon can be found in many fan fiction archives, where fanfiction is searchable by rating, length, genre, date, language, and "pairing". While this in part reflects an emphasis on shipping by many fan fiction authors, it is also considered a useful service to those readers who only wish to read about certain pairings (or conversely, wish to avoid reading about pairings they dislike).

To a lesser degree, this influence still exists in other fan works. Since fan art, for example, is by nature more focused on a particular scene or character(s) and allows for less flexibility in terms of theme integration, it is usually either without shipping influence at all or wholly a tribute to a certain pairing.