On Geekiness
I’ve never been one to call myself a geek. To me, geeks are the scary scary people that made working at a comic book shop in college so icky and uncomfortable. Likewise, I tend to think of fangirls as the skanky fourteen year olds that attempt to molest voice actors more than twice their ages at anime conventions and fandoms as being comprised of people who see ship wars as far more essential to preserving our way of life than whatever is going on in the Middle East, wherever that is.
But there’s a disconnect there because I’ve always had plenty of friends I would call geeks who are involved in various fandoms. My dad is a bonafide geek who lent me his copies of Hitchhiker’s Guide and Lord of the Rings when I was a kid, taught me that Logan’s Run was an awesome movie, and explained to me how all of MacGyver’s tricks would have turned out in the real world.
Plus, well, look at me. Most everything I write has some element of speculative fiction to it. As mentioned, I worked in a comic book store. I’ve attended anime and speculative lit conventions. I read comic books and can relate random facts that a normal person shouldn’t know, thanks to my habit in the past year of keeping up with character histories on Wikipedia (did you know that Pietro and Wanda Maximoff had a anthropomorphic cow as a midwife at their birth? I think her name was Bova.) I read (good) fanfiction (on occasion) and used to write (good) fanfiction (that fit reasonably well into canon) that I may eventually resurrect and finish. I successfully completed an AMV that has gotten a very positive response over the years. I watch anime and read manga, the two of which take up over 1/3 of my bookshelf space. I read young adult fantasy. I took two classes in sci-fi lit in college and grad school. I watch several (very good) sci-fi TV shows and animated series based on comic books. I play video games (albeit generally not well.) I write and (sort of) draw a web comic chock full of geeky pop culture references. I wear glasses (though I plan to try contacts again soon.)
I guess part of it is that I’ve never FELT like a geek. I’ve always had so many different interests that I’ve never really become deeply entrenched in any fandom (which is fine with me, as I really do find most fandoms scary.) As far as I can recall, I’ve never had trouble distinguishing fantasy from reality (maybe due to the MacGyver thing) or actors from their characters (”His name Bruce Boxleitner, Mom. Not Scarecrow or Lee Stetson.”) Plus there’s the fact that as a writer myself, I feel that placing the work of any other writer above my own (in terms of personal importance and dedication) is doing myself a pretty big disservice.
But I need to face facts. I’m a geek. I’ve always been a geek. And it isn’t a bad thing, despite the fact that a significant portion of my personal experience with people who embrace the label has been less than pleasant.
I am, however, not a geeky geek. Or a fangirl. And definitely not a shipper.