When it comes to shipping, I’m the girl to ask! OK, not really, because I tend to be very erratic when it comes to my OTPs. Although certain tropes helped mold the ‘one’ I must say that when the pairing hit me so hard, it just hit me so hard—solid heart-racing feels, that is!

Do I really need to mention how well-known I am as a shipper? I believe I have written extensively about my woes and foes as one. Also, I have confessed before my tendency to root for the second lead guy. Every time this transpires, it’s tough luck. I’m mostly likely to cheer boy #2 over boy #1, though I’m happy to say that there are already plenty of cases where I’ve won this war. But what made me root them? What made me think that these two are predestined by the love muses (according to my will) and must end up together, and yell it o the void, “ah, yes, this is it!” I’ll ship till them to the bitter end! What would prompt me to say that?

I might sound like a superficial shipper because I describe my ships in caps lock, random spazzing, and heart emojis as far as Twitter’s character limit allows me to; but I don’t fall so easily, mind you! If I’m serious, I can write a thousand words worth of a ship manifesto, so just I can explain why these two are meant together and what makes me like them or support them! Yes, I’m serious! I can be like this if I put my mind to it! That’s how huge a fan I am. I think it still boils down to writing. I said before that romantic moments, though swoon-worthy, aren’t enough for me to make ‘kilig!’ It has to have good romantic development. That the two characters have great dynamics, and that story really fleshes them out as individuals, and as a couple! Yes, I set the bar high!

When my OTPs are concerned, I rarely like only half of the pairing. I always like them both! I like them as individual characters, not just their lovely moments. It’s why I seldom ship at the get-go. There must be some development there that made think of the possibilities! In a way, I don’t choose the pair I ship; it’s the story that pushes it for me because the way it presents it makes sense—sensible to ship it! Even if they fall into certain tropes that I do like, if the story or development isn’t showing that, then nope, you won’t see me shipping them! It has to make sense! They need to develop!

I haven’t had a crack ship or simply a ship that is just aesthetically romantic. Development is still the key here. But on the plus side, my criteria aren’t high; they just need to make it believable. It doesn’t need to be overly romantic, tragic, or dramatic. Like I said plenty of times in this post, it has to make sense! It has to be naturally unfolding simultaneously with the plot! Yep, that is it! I guess that’s the most important criteria!