I spent some time today on the phone, kicking around the plot of a recalcitrant SPN fic that meri_oddities is currently struggling with. Like all her work, the story she's working on is profoundly romantic. Even extravagantly so.

Her characters always love each other. By the end, at least. And as we discussed the current pairing, I realized that there was something I'd never seen in a story of hers, in any fandom: unrequited love.

And it's not just her work. There's almost no unrequited love in the fanfic I've read. I pointed that out to her.

"You've never written unrequited love, that I can recall. No one seems to write unrequited love, in fact."

"Of course not." She was amused. "Who would want to write that? Who would want to read that? I want to read stories that make me feel good."

To her, it was self-evident that unrequited love was a waste of time, when it comes to fanfic.

( And yet, it carries the potential for fresh, new kind of angst )