Nikki (fan writer)
| Fan | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Nikki |
| Alias(es): | Nakeisha (LJ), Ashleigh Anpilova (NCIS, MFU & S&S), Darby Brennan and NH (Pros), Nikki Harrington (DS, Raffles and Other Fandoms) |
| Type: | fan writer, zine editor |
| Fandoms: | NCIS, Raffles, The Professionals, The Man from UNCLE, Sapphire & Steel, Due South, Buffyverse, Highlander The Series, M*A*S*H, Sherlock Holmes, Starsky & Hutch, The Dalgliesh Mysteries, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, The Sandbaggers, The West Wing |
| Communities: | Co-runs Minority Pairings Community, ds_closet, Older Not Dead, narrative_x_10 owns ncis_gibbsducky |
| Other: | |
| URL: | LiveJournal Partners Forever (fanfiction/meta site) |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Nikki is a fan writer known under at least three names: Ashleigh Anpilova (NCIS, MFU & S&S), Darby Brennan (Pros), Nikki Harrington (DS, Raffles and Other Fandoms). She's written gen, het, but mostly writes slash. She also written some meta.
Self-Descriptions
2004?
My interest in fandom and slash isn’t just that of a writer, reader, list owner/participant, it is also academic. I subject of my Master’s Degree dissertation was Media Fandom and included a chapter on slash, and my biggest problem was keeping it within the word count. I enjoy discussions on fandom in general as well as in particular at all levels, from the simple ‘did you see that look’? to the more complex and involved comparisons and reasonings, the history and the future.[...]
In fandom I go by the name Nikki Harrington, and I write/have written in several fandoms under various names. The vast majority of my stories are slash and I read in the fandoms in which I write, again mainly slash. I will also occasionally read in other fandoms if I know the pairing and the story is recommended.
[...]
I was so delighted when I first discovered fandom to know I wasn't odd and alone and there were other people out there who not only had the same thought as I did, but also wrote about it. I'm not as intensely involved with fandom these days as I once was, but I still do enjoy being involved, reading stories, having discussions, etc. etc. even if they aren't as in-depth as they once were.
Fandom is a great place to be, it really is. Yes, at times it can irritate and not everyone is happy to play nicely with other people and it can get exasperating, but those things and times really in the grand scheme of things are minor occurrences. For the most part people do play nicely together and respect one another's views. I really wouldn't want to be without it. [1]
2020
How did you first get into writing fanfic, and what was the first fandom you wrote for? What do you think it was about that fandom that pulled you in?
In a way it depends on what is meant by 'writing fanfic'. As far as actually writing and sharing the first story I wrote was in 1999. However, I had been 'writing' mostly in my head, but in couple of cases by hand (yes, actually writing) for a couple of decades before that. Let me elucidate.
Until 1999 I had no idea that 'fandom' and 'slash' existed. Of course I'd heard of Star Trek conventions and fans in that respect, but that was all. Then in 1999 during quiet Easter, I discovered that three videos of one of my favourite shows as a teenager (Starsky & Hutch) were being/had been released.
So I did a little browsing on the web and this searching somehow led me into a story, which I started to read and sat there unable to believe my eyes. Someone was writing about them as lovers! Something that I had been done in my mind (along with Bodie/Doyle, Kirk/Spock, Holmes/Watson and Raffles/Bunny) from when I first saw them on TV/read books about them.
At the time I just thought that I was very weird and alone in this. After all surely nice, normal girls (especially quiet, studious, bookish, naïve girls) didn't have thoughts about two men together, did they? Not that my thoughts then went beyond hand holding or some simple kisses, maybe the odd bit of gentle petting, but they were together as a couple.
Throughout the years between being a pre-teenager and 1999, during which time I did the usual education, degree, marriage, jobs, etc. I still had these thoughts about some male/male pairings from TV, but I still kept telling myself that I was 'odd'. However, this story proved I wasn't. Some more browsing (at which time we weren't on broadband and so were paying by the minute) revealed more stories, and eventually I made contact with someone influential and well-known in Starsky & Hutch fandom who invited me to join a list and that was that.
There I discovered that far from being alone and 'weird' there were many, many, many others who had similar thoughts, and that there was this whole new world called 'fandom'. I soon discovered that people in fandom will bend over backwards to be helpful and encouraging, providing episodes, lending zines, recommending zines and stories, answering all sorts of daft questions, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. I entered a swift learning curve, but as learning has always been a passion of mine, I was in my element. I made some wonderful friends, many of whom I am still in touch with, and started to have story ideas of my own.
The ideas I had found their way onto paper (well the computer screen) and so my fandom writing life began. The very first story I wrote was a Starsky/Hutch story and an established relationship story at that - pretty much all my pre-actual-writing-stories stories were ER stories - not a lot has changed there.
What pulled me into Starsky & Hutch fandom to begin with was because it was the first fandom I found, it was a show and a pairing I already adored; it showed me I wasn't weird or alone in my thoughts and it offered such a lot of help and encouragement and friendship and discussions and opened up doors for me in ways I really don't think would otherwise have ever been opened. At the time I first got into Starsky & Hutch, I saw them as 'the' pairing; the only pairing I would ever write or read and perhaps more importantly (at the time) would want to write or read - certainly write. As you know - a lot has changed in twenty-one years. [2]
Zines
Under Ashleigh Anpilova:
- Bolo (NCIS)
- Old Friends & Lovers (NCIS)
- My Son's Boyfriend (NCIS)
- Battle of Hope (MANCLE)
- Relative_Secrecy (MANCLE)
- The Spy Who Loved Me (MANCLE)
- Worlds Enough (MANCLE)
Awards
- Best Short Story: "Alexander Waverly's Plot", by Ashleigh Anpilova - Worlds Enough
- Best Novella: "Whatever it Takes", by Ashleigh Anpilova - Battle of Hope
- Best Gibbs/Ducky Best Romance - “Friends Make The Best Lovers
- Best Gibbs/Ducky Best AU - “To Those Who Wait”
2010 NCIS Fanfiction Awards:
- Best Abby/McGee Established Relationship - "Facts Of Life"
- Best Abby/McGee Other - "Time For Reflection"
- Best Gibbs/Ducky AU/What if/Fantasy - "Learning to Trust"
- Best Gibbs/Ducky Established Relationship - "A Reston House Christmas"
- Best Gibbs/Ducky Other - "Occasions Universe"
- Best Gibbs/Ducky Angst - "Giving Thanks"
- Best Gibbs/Ducky Humor - "A Dog's Life"
- Best Jenny/Kort Other - "Too Late"
- Best Gibbs/McGee - "Why Me?"
- Best Gibbs/Fornell - "Don't Want to be Alone"
- Best Rare slash - "Sometimes Second Best Will Do" (Ducky/Fornell)
Meta
- Fandom Meta : Forumula vs Quality: A reader's view on fanfic writing, Archived version (May 2005)
- Fandom Meta : Established Relationship vs First Time Stories, Archived version (November 2005)
- Fandom Meta : The Two Sides Of Canon, Archived version (April 2006)
- Fandom Meta : Current Show Fandom, Archived version (May 2007)