Not sure if you got this question yet, but have you heard of the fictional other coping mechanism? I kno peeps who were “copingkin” and after reading your posts on the subject, realized that the concept of a fictional other was a better coping mech. It’s basically like..I guess an internal RP? A fictional character you take on as a “significant other”. You KNOW it isn’t real, but when you’re lonely or depressed you kind of dwell on that idealized relationship? Hard to describe. Helped me a lot.

Anon, I have a few thoughts on this subject, so I hope you’ll pardon me if I ramble a bit.

My first reaction is that while this idea doesn’t have much to do with fictionkin per se, it is something that tends to pop up in related phenomena.

My second reaction is that there are plenty of people who do exactly what you describe. I recommend looking into the tulpa community. A tulpa is an independant entity that you create and shape in your mind, often to fit the template of a fictional character that one admires.

This has crosschatter with the phenomenon of soulbonding, which is similar, except that instead of creating an entity inside yourself, soulbonding calls an outside entity to share your heard with you.

Both tulpas and soulbonds often have extensive and affectionate mental interaction with their hosts, sometimes to the point of being considered a legitimate girlfriend or boyfriend.

From my perspective, Anon, you can’t really KNOW that the entity in your mind that you’re dialogue with isn’t real. And as far as I’m concerned its likely that you’ve created a tulpa, or called a soulbond. I have some links about this in my FAQ if you’d like to know more.

Lastly, anon, for the sake of amusement, I’d like to introduce you to the Snapewives.