If you're one of those people who worries about her celebrity crush, archetypal obsession, or--if you'll forgive the term--personal fetish, I'm here to reassure you. In my opinion, those little "hang-ups" are perfectly normal and nothing to be concerned about.

Unless you've been plotting to break into Hugh Jackman's house or sneak onto the set of ABC's "Lost," you're okay. It's all right that you have a file folder of photos of Brad Pitt on your hard drive. It's cool if you like to write "The Office" fan fiction, or dress up as a Jedi and pretend you're Obi-Wan Kenobi's padawan, or pretend you are the consort of a vampire.

Not only are these little fascinations harmless, they are actually good for the psyche and completely natural for humans. Ever since the ancients invented pantheons of gods and goddesses, wrote tales about them (the earliest form of fanfic!) and built statues of them, people have been captivated by archetypes. Those fantasies you have are your psyche's way of processing your needs and desires, and can help you deal more effectively with "real life" if indulged in a healthy manner.

In my recent book Soulful Sex: The Paranormal Collection, I feature a heroine named Monica who has a thing for pirates. When visited by a pirate's ghost, Monica indulges her favorite fantasy and gives in to his tender but piratical advances. The experience teaches her something about herself and ultimately results in a positive development in her "real life."

This story was recently reviewed by the infamous Mrs. Giggles. [Let me be quick to insert here, I respect Mrs. Giggles as an intelligent woman who speaks her mind--and I appreciate that most of the time she likes my work!] I have to disagree with her this once, not to defend the story, but to stand up for "obsessed" people everywhere.

Mrs. G writes, "Monica Burnett collects pirate paraphernalia...there's nothing wrong with that, of course, as long as Monica doesn't show signs of psychotic over-obsessiveness to the point of retreating from reality into their own dreamworld as most heroines with hobbies tend to do…Let me put it this way: change 'pirates' to 'Klingons' or 'Clay Aiken' in the previous sentence and tell me if you still can't see how sad Monica is."

While agreeing that there is such a thing as "over-obsessiveness," I beg to differ with Mrs. G as to where you draw the line. And I had a thing for Clay Aiken for awhile there, by the way. If you are turned on by pirates, or vampires, or Clay Aiken, yes, even by Klingons, that doesn't mean you need therapy. If, like Monica, you have a responsible job, friends, and a good sense of self-worth, go ahead and have a fantasy fling with your fetish character.

What Monica learns in this story, and what in my opinion we all need to remember, is to understand why we are fascinated by a certain archetype. Those obsessive interests generally show us what we're looking for in life, and while we can get what we need in part from fantasy, we can also strive to find it in reality, in our work, our play, our relationships and our own personal gifts.

I love to write about classic archetypes because I know they strike a chord in the hearts of a lot of people. Spacemen, vampires, magicians, princes both good and evil, shamen, aliens, all those great figures of fantasy evoke strong feelings from perfectly normal humans. So do Clay Aiken, Jim Halpert from "The Office," Jack Bauer from "24," and all the pop culture icons we love so well.

And no one should be ashamed of that, not Monica Burnett, and not you. And as for me, I hate to think what Mrs. Giggles would think if she knew I bought myself a set of Admiral Adama (Battlestar Galactica) dog tags.

Diana Laurence is the author of the Soulful Sex anthologies, most recently Soulful Sex: The Fantasy Collection. Visit her at www.dianalaurence.com.