Talking Nerdy With the Three Chic Geeks

By Clair McLafferty

Three Chic Geeks is basically a nerd girl’s roadmap to being awesome at fandom. (Urban Dictionary defines fandom as “The community that surrounds a TV show/movie/book, etc.”) Originally started as an excuse for the three to drink and write for friends, the blog quickly turned into something more. “We went viral on Reddit,” said Critique Geek Amber. “It was a post about fictional characters we’d like to date. It went crazy viral.”

After their posts went viral, the site’s readership exploded. Though their success gave them the freedom to commit to blogging full time, it also brought on the trolls.

“Reddit is a great thing, but use it with caution,” said Freak Geek Katherine. “There’s Dave Grohl, but there are also some very mean Redditors who see that you’re a chick and deserve to be trolled.”

Despite the trolls, the geeks’ creative process is still largely the same, with inspiration coming from Pinterest, fanfiction and online arguments. Each DIY, rant or article is written by an individual geek, but most are born through a collaborative brainstorming process.

The website has also opened up new freelance markets. Critique Geek recently covered Comic-Con in San Diego for MTV Geek, and Freak Geek has already started to budget for New York Comic Con in October. “We all freelance for MTV Geek,” said Critique Geek Amber.

“We get to make pterodactyl sounds and go to things for free,” Freak Geek Katherine added.

When I spoke with them, their biggest piece of advice to nerdy woman bloggers was to write about what you love, said Unique Geek Cecelia. “You can’t care what anyone else has to say.”

When she isn’t writing, Clair McLafferty can usually be found nerding out on programming, cocktails, physics, comics and movies. Some of these interests spill over into her writing at clairmclafferty.com and on to her Twitter feed @see_clair_write.