How does your special interest start?

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Mine have mostly centered around TV shows/characters (and a ship between two characters) but I really couldn't tell you what ignites the spark that takes me from simply enjoying the show to spending MONTHS reading and talking and thinking endlessly about it.

I also had a very obsessive 'crush' on a friend when I was younger that counted towards my diagnosis

Something will catch my eye (via TV, internet, book or someone introduces it to me), I'll research it and it either fizzles out or my interest stays strong for a few days or sometimes years.

I know something becomes a special interest if it makes me ecstatic from the very start.

Cats and dogs-I was raised with them, so that one's a natural.

Otherwise, an interest will start either by reading about something or listening to something or someone.

My interest in Denis Istomin was probably the most unusual. On June 30, 2014, I turned on the television to the Wimbledon championships. I saw Denis having a medical timeout and decided to follow what happened in the match. He lost in straight sets, but I was impressed by his sportsmanship and composure. I decided to look up his story on the Internet-wow! He came back from impossible odds to make the ATP tour. I couldn't have been more thrilled for Denis this year when he made the fourth round of the AO. To think, if I hadn't watched that match, I may never have appreciated Denis Istomin. He inspired me to move forward with my own dreams.

For me, I think mine start with me watching something and finding a character I like. I think I typically like them because I want to be like them or want them to be my friend. I then start researching the character and the actor/actress that plays them. I then spend a lot of time looking at photos of them and daydreaming about them. I later try to collect stuff that reminds me of them, like show merchandise and before I know it, I'm completely obsessed.

My interests usually start with having read/seen something that pertains to the subject. I then will usually find out more about it, and it quickly escalates from there. Sometimes the interest wanes quite quickly, others tend to stick. The only exception to that rule has been my interest in art. I began drawing years ago to help myself cope with depression, but it was a forced activity, one I was doing because I knew I needed to find something, anything, to engage with. In some ways, I suppose art developed as an interest the old fashioned, 'normal' way.
These days I feel depression has destroyed and deformed a lot of my character and perceptions of the world post-adolescence; recovering even with the occasional relapse is like finding out suddenly you are in fact, a different person. In any case my ability to become fascinated with things has returned, and the scope of those interests have broadened into many areas.

I don't have any "special" interests. Sometimes my mind can get stuck on something, but it usually doesn't last very long before i'm fed up with it.