[ SECRET POST #3485 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3485 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.



__________________________________________________



02.


__________________________________________________



03.


__________________________________________________



04.


__________________________________________________



05.


__________________________________________________



06. [repeat]


__________________________________________________



07.


__________________________________________________



08.


__________________________________________________



09.


__________________________________________________



10.


__________________________________________________



11.










Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 42 secrets from Secret Submission Post #498.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

11. http://i.imgur.com/H3SLvhn.jpg

[iceyred]

Many books have fandoms. What's stopping you from turning off the tv and reading a book?

[diet_poison]

It sounds to me like they don't want to, and that's the fact that they're lamenting.

[iceyred]

If it bothers them this much then I would say they do want to do it.

[(Anonymous)]

I don't think reading fanfiction is really that bad imo. Think of them as mini e-books or something.

[feotakahari]

Depending on what you want out of fic, books can fill the same need. Personally, I needed to find more fantasy stories where the characters weren't straight.

[(Anonymous)]

>I needed to find more fantasy stories where the characters weren't straight

That's me too.

[herpymcderp]

Me too, anon.

But then I started writing myself, and it really limits the amount of bad storytelling and lazy writing I can put up with. I've finally turned into one of those "literature" people... or near enough as makes no difference.

[ketita]

^me.
This is exacerbated by being in a literature department, now. I think I'm pretty much screwed. The other day I was reading a fic, and a character gave "a simple shrug" and without even thinking about it my brain went WHY WAS THAT SHRUG SIMPLE? WHAT MADE IT DIFFERENT? WHY IS IT NECESSARY AT THIS JUNCTION TO TELL US THAT THIS SHRUG IS SIMPLE AND NOT JUST A REGULAR SHRUG? A few lines later I realized it was just an author tic and then it bothered me for a different reason -_-
Though to be fair, there are a lot of books I find difficult to enjoy these days, too.

[herpymcderp]

Don't you know a complex shrug requires independent adduction/abduction of each shoulder joint in sequence?

Oh boy. Oh booooy and don't even get me started on redundancies. THEY'RE EVERYWHERE. And the lazy clichés. And the melodrama for sake of melodrama. I can barely stand it. It's rare that I can actually read something and not just catapult headlong into nitpicky editor mode, but at least it's a beautiful experience when that happens.

I'm just going to be over here in a corner with my Ruslit sobbing.

[(Anonymous)]

I could have written this secret, OP. Boy do I feel you. The only books I've read in recent years are audiobooks, and I don't count that as really reading a book. Fanfic delivers a specific set of tropes tailor-made for my id, that I can pick and chose at will. Novels are a mystery bag, and include having unfamiliar characters - something which fascinated and compelled me as a book-loving kid but now just seems exhausting. And I know I'm being lazy, but I just can't stop from choosing the instant gratification of fanfic.

[crossy_woad]

I think it counts. I think a person gets different things from an audiobook and a print book / ebook, too, but they both have merit. (Some studies say people get different things from ebooks and print books, too, but I don't know if I buy it personally on that front.)

[crossy_woad]

Have you tried new ways of reading books? When I was young I could read the tiniest print on ratty paperbacks and not mind. But now I had other choices, including lots of easier ones.

1) Kindle. Increase the font! Never lose your place! Turn it to read aloud!

2) Audiobooks. I like to listen to these when I'm going to sleep; you can turn on the timer so they don't run all night (at least on the kindle).

3) ???Profit???

[crossy_woad]

Oh, one other thing. Many times, if an adult works full time, they don't have the mental energy to devote a ton of time to reading every day, unless they do very little else. Mental energy gets pretty fully drained by the end of the day, for many adults! I remember being a kid and not ever wanting to go to bed, and wanting to read all night, but I rarely have that same feeling anymore (and when I do stay up late it's usually mindless internet surfing).

That's why small bites of reading can be so useful, and relaxing, rather than trying to read a huge amount every day. Take the pressure off yourself and enjoy what you enjoy, I say! If that's fanfiction, leave the door open to reading other books in various formats in the future, but don't pressure yourself. I mean, you're not in school getting graded for it, right? You're just in it for what YOU get out of it, in your time.

[(Anonymous)]

Goes in bouts with me. Suddenly I'm tired of fanfic and rediscover regular books, getting happy from the wonderful inventiveness of original stories. Then after a while I get tired of that and rediscover fanfic and marvels at getting my feelbuttons rubbed just right. But then... It is a good cycle that gives and gives.

[philstar22]

I haven't read that much recently either. But I just got a kindle for my birthday and have spent all day getting it set up with books. Hopefully this will lead to me reading more. Part of my problem is I've moved around a lot and most of my books are in storage right now.

[type_wild]

I was a voracious reader in primary and secondary school, but then I discovered fandom and... went on to study literature at uni, but not as someone who reads a lot of proper books.

I've been reading a lot more (proper books) these last couple of years (mostly because of Goodreads and the reading challenge, I'll admit), and I've discovered two things: That there's a lot of rubbish getting published, and that my personal interest in reading is dependent on how invested I am in the universe of the stories. And if I'm invested enough in something, then fandom is ready to deliver all that and more the moment I go online. Seeing others talk and analyse the things I'm interested in just spurs my own interest all the more - I think it's just natural to get absorbed in fandom, because that's where our passion for something is shared.

But shyeah, I really wish I'd be as interested in reading Pamela - or: Virute Rewarded as in reading some 200 000-word KuroFai epic.

[(Anonymous)]

I could have written this secret too, anon, but it wasn't fandom that killed my love of reading. I don't know what actually did, but I think herpy has a point because I did start writing a lot around the same time...

I'm just afraid to try to revisit some of the obscure books I thought were amazing when I was in jr high because I have a feeling they're not as awesome as I used to think. At least Douglas Adams still is. Was. Is.

[(Anonymous)]

Our reading habits change, nothing wrong with that. I've always been into books and fic, but I find myself reaching for nonfiction more and more nowadays. And sometimes we do just need the mindless escapism we get from TV and movies.

[(Anonymous)]

I used to read books like nobody's business. Now I read fanfic like nobody's business. Sometimes I wish I had time to read more books, but I don't, because fanfic is what I want to read more. I've come to terms with it, lol.

What kind of books?

[(Anonymous)]

Because back when I was a voracious book reader, it was a lot of teen stuff and formulaic romance, with the occasional good book. Since I started reading voraciously reading fic, it ticks a lot of the boxes from the things I used to read in books and a few more besides and now, though I read a lot fewer books, I tend to read more non-fiction books (biographies, true crime, history, humor, etc.).

[(Anonymous)]

I don't understand. You don't read books much anymore, but has that really destroyed your love of reading them? How would you know? I don't want to knock fandom, meta or fic but you'd be doing yourself a favor if you took a break from those things and picked up a book. Explore for yourself if the love is actually gone, or if it's just lain dormant because you've been spending time doing other things.

[cloudtrader]

I sort of feel this, and sort of don't. For me, fanfic has killed my love of reading FICTION. I still read tons of non-fiction to supplement my fanfic diet, it's just that I can't seem to read new fiction (although I'll re-read old favorites when the mood strikes). I don't really know why this is... although it might just be that I can now carry my fanfic around on my phone rather than in 3-ring binders printed off from the library printers on dial-up...

[derpmaid]

I think that, for me, I can get a lot of elements I want in a story (gay characters, for example) that I just don't find in regular fiction, and it's pretty much killed my interest in finding new books (I will still reread old favourites every now and then). It's just a lot harder to find books that are about what I'm interested in than it is fic. Not to mention that fics have the extra bonus of being about characters I already care about, they don't have to build that momentum.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm in a similar place. Don't read actual books any more, just fanfic (and meta and assorted articles).

For me, it's at least partially because of increased access to internet, plus the fact that the only library in the city is kinda a long way away and I don't have other transport.
Specifically it's about an hours walk, each way, which is annoying for half the year and possibly really dangerous in the other half (Australian summers are brutal). Plus I'd need to leave in the morning for it to be really worthwhile.
Fanfic, on the other hand, is instant gratification. And if the story's not good, the back button is also instant (compared to another two hour round trip to return a book).

I do still love reading, it's just moved to fanfic because the books I have access to either inherently don't interest me or I've reread them too much for them to interest me for another round.