[ SECRET POST #1744 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #1744 ⌋

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

01.


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02.
[tinker tailor soldier spy]


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03.
[Pokemon]


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04.
[Disgaea 2]


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05.
[Reborn]


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06.
[Yahtzee/Cinema Snob]


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07.
[Fruits Basket]


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08.
[Sherlock]


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09.
[Teahouse]


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10.
[Glee]


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11.
[Law & Order: Special Victims Unit]


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12.
[Jem]


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13.
[Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII]


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14.
[Sherlock (BBC)]


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15.
[Kingdom Hearts]


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16.
[Reba]


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17.
[South Park/Black Dagger Brotherhood]


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18.
[Society]


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19.
[Paris Hilton/Baccano!!]


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20.
[Paranoia Agent]


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21.
[HIMYM]


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22.
[American Beauty]


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23.
(Phantom of the Opera/Ramin Karimloo/Hadley Fraser/Sierra Boggess)


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24. [repeat]


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25.
[Card Captor Sakura]


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26.
[Steve Jobs]


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27.
(adventure time)


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28.
[Supernatural]


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29.
[Owl City]


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30.
[Game of Thrones]


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31.
[The Phantom of the Opera 25th Anniversary edition]


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32.
[Glee]


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33.
[HP]


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34.
[HP]


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35.
[Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality]


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36.
[HP]


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37. [TRIGGER WARNING for miscarriage, depression]

[HP]


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 094 secrets from Secret Submission Post #248.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 - too big ], [ 1 (yes, AGAIN) - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom.livejournal.com]

01. http://oi56.tinypic.com/21alp3a.jpg

[(Anonymous)]

I too stopped reading published books to read fanfiction and other internet things, but years later I found a balance and now I read both. Not all hope is lost yet, OP!

[(Anonymous)]

I read so much as a child and a teenager. Now I can barely concentrate on words if they aren't printed on a screen. It's terrible. I miss it so much.

[megalomaniageek.livejournal.com]

I'm the same way. It actually used to be worse during my teens though; as a child I read a lot of books, then as a teen it was all manga and fanfiction and websites, and now as an adult it's a mix of books and websites.

[deadtree.livejournal.com]

try an ereader?

[kallanda-lee.livejournal.com]

I honestly ALWAYS preferred them to published books. Once that I discovered there were other media I could read, I was just so happy!

[myrasis.livejournal.com]

I feel your pain, OP.

[havemy-heart.livejournal.com]

I was like that when I very first got into fandom. Nowadays, while I still read tons of fic, I also read books again. I have 8 books checked out from the library right now. You can eventually find a balance if you want to.

[gritsinmisery.livejournal.com]

I started buying real books again a few months ago, because I was traveling, too cheap to buy a decent-sized e-reader, and hate squinting at my smart phone's e-book app.

And I've discovered that I've been reading some really, really excellent fan-fic authors, because when I read "real" fiction -- published, by authors whose names I recognize and have enjoyed before -- I find myself thinking things like: "Who edited this crap? Spell-check is not always your friend!" and, "There are plot holes here you could drive a Mac truck through!" and, "Ummm, where's the tension; wasn't this a murder mystery?" and, "Time-line: make one next time!" and, "UST - this is not the way you write it," and "Whoops, somebody's been surfing TV Tropes again."

So, OP, fret not. You may actually be getting the better end of the deal now.

[(Anonymous)]

It might just be a phase you're going through? When I was about ten or eleven I basically lost interest in published books in favor of fanfiction. Then I just thought it was because I liked fic better, but in reality I think it was because I was in kind of a transition stage. I was getting too old for Baby-sitterss Club and stuff, but I wasn't yet ready for YA books with adult themes and characters in high school that I couldn't relate to. Then I hit 13, discovered YA, and started reading voraciously. Now I'm eighteen and doing the same thing - all I'll read is fanfiction and manga. Most YA books are so ridiculous to me now, but I'm not interested in adult books because they're so long, the reading level isn't HARD but not as easily digestible, and it's harder to relate to characters with jobs and kids and fully developed brains. But I'm hoping it'll pass in another year or two and I'll get back to reading again.

[rabidsamfan.livejournal.com]

I read both. Books when my eyes get tired of screens, screens when I'm looking for something I can't find in print.

(And part of the problem may be that you just aren't going for the right kind of books. I get my fiction from fanfictions by and large, and read books for nonfiction quite often. Unless I'm hunting for new canon to spark my ideas!)

[(Anonymous)]

If you want to get back into reading books, you just have to go and do it. I know it can be hard in our internet culture to sit down and read a book, but you just have to find something that holds your interest enough, and spend at least a little time with it each day. Before bed is a good time, when you aren't sitting in front of the computer or thinking about other things. The fanfic will still be there when you come back to your computer.

[xaritomene.livejournal.com]

Agreed. Though, like everyone's saying, the balance does come back. Sometimes, just going somewhere without internet connection and curling up with a book is the way forward, until the urge to read 'real' stuff balances out with the urge to read fic.

Also, it's a great way to discover new fandoms, reading. ¬_¬ /doing it wrong.

[cactuar-tamer.livejournal.com]

You can get it back, OP! I was the same way, but I picked up the GoodReads book challenge this year, and while I'm a bit behind, I'm well on my way to my 36 book goal for 2011. I'm really enjoying it, and I've found some pretty awesome fantasy books that I'm so glad to have read. I've even started staying up late reading or going all day on the weekends again. Just make the effort to ease back in and you may surprise yourself with how fast the passion comes back.

It might help to start with a few trade paperbacks you can burn through quickly, and that link back to your fandom interests, if you have a thing you'd like to read up on the canon for (it was Magic The Gathering, for me). Just branch out from there~

[amethyst-rei.livejournal.com]

Me, too, OP. I used to read at least one book a week. At least. Now? Now I read like one book a month. More if it's part of a series I'm really interested in, but that's not very often. *Sighs* I used to read so much. I really need to start again.

[kryptoncat.livejournal.com]

I'm sort of the same, I read a ton of books as a kid, but now that I'm in college it's fanfiction alley. It might have to do with stress in my case. Hopefully, my future career will be less stressful than my classes, and I'll be able to score some good books again.

Maybe you could try some non-fiction; you might just need a change? If this keeps being a problem for you, I hope you find something to help.

[(Anonymous)]

I have the opposite problem. I got burned out on fanfic and started reading real books again. Now I've become one of those people I used to bitch about - on the very rare occasion that I might come across something that's publishing-quality in fanfic, my main thought is, "why are they wasting their time with this, then?"

I know it's unfair and wrong. But I just can't stomach reading fanfic anymore.

I guess the good thing is that I'm reading a ton of books again, now?

Either way, reading is reading, and it's a GOOD thing.

[mskye.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I didn't realize that this was a common phenomenon! I remember a time when I used to read all the time. I lived in the library. Then, one day, my family got the internet and I discovered that there was DBZ fanfic on it. The rest is history, and my eyesight has gotten progressively worse ever since! I regret nothing.

[kimchiburger.livejournal.com]

Argh, I bought a handful of books to read but I barely have enough time to read any of them! Fanfics are a lot shorter. :(

[castorochiaro.livejournal.com]

As with the other commenters, I feel you on this.

I have another idea that's not been brought up yet as far as I've seen, though! A fandom friend and I have started a "book club" in which one or the other of us suggests a book we're interested in and we both read it. I find having someone to share the experience with really encourages me to get into my reading. c:

[ingu_x.livejournal.com]

I think the worst thing is when people ask you, "What have you been doing?" and you say "Reading."

Then they ask: "What books?" :D

"Uh..." >.>

[(Anonymous)]

Seriously, if you want to get back into reading, and if you're lamenting the fact that you don't any more, it might be a good idea to just get off the computer and go and read a book.

Think of reading as being like a pair of shoes you had and loved once. They stopped fitting and eventually you replaced them with a brand new shiny and identical pair. Problem is, they hurt. Well, they aren't going to get broken in sitting in your closet, are they? Take them out, wear them in, learn to love them again. Don't expect them to just get comfortable while you sit at a computer.

Likewise books aren't going to dance in front of your eyes to catch your interest. Turn the screen off, go grab one, immerse yourself.

What.

[(Anonymous)]

Are SF and Fantasy and Horror not real, published books?

[smaller-outside.livejournal.com]

I'm having this problem right now. I've been finding it difficult to stay focused on books - each time I pick one up, I read a paragraph or two and then suddenly I'm thinking about something I need to do, something that happened earlier, etc. For some reason, this doesn't happen so much when I read fanfiction, and when it does, it's not like I'll have thrown any money away if I give up on reading it.

I think it also makes it harder if you've had some bad luck in finding a good book lately. Honestly, most of the books I've read in the past year or so have been disappointing at best - and they're usually getting good reviews or being recommended by friends that have similar tastes. So, I'm having trouble getting back into it without feeling like it's probably going to be a waste of time and money.

[kryss-labryn.livejournal.com]

When I was in high school I'd usually have about four or five books on the go at any one time (I read to darned fast; if I didn't I'd be burning through a regular-sized paperback in under a day, and sometimes I'm in the mood for one kind of story and sometimes another). I still like to read mysteries as books (especially Agatha Christie), not least because there doesn't seem to be too many whodunnits in my main fandoms and also I can read them in the bath.

But whatever genre I'm reading, if I can get it in fanfic, I usually read it there. I get quite put out that i can't read it in the bath, frankly (I love to read in the bath, and even an ereader wouldn't do well with the heat and damp, not to mention any splashes!! Heaven forbid I drop the damned thing in).

But the thing is, I just find it much easier to read something I actually want to read in fanfics. The writing in good ones is no worse than in published books, and the odd errors are a lot less irritating (plus you can contact the author and they can fix it. Read a book a while ago where it was important that the first time two main characters meet they're both in civvys, so as to not give away that one is a cop right away, yet several chapters later it's important that the other character is musing that he's never seen the cop in civvies before. It's a pretty huge mistake and I'm surprised neither the author nor the editor caught it. So (because I am used to fanfic lol) I looked up an email for him and said hi, and pointed the error out.

He took the time to respond, very nicely.

And then I totally felt like a heel. Because he can't just go and change it. Aside from it requiring a fairly reasonable rewrite to fix, there is no physical way to recall and correct several thousand paperbacks. So I've pointed out a massive error he hadn't noticed and can't fix so now I feel like crap for it.

Hmm. Wonder if this is why I mostly just read fanfic now? XD

Actually, if I start a fic and I don't like it, meh, whatever. I just close it and click on another. Nothing lost. If I start a book and don't like it, the effort of going to the library to exchange it (or the annoyance if I paid upwards of $10 minimum for it at a store) is significant enough that i will find myself forcing myself to read something I'm just not enjoying in the hopes it gets better.

And romance I read entirely in fanfics these days. For starters, I know I'm going to like the characters straight off, and for finishers, I know it's not going to be the same goddamned plot over and over and over again. Spunky heroine meets handsome but annoying git under dubious circumstances; several misunderstandings later she realizes he's not so bad after all, and he realizes the annoying moron who he has wanted to strangle since the first page (despite his unmistakable and inexplicable attraction) is actually not as annoying as he thought. Cue wedding, the end. Jesus, even the "Christine returns to the Phantom" plots have more variation!

So, yeah; TL;DR: Like you I find myself reading fewer and fewer books and more and more fanfics!