Effects of Massive Fiction Reading

[straysweeper]

For about the past week, I've been reading a fantasy trilogy, as it numbers near 2000 pages, and enjoyment reading varies different than information reading, I've spent many an hour at this.

I've notice interesting side effects. One, I notice I don't sleep as long, as I'd rather be reading, moving towards the conclusion or what happens next. Also, I feel more conscious than I have in previous weeks when my main source of entertainment was various forms of TV or games. Time still flows as though I'm doing either of those things, but my awareness seems more keen. Also, I feel more centered, most notably when I stand.

In ways this also shows some of my strengths in having an obsession and keeping to a task till its done. Yet, I wonder why I haven't been able to transfer that to other areas of my life.

[Plato]

Awesome.

I find that too. Although sometimes a film can capture my imagination even more. That's rare though.

[cylon]

I think it's because when reading you're using that frontal lobe, you're forced to use your imagination to envision what is going on in the book, and that keeps your mind focused and active, and when it's focused and active, it's healthy which can lead to happiness. So I can understand why fiction would make you more effective in your every day life, as your mind is simply sharper from all the exercise its getting.

I wonder if fiction reading would help one with just regular visualization?

Films are a bit more passive because it's all laid out for you. You can still get caught up in the emotion of the story, but you don't have to use your imagination as much.

Inbetween are comics. I'm reading one now and it's a combination of film and fiction. You see still images but you have to imagine the movement from panel to panel. You see the dialogue but you have to imagine the voice and the emotion behind it.

But this all being said, it CAN become a form of escapism. Here's a question you may want to ask yourself:

In all the books you are reading, how often are the characters themselves sitting down and reading fiction?

[rocksupreme]

Well-written fiction is truly addictive.

I'm especially a fan of the mega-novel: David Foster Wallace, Thomas Pynchon, etc. Whole worlds packed in 800 to 1200 pages. For some reason, I really get into really dense stories.

[Cran]

If you can't transfer that desire into other areas of your life you obviously do not want those things as much as you want to read, or there are some real or perceived difficulties that keep you back (being afraid to fail thinking, you need something, like money, before you ca start etc.)

Being more conscious through fiction is something I can partly relate to, because it makes me think a lot about what is real and possible and what not.

[straysweeper]

I have finished the 3rd book and the Trilogy now. I must say the emotion at the end, while less than it had been in previous trilogies, it still caught me off guard. I'm not sure what entirely to make of it, but I'll try.

While reading I was compelled to seeking resolution. Not just finishing the book but the conclusion of the story. Once I was into it, I didn't want to stop till it was done. Looking back, I can see this in other areas of my life, and link it to philosophy of all or nothing. I can imagine if I had a life, how difficult it would be to balance it such immersion into fantasy.

My life has since been colored from the lens of the Characters of the book. I see parallels, such as the main characters duality and fragmented self. As I myself feel such duality. Then I look back at the simple reading of the book, all I have to do is have the book, light and go to it. Where as other things in my life seem more convoluted.

My goals and desires all conflict on each other, almost wishing to go every way at once, thus making anyone path virtually impossible. Deciding which way to go, is almost as giving up on the rest of them. Yet, no decision has been giving up on all of them. As well as cutting myself off from my emotions and those around me.

I am more conscious of my frustrations at other people, pointing to my own inadequacies and weakness. Still, I am uncertain how to shift the course I've unwittingly set.

I'm still not sure what to do with these insights or current level of awareness. Though it feels like I need a way to focus my focus onto a task, but be able to break that up into a few key areas during each day, without losing track of them all. Perhaps focusing on one till it starts to flow even more so.

My mom said something of a similar challenge, her doctors what her to loose weight, stop smoking, watch carbs and something else, and can't seem to focus on all of them at the same time, while being aware of the others. Thus overwhelming herself into doing none well.


Edit:
I have also noticed little desire to read the Personal Development Books I've bought.

[cylon]

I'll ask it again: In all the books you are reading, how often are the characters themselves sitting down and reading fiction?

[Andrew Brunelle]

I remember when I would read at night, I would have very clear and vivid dreams, most likely because my imagination was working so hard to read the books. It's weird what happens when you read every day/night.

[straysweeper]

Originally Posted by cylon

I'll ask it again: In all the books you are reading, how often are the characters themselves sitting down and reading fiction?

Thats true, the same can be said for all the other forms of escape I use. I mean, how often are they watching tv in tv? How often does the video game play a video game? Most comically is the SIM games people play, simulating actual life.

Its odd, how when I was doing well in my life and working a few years ago, TV and esepcially the computer had taken a back seat. I'd go days if not weeks without turning it on. Same went for my PS2. There were months between saves. I did cling to some TV shows, but as they ended I rarely replaced them.

Even still I enjoy it. Though less so that my subconscious knows I can be doing more, or living such a life that would make such things less important.

Originally Posted by Andrew Brunelle

I remember when I would read at night, I would have very clear and vivid dreams, most likely because my imagination was working so hard to read the books. It's weird what happens when you read every day/night.

With the effects of late, I think I should read recreational all the time. I have invested so much in personal development, feeding off the ideas for one part of my brain. I have neglected my imagination in senses by the more passive forms.

[cylon]

It's all trying to compensate for a lack of fulfillment in our own lives. Escapism has it's place every day, but it can't become our reason for living.

The reason we are so compelled to vicariously live through fictional characters is because a large part of us wishes we were out in the world, interacting, and making things happen.

When that happens your need for escapist entertainment basically goes away.

So the question becomes, which path to take. Living vicariously through fictional characters, or living your own real adventure, first hand.

So the answer to your question is the effects of massive fiction reading are you never live your life or fulfill your potential.

I think they had it easier in the olden times. They had the option of books, or go outside and do something. Now we have way too many things we can use to distract ourselves.

[TexasSky]

Originally Posted by straysweeper

For about the past week, I've been reading a fantasy trilogy, as it numbers near 2000 pages, and enjoyment reading varies different than information reading, I've spent many an hour at this.

I've notice interesting side effects. One, I notice I don't sleep as long, as I'd rather be reading, moving towards the conclusion or what happens next. Also, I feel more conscious than I have in previous weeks when my main source of entertainment was various forms of TV or games. Time still flows as though I'm doing either of those things, but my awareness seems more keen. Also, I feel more centered, most notably when I stand.

In ways this also shows some of my strengths in having an obsession and keeping to a task till its done. Yet, I wonder why I haven't been able to transfer that to other areas of my life.

Reading encourages you to explore something with your mind. You try to visualize the sights, you try to hear the sounds in your mind. You are probably problem solving as you read. Good fiction leaves you a lot of room to explore.

Good fiction doesn't require that you "color within the lines" of your imagination. Tolkein told us that Gandalf was an old man with a staff," and that "he had a tall pointed blue hat, a long grey cloak, a silver scarf over which his long white beard hung down below his waist, and immmense black boots." You get to say if the hat stood straight up like a dunce cap, if it was sky blue or royal blue or torquoise. You get to decide if the grey cloak is old and well worn, a simple cottonesque rag or an elegant velvet. You get to decide if that beard is well trimmed or bushy and wild. You decide how that staff is shaped and what it is made of.

In other areas of life the boundaries are often colored in by other people. At work or school, if someone tells you to complete a project, they expect you to produce what they have in their head, and they get cranky if you get too creative about it.

Its a known fact that use of the brain stimulates the brain. So, reading stimulates your brain and you use it. Work or school doesn't always stimulate it, so it begins to shut down the power to the unused sections.

[ClareDragonfly]

Originally Posted by cylon

I'll ask it again: In all the books you are reading, how often are the characters themselves sitting down and reading fiction?

It's hard to squeeze conflict out of sitting down and reading fiction (though I can imagine ways in which it could be done). Fiction relies on conflict.