So turns out…..you guys are not gonna believe this…….but it turns out. Reading real books. Is good for you actually.
Let me be completely clear - I’m not being a sarcastic ass. I’m just realizing all over again, in real time, for myself, that reading a real life published book makes your neurons feel like they’re getting a spa day. Like I can feel my brain getting juicer and wrinklier with every page I turn. This shit is no joke, this is like hard drugs if hard drugs were good for you and made your brain feel revived and alive.
@7redmoon nothing against some good fanfic, I’m a fic author myself, but there’s something very necessary and mentally nourishing about reading a published book that isn’t just a recycled version of the same cast of characters you’re already familiar with.
@911boofer I hope it’s okay I snagged these tags bc YES!!!!! This is what I’m talking about!!! Diversify your palettes, my friends, it’s so so good for you!!
I really love fanfic, especially when I’m tired or very low on spoons, or just need a little thing to get me through the day.
But when I have the brain space, or am bored, original work is the best. It’s more difficult for me to find books I like, but going into something without knowing any potential story beats or how they’ll fall together is very different. I’m reading The Three Body Problem right now, and while I have some spoilers and know somewhat what’s going to happen, I have no idea how it’ll be displayed or what I’ll go through to get there. Even in a very AU fanfic, there’ll be repeated tropes and certain ways things go down so they rhyme with canon, or at least I know the characters and how they might handle certain situations.
I have no idea what’s going to happen with these characters in Three Body System except that it’s probably going to be bad. Sometimes, when I’m reading at night, I’ll get to the end of a chapter and just be like “fuck, brain too full, can’t handle anymore” whereas if it was fanfic I could probably just like…… smooth over, keep going, it’s not even 10 pm yet.
It really is just exercising a slightly different muscle. The post-exercise discomfort is rewarding in a different way than a relatively familiar walk in the park is. They’re both good, but it’s nice to do something other than the same walk in the same park every day
