I started reading the Harry Potter books years ago in my early teens after watching the first movies. Then I got into a couple of other fantasy books.

I can't remember how I got into fanfiction in the first place, but my original fic reading included a bunch of stuff which I feel really embarrassed about in hindsight. Over time I got fed up with the bad tropes and sloppy writing, and now I am very selective with what I read.

I don't read any of the original source anymore and I barely watch any tv. Common media doesn't interest me anymore. So, yes. Fanfiction has ruined me from reading books. Fanfiction has ruined me from everything. And I don't mind it one bit.

 

Initially yes, but I've made it a goal in the last few years to read a minimum amount of actual books annually. I think, in part, because not many new/interesting fics are being written it's freed me up to read more original fiction again.

It's something that requires real effort to learn a new world and new ensemble of characters. I always used to wonder how my parents could endlessly rewatch Seinfeld, Friends or Fraiser. I get it now, that's me reopening A Black Comedy, Wastelands or The Lie I've lived for the umpteenth time. HP fanfiction will always be the reliable comfort food of reading that will be easy and engaging to slide into. It doesn't help that there are some very talented people in the fandom creating legitimately engaging works.

 

I think there was a good year or so where this was the case as I'd developed the habit of doing all my reading at work.

Because I worked in software support, if I wasn't talking to someone on the phone about whatever problem they had then I had nothing to do except wait for the next phone call. When I realised that no-one was fussed about me reading fanfiction at work, well, goodbye boredom. I'd finish a call, log the case and go right back to what I was reading.

Since I spent so much time reading at work, I didn't really want to do it at home as well so I ended up neglecting my books and e-books for ages until I discovered the godsend that was the Kindle Cloud Reader .

Ah, those were the good old days.

 

> be jon
> read 800k words of weird islamophobic smut
> i can't read because time constraints

 

I'm addicted... I must drag others down with me...

 

I stopped reading novels on purpose when I was in school. I had no self-control. The moment I started a book, if it was good it WOULD be read. Sleep, food, homework, all discarded in favour of consuming as many words as possible. Then when I finished it I'd immediately pick up a new one and one after that and one after that... This would last for months at a time.

Life got a lot more organised for me when I found fanfiction. Most of it is mediocre comfort food. I could put it down! Hooray!

I haven't really tested my self restraint again since finding what works for me. Every book I've picked up since actively working against my folly has been hand picked to also be mediocre.

You guys are making me eye up the bookshelves, though. Welp. See you in six months.

Edit: Also I get really pissed off about buying a bad book. And there's so, so many bad books. With fanfiction the only investment you put in is opening the webpage. Can't click X on a terrible book.

 

Unfortunately, yes, at least to some extent. That said, books - especially good ones that I want to devote time and undivided attention to - aren't something I'll casually read on the train or at work anyway, so fanfiction isn't totally replaceable by original fiction anyway.

 

I don't like rereading books/fanfics unless it's been long enough for me to mostly forget the plot, I also go on kicks where I like to read specific tropes/genres/fandoms for a while until I've got the usual beat by beat of the trope down, and then I move onto the next.

Right now I'm on fantasy kids book kick where I've read the His Dark Material series and The Child Thief in the last week. I'm going to move on with Purple Hibiscus and other similar books for more serious fiction and then nonfiction starting with Sapiens next.

Before this book kick, I dived into an odd trope of Harry Potter fics, nothing interesting really. I wouldn't say that fanfiction keeps me from reading books, I'd say I've replaced my shitty book quota with fanfiction. I used to trawl shite sites like wattpad and fictionpress when I was too lazy to walk over to the library and before I got into the habit of pirating books, those were some dark times very weird plots.

 

I don't see Artemis Fowl there, and I'm a little disappointed.

 

I read half of that series as a kid, it seemed a bit formulaic after a few books @pbluekan. I did start reading HDM so I could binge watch the new hbo series, but the artemis fowl movie later this year looks like it's going to be a trainwreck.

 

I wouldn't say that it has stopped me from reading books, but after a stressful day it's much more comfortable and easy. Were I to want to find a wholly new book, I would need to look through book recommendations. I would then look through reviews of each book and read a summary. If I'm actually interested, I must now put a cash investment into it, likely followed by a multiple-day wait before I can actually read it. On the other hand, if I want to find a new fanfiction story, I can open my author alerts or do a cursory search through DLP, Scryer, or FFN. No cash investment or pressure to actually complete it, even if I dislike it.

Reading a new fanfiction story is also much easier than reading a new book. Harry Potter fanfiction has to me become similar to the commedia dell'arte. The majority of the stories will have characters in very similar plot roles, with very similar mannerisms and personalities. The locations, concepts, and plot devices are reused over and over, and this all makes it very easy to jump in and out of stories comfortably. I already know that Voldemort is probably the antagonist, and Harry Potter is probably the protagonist. Dumbledore is a tall white-haired and long-bearded wizard with odd fashion sense. Severus Snape is a lanky and greasy-haired man with something suspicious about him. These characters are well-known to me and I don't need to construct an entirely new image of them in my mind every time I read a story.

If I'm, as an example, first reading the Dresden Files, I have no idea who Harry Dresden is. The way magic works in the Dresden universe is likely going to be new to me beyond general assumptions you can make about magic. This makes jumping into the Dresden books more of an investment of time and effort than jumping into a new Harry Potter fanfic, especially when I'm pressed for time as is.

 

The opposite. Got tired of wading through shit to find an 'okay' story. I'm now addicted to audio books for my escapism.