Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Fun with Polls How do you read long fanfics

Just wondering...if you are faced with a fanfic you know will take you 3 or more hours to read, how do you usually read it?

I usually THINK I'm going to be able to read a long fic from beginning to end (unless is 500KB+), but I just end up reading as much as possible during my breaks/free time, and I've frequently stayed up later than 2am to finish a really GOOD, long fic or three. One time, I didn't even get to sleep until 7:30 in the morning!

So, in a round about way, I was telling you that I chose option two.

Well, I started out reading long fics in one session. After a while this is a very tiring practice. Besides, I've grown rather addicted to reading fanfic, so I use all sorts of breaks to read. Which means that I usually have to read longer fics in several sessions. Somehow, I still manage to be late all the time....

I have spent entire nights reading one story -- I've done it often, too.

I will spend 5 hours in a row reading *one* story, nooooooooo problem. I won't put it down until I know how it ends. But then, I only read those on Friday nights or during week-ends, when it doesn't matter how long I spend reading anyway.

When I put stories on my PocketPC, they're always short enough that I know I can read them from start to end during the commute (I spend 40 some minutes on the bus in the morning and sometimes more at night cause of traffic). I used to put longer ones there, but found that once I got in the office, I just *had* to finish reading them and... well, I didn't get any work done...

I just can't put stories down, I *need* to know how they end.

Precisement. Although I will do it on weeknights, which lately has led to some odd sleeping patterns.

On weeknights, I can often be found typing away on one of my own stories up until 2 AM. I have to get up at 6 if I want to make it to the office.... I don't know *how* I'm even able to get through the day. In November, I often stayed up until 2 a few days in a row - I'm still trying to catch up on lost sleep. LOL

Sleeping patterns. Sore subject right now.

I've somehow managed to reverse mine. I do this now and then. Curiously enough, I realised the other day, I somehow seem to end up sitting up half the night unable to sleep in the run up to Christmas, in particular. I seem to have a lot of hazy memories of sitting up in the small hours at this time of year, watching mediocre movies on cable, bleary-eyed. Go figure.

Anyway, here I am, once more, checking the boards at 3.46 am, having given up on sleep for the night. Bleah. Still did better tonight than normally. Thanks to all the dashing around getting ready for my family get together this evening, I did manage four hours sleep between 11pm and 3am. I'm progressing!

It'll sort itself back out eventually. Usually does. But it's frustrating, meantime.

At least I can make up the time during the day though! I can't imagine having to get up for a full day's work on this much sleep. Lara, you must be super-powered. <g>

Back on topic. <g> It depends on the story. If it's a really hot one, there's absolutely no chance I'm going to have any choice in how I read it. It's run at it straight through till the end, no matter how much into the small hours it takes me. It's the same with novels, although these days I do try to ration novels and put them aside to make them last longer.

LabRat

I actually noticed this a few days ago, Labby, that you were posting at pretty odd hours. I am sorry you are having sleeping problems. I hope sweet dreams come to you soon.

I wasn't sure how to vote, because most fics only take me a 20 minute break to read. So I don't find it all that difficult to find a block of time where I can read a whole fic at once. The longest fic I can remember reading online is Labrat's "Masques". I think it took 2-3 hours one Friday night, curled up in my chair with my laptop.

When I like a story, I don't like to stop. That's also the reason why I've read practically everything on the archive--up until recently when I stopped reading fanfic almost completely. But I'll stop if I have to!

Wow, Capes! Only 2-3 hours for Masques? That one took ME most of the night, and I read 200-300wpm! You must be one of those 1000-word readers. *is a bit jealous*

Two to three hours? You read about five times as fast as I do. And I thought I was fast.
*feeling very jealous right now*

I do this often. It comes from years of having to work midnight shifts.

If it's a really hot story, I'll read it all in one sitting (if it's not extremely long).


Oh, wow! I wish I could read that fast.

How do you guys read so fast? I want to know the secret. Did you take classes? See I have this little problem called perfectionism, and I'm afraid I'll miss an itty, bitty word. (I'm not as bad as I used to be.) And I like reading online because if I see something and want to know what the author said earlier about the same thing, I can just do a global search - and there it is. That's a whole lot better than trying to find it when you are reading a book.

I ahve almost the same problem, Nancy. I can read pretty fast even when I read every word. But I struggle to skim somewhat. I sometimes skip descriptive paragraphs to speed up but if I read a sentence, I have to read every word. My sister probably reads about as fast as Capes.

You know, I'm not really sure how it happened. It's not a method I tried to perfect and sometimes it's actually detrimental. I think it has something to do with the fact that we never had television when I was a kid, and I spent hours upon hours reading books. My only sibling reads just as quickly as I do so whether it's environmental or genetic I have no idea. I did see a study somewhere that said part of the reason some people read faster than others is that they have trained their eyes--unconsciously in a lot of cases--to only read the tops of the words, thus cutting their assimilation time and increasing the speed at which the eyes can scan a page. I have no idea if this is a valid study or not, though.

Actually, I've had to learn to SLOW DOWN in my reading. For one thing, it's annoying to have to pack 5 books for one weekend just so I don't run out of reading materials. Also, I've stopped reading fanfic and "light" reading completely during the semester because I found it was hurting my classwork. I get used to reading really quickly in English, then get tired of not being able to read as quickly in other languages.

My guess is that reading skills are something acquired with a lot of practice, like typing speed. I know classes help some people. I'd be interested to know someone who took a class to see if they felt it enhanced their reading skills or not.

This makes sense to me--I'm also a fast reader (I finished Gone With the Wind in two days when I was eleven and I probably could have finished it in one if it weren't because I acted up and my parents held it hostage from me for a while ). In English and my native tongue I rarely "read" per se, the process is more like looking at the words. I've seen them so much that my brain makes associations readily. It sounds weird to actually write that out, but that's what it feels like.

This is refering to fiction though, I have to force myself to slow down when I deal with other types of writing (*cough* and not reading for enjoyment) because the associations may vary (for instance if I plowed through an academic text, it'd be as if I never read it at all, there's more than words/meanings-associations on a page there). Also I struggle with another language for a living and find it impossible to do this "looking" process at all. Because of that I'm a ridiculously slow reader in it. it frustrates the crap out of me.

I started reading Star Trek novels when I was ten, and I love learning new words--the longer the better. I can usually read a 200-300 page novel in less than eight hours, if I don't go anywhere or do anything except eat and go to the toilet. In fact, I read the latest Harry Potter book in about 13 hours. My sister woke me up at midnight, I had the book home by 1am, and finished it by 2pm. Heh. My original plan was to SLEEP and THEN read the book, but it went the other way around.

I got a speed-reading course for my computer from a company called Infinite Mind a few months back, and it didn't really improve my reading speed much, but it did tell me how fast I already read.

I once heard that the secret to reading fast is to keep your eyes moving--it may sound simple, but you'd be surprised how many people move their heads instead of their eyes, or who don't move at all when they're trying to read.

That, and when I read, I'm able either to picture the scenes (in fiction) or to "hear" the words in my head like they would be spoken out loud. A lot of people, when they read aloud, don't sound like they're really speaking about anything--they're just trying to get to the end of the paragraph/page/book. They don't get any meaning from it, because they don't take the time to assimilate it. I guess I've just been reading for so long, and in such large quantities, that I've trained my eyes and my brain to assimilate the meanings from words faster.

I never read textbooks though. I tried a couple times, but ultimately, I got more out of the course just by taking notes during lectures--my psych 101 textbook kind of made my eyes cross after a while, not to mention I didn't have time to read it.

I've also been typing since I was eight, when everybody in my new elementary school (we had just moved to a different county) was required to learn keyboarding. After that, I kept my journal on my dad's computer, so I had lots of practice, despite my sporatic journaling.

People say "write the way you speak." I'd like to change that to: "Read the way you speak, and write the way you would speak if you were the most eloquent person you know."

Mostly, that's because I tend to express myself much better in writing than out loud.

It always takes me weeeeeks to finish a book. But I don't really mind because the slower I read books/fanfiction, the longer I enjoy! Well, schoolbooks were hardly enjoyable, but the upside was that because I read so slowly I remembered almost everything in the book. So, after reading it once or maybe summarizing it while reading, I would remember it all and pass my tests.

I don't know, Capes and Darcy. I've read a lot, too, and I read a huge amount of stuff growing up. It never seems to help me read any faster. (At one point, I'd read every ST novel available - no longer true. I've mostly lost interest.) Now the more I type, the faster I type, but reading... I don't think so. I've actually tried to read faster, and I can read a few paragraphs that way, but it seems to set off headaches.

And you don't even want to know how slow I read in Spanish.

I don't know. Maybe I read faster than I think, but it feels painfully slow to me when I hear about people reading five novels in a weekend or reading everything in the archive in four months. I've been reading (not looking at them) books since I was three. And my *comprehension* is high. I just can't read fast. My best friend is the same way, and she has a master's degree in English Literature of all things. (She reads much slower than I do.)

I suppose that might be part of my problem. I don't move my head, but when I move my eyes back and forth rapidly, I'm sure to get a headache - every time. Funny thing, though. I can actually read faster with a hand held computer than I can a book. I wonder if that has to do with the smaller screen and thus less eye moving.

Well, Darcy, I've been one to scan most of my textbooks, so I know how you feel. Notes always did me more good, too. But it's no fun when the class consisted of much of the textbook and you had to read it - especially medical textbooks (and talk about boring).

I can so identify with this!

I have always read extremely fast. I have always thought of it as a "practice makes perfect" kind of thing. I fell in love with reading around seven or eight and never fell out. Novels, my history textbooks, the back of cereal boxes, whatever, I read (both past and present tense) constantly. When you do a thing that much, it seems to follow that you would be able to do it more quickly than people who don't do said thing that much. But based on Nancy's experiences, that may not be true after all.

Here's a interesting tidbit: When I was a child, my mother punished me on more than one occasion for some infraction by packing up all my books. Other kids had TV taken away. I had my books taken away.

But back to the speed thing - as I have gotten older, I have found that I have a bad habit of skimming, sometimes skipping entire sections. Often I am not even aware that I have done it. It's like I've developed adult onset ADHD (not outside the realm of possibility, I am told) and just can't concentrate as well. So I am trying to slow myself down to make sure I catch everything. Last night, it took me about three and half hours, I think (I wasn't paying very close attention to the clock), to read Wendy's Without Consent.

I also read GWTW and the latest HP in about the same time as Alcyone and Darcy mentioned. And in both cases I read them straight through.

Ditto. I still have about 100 or so, and I reread many. Mostly published 10 years or more ago -- most of the newer ones just don't excite me (and the ones that do, I have).

And while I read about as fast as DSD (I think it was just about 13 hours on the latest HP for me as well, maybe an hour or so more or less), I don't think I'd want to read any faster. I know I miss some details (and go back and re-read 'em) at my speed.

Well, except for textbooks and the like. I read (or really, skim) those considerably faster. Then again, those are not exactly known for nuance and poetic language.

Well, I devoured that particular Harry Potter pretty fast, myself. Thirteen hours sounds like the time I needed, too. MIght have been fifteen to sixteen, though. I didn't acutally measure the time. Plus I read it in English, which is not my native language.

So, how comes I read that fast? Practice has a big part in it. When I was in the middle of first grade, I practiced reading on the expressway. Three months later I managed to read tose signs from top to bottom before we had passed them. Boy, was I proud!

Another factor is the number of interruptions. I had to find out that I need some time (about twenty minutes) to get to top speed. Depending on the size of pages and fonts, I can read between 50 and 75 pages per hour (in English - in German it's more like 60 to 90 pages). Anyway, when I read during the fifteen minutes I spend in a train each morning, I manage about ten pages only.

One of the most important factors is the familiarity of words. When I started reading English, I was pretty slow. Not nearly half as fast as I read German back then. Some time ago I was told that people (who read a lot) don't usually read the whole word letter by letter. In fact, you only skim it - and are able to recognize a word even if the first and last letters are where they're supposed to be. I've read some short German texts modified like that (middle letters all mixed up), and I had no problem understaning it.
This also explains why it is so hard to read non-fictional, learning- or work-related texts. They're often full of terms you don't encounter on a daily basis, including formal language. Additionally, the sentence structure is often complicated. And you have to read everything at least twice to completely understand it on top of all that.

It's really easier to read something where you don't have to move your eyes too far. I, for one, read faster if the lines don't occupy the whole lenght of my monitor...

Oh, and last but not least, there is a motivation factor. If I read something dull or boring (Ever been forced to read something on cleft sentences? Something of twenty or more pages?), I'm much slower than if I read something interesting, exciting or thrilling.

Like Darcy, I'm well able to picture the scenes or hear the words in my head. That's why I'm completely lost to the outside world when I'm reading. In order to get my attention, you really have to be persistent. Well, giving me a little shake usually works just fine...

Something sort of related, but not:

Whenever I'm reading something longer than a few pages, if I'm REALLY tired, sometimes my mind goes off on tangents. I'll be reading (and visualizing) the story, then all of a sudden, I'm visualizing the same characters, only with events I KNOW would not be in the story--basically, I'm "dream reading." And when I shake myself awake, I have to go back to where I started visualizing my own thing, or else I miss part of the story.

Anyone else ever had that happen to you?

Usually, that sort of thing happens to me after the reading. I'm "dream reading" several what-if scenarios. Or continuing the story. That sort of thing. Sometimes it's really hard for me to figure out what I really read and what was just my imaginiation.

When I'm really tired, the words get all blurry, I miss lines or read the same one again and again. I know by now that there's no use trying to read on.

That also happens to me too--especially if I know that the next part of the story isn't written/finished yet.

Like you said, in my case, that’s not so. Like I said, I’ve been in love with reading since I was three. And I read voraciously. But I can’t read as much as I’d like because I can’t read faster. It's a bummer.


Me, too.


Me, too. I once was reading a book that I just couldn’t put down and I wouldn’t go to bed. My mom came in and turned the light off and took my flashlight. She threatened me with punishment if I turned the light back on. She didn’t take the book, though. Well, my bedroom window was close to street light. I just read the book by the street light. (And that wasn’t so easy because it was far enough away to still be somewhat dark.)


I sometimes find myself reading the same thing over and over. That’s probably a sign that I’m too tired to be reading.

What’s GWTW?

Yes, so am I.


Yes, I say that’s where part of the idea of fanfiction came from.

Thanks, guys.

We had similar mothers, Nancy. (Oddly enough, my mother's name actually is Nancy!) But mine *did* take the book away. No matter. I just got another off the shelf, laid down on the floor next to the door and read by the light coming in through the crack underneath it.

Gone With The Wind

Never could get into Gone With The Wind for some reason. I tried, I really did. My aunt even presented me with a first edition. I still couldn't read it. I didn't even watch the movie until I was probably 35, and then I only half paid attention. Interestingly enough, though, I did enjoy the movie Scarlett. Never read the book though.

Until more recently, I guess I've mostly tended to read the sci-fi genre. I might have to give GWTW another try...

The first piece of "fanfiction" I ever wrote was when I was maybe 8 or 9. At that time the bag/pouch used to bring us the magazine "Good Housekeeping" which had an abbreviated novel in each issue. On this particular occasion, the ending to the novel irritated me so much I couldn't handle it. I got out a piece of paper and rewrote the ending. Then I tacked it onto the story and passed the magazine to someone else. Who knows what happened to it, but I consider it my first published work

Lol - I feel a little bit odd here since I've never checked my reading speed.
I guess it's a little faster than how my friends read due to the fact that my english improved a loooot since I've begun reading fan fics.
Anyway, it's probably pretty slow compared to yours

But honestly I don't mind - often I get frustrated when a really good and intriguing story is over so soon
I hardly find time to read for several hours - my normal time is about half an hour before forcing myself to sleep and about 15 minutes during my lunch break at work or at university.
I'd really love to curl up in my bed and engross my mind into a great and long (which means 500KB+) story, reading sloooooowly and re-reading every sentence several times

Best,
Jana

Good God, putting down a book is torture to me! Well, ok except textbooks. :p Anyway, it doesn't matter what I open; it takes about every disaster in the world to get me to put down a book before it's over. I order Harry Potter off Amazon, so I received it in the mail either the day of or the day after it came out. 8 hours later, I get a phone call from my friend. She says, "JD, you're an embarrassment to society. Put down that book and come hang out with us!" So I did. Little does she know I finished HP when I got back to my house.

I read and type a lot slower these days. That's partly to do with work and school. I used to edit school handbooks before I went to grad school, so I'd have to analyze 67 pages per book down to the last font, layout placement, and spell check. (And it's sooo why I'm back in school.) Sadly enough I still analyze everything I see from fanfic posts to my sister's space camp certificate that I see in her old room this week. It's a default of the trade. :p

JD

I ordered Order of the Phoenix from Amazon. The day it was released, I was reading another book, so I kinda didn't mind this next part, but by the time the UPS truck came with my copy of the book (around 3 or 4 in the afternoon), my dad was getting home from the bookstore with HIS copy.

I pre-ordered Half-Blood Prince from one of our local Waldenbooks stores, and even though I didn't get to the mall right at midnight when it came out, I still got it faster than my dad got his.

I picked other. I chose this because depending on the story depends on how I read it. If I'm pretty sure it is really going to grab my interest then I wait for a time I can read it straight through. If I'm not sure then I read them in pieces as I have time.

I know I'm not a particularly fast reader because of my years as a secretary in Biochemistry. Then my years as an accounts payable clerk. In both jobs I had to be very accurate in what I did.

Because I read every word I was a much more accurate typist and had several professors that requested me as their typist. I'm still so bad about that I wind up making corrections to the fanfics as I read them. I'm constantly picking up typos and mispelled or misused words.

Part of my job in accounts payable was to count the deposits for 2 major hotels where I live. Without even trying I could pickout counterfeit bills when I was counting the deposits fast. I was so good at it that (before the test pens) I picked up one that everyone at the bank said was good but got kicked back by the Federal Reserve.

So there is some way that my brain works that doesn't allow me to read fast but it picks out detail.

I may read fast, but I find myself doing that too, kmar.

Then again, I edit myself as I write too, no matter how fast or slow I do it.