Well, I hope this question hasn't been asked before...

So, how do you read fan fiction? I had a couple of friends who told me they printed out the fics they read.

Do you print or read on the screen?

I picked number 2. I print most things out, but if it is really short, I'll just read it on screen.

I usually sign in the morning and print off everything new and then take that to the gym and read it while on the treadmill while everyone else is watching soap operas...

They also make great library material for the throne room...

And, like Lois, I do the responcible thing and recycle them.

James

I read them on screen. I used to print them out but was going through my paper and ink way too fast.

Back when I first found the Archive, I spent a blissful month or so printing out everything that was there. Which was considerably less than there is now, but still a fair amount of stories.

Each evening, I'd frantically spend my meagre two hours allotted internet time (this was before the days of dial-up or broadband) printing out as many as I could, then I'd haul my treasure downstairs and read and read and read until the small hours of the morning.

<sigh> Happy days.

I kept on with printing out hard copies of fic for a long time, then realised, as Kaylee did that it was a pretty expensive way to do it. Not to mention the small rainforests that were disappearing along the way.

So I stopped printing and switched to just reading on screen. After a time, I even got rid of my printer entirely - haven't had one for years, although I do have access to Stuart's if I really, absolutely have to print something off, which isn't often.

And here's where, co-incidentally, we reach the point where this poll merges with an epiphany that struck me just this week. I suddenly realised that I just don't like reading on screen these days. I tend to lose concentration pretty quickly that way.

I think that if I could go back to printing them off, I'd read a heck of a lot more fanfic these days than I do. The irony is that I spend quite a lot of time bemoaning the fact that I have nothing to read, having gone through the latest novels I've bought and there's a trove of fanfic that I could be reading snuggled up on the sofa, nights, if only I had the means to get them there.

LabRat

I read on the monitor and don't really think anything more of it. My favorite thing to do is take my laptop out on the porch or up to bed and ease back to read for hours Though, before I had my laptop I just read at my desktop. It never really bothered me.

When I print stuff out it just doesn't feel right to me. I guess I need a book to hold if I'm gonna be reading print :p

I save stuff to a floppy. Easy on the ink and I can read when I want.

On the screen. Admittedly, it's tiring for the eyes. (I often think to myself, I'm seriously damaging my eyes - I spend most of my time reading books, watching TV or on the computer, when I'm not studying for school, that is.) But why waste all this paper and ink? It's neither ecological nor cheap.

See ya,
AnnaBtG.

I read on screen first. Then, if I really really like the story and I want to be able to re-read it many times, I *might* print it out. Not if it's too long, though.

PJ

On screen after I've saved the document to word pad so I can read it anytime I want.

TEEEEEEJ

I always read on-screen. But my eyes do glaze over if I'm faced with a long, unbroken passage of text - especially when it's on the Archive, given everything's in plain text. I find Courier very hard on my eyes.

So if a story uses tabbing for paragraph breaks, rather than an extra hard return to create blocks of space between paras, and if it's anything more than around 50K, I end up skimming and may give up on it unless it really grips my interest.

Take this as a plea, fellow authors, to use double hard returns rather than tabs for paragraphing!


Wendy

You might want to try saving the file in Word and then changing the font, Wendy

See ya,
AnnaBtG.

Back in the days when I didn't have a computer at home, I used to print stories out (furtively at work when no-one was looking ). Then when I got a computer at home and a dial-up connection, I used to save them to disk for reading on screen but offline. Now that I have a computer and broadband access, I read everything on the screen. The only time I print is if I'm going on a long journey and want something good to read. Then I'll print out a long fic that I've been meaning to read but never got around to and have a good old wallow on the train/plane/whatever.

I've still got those early fics I printed out - they're my backup for when all the technology fails and I'm pining for an L&C fix. Haven't needed them so far but you just never know...

Yvonne

Sure I could, Anna, and I used to do just that - even going so far as to put in extra hard returns for paragraphing. But it just feels like wasted effort when I'm not going to save the story.

Nowadays, my preference is to read stories in instalments here on these boards.


Wendy

I usually read on screen. It's a bit wasteful to print a lot of fic, considering an evarage long story would take 50 pages. <g>

I've printed out a few fics to read, one of which was meant to read on a plane, but I wouldn't print just anything. I do filter my options before I decide to print something.

Julie

When I first discovered this fandom I, too, didn't have my own computer. So I'd print out all the stories at work. It was quite easy printing some of these longer fics on those high speed printers.

Then I'd take the fics home and read them in bed just like I used to read paperbacks.

Now that I have my own computer and don't really have one where I now work, I read strictly online, onscreen. And with that I read in instalements on the message boards because it's so much easier that way.

Tank (who just recently pitched out several boxfulls of those old fics that had been printed out)

When I first started reading fic I was reading TUFS and S5/6. It didn't even occur to me to read them online, so I printed out every story, put them in binders, created tabs for each story and a TOC and cover for each notebook. Since I didn't know how to get rid of the line breaks and didn't think to change the font, it took up a TON of paper and ink. I was Office Depot's best customer for a while. And three hole punching everything was a pain.

Now I read strictly on screen. It just costs too much money to print things, and my eyes haven't given out yet.

~Anna

When I first discovered L&C fic, I printed out every story. Used a heck of a lot of paper and ink!

As soon as I got cable, I started to read on screen. I rarely print stories now. I find it much easier to read stories in installments on the boards than on the archive.

Tricia

I read alot of the stories on the forum. But when I find one I really like I print it out. I love reading the stories at night before I go to bed.

I read on screen, but usually offline. Full stories from the Archive I download into a Word file and save on my hard drive. For installments, sometimes I read online, or sometimes add the last installment to say the two previous and enjoy the story flow offline.
When I get tired sitting at a computer, I download the word files into pocket word on my Jornada (handheld like palm pilot) and read in bed. So it's always on a screen of some nature and never printed.

Artemis

I download everything to my computer to read. I prefer the archive where stories are posted in total. If I download from here and it is multi-part then I open Word and copy/paste all the parts into 1 file. I have saved to my computer all the L&C stories PG or NFic I've read or am trying to get to. I monthly back them up to a CD. I either read them on my desktop or in bed on my laptop. Use to print them out but decided trees need to live and it was to expensive. When I read a story I really love I mark it and go back and reread them periodically.

I read everything on the screen. I have some notebooks where I print out the very best fics for others to read--but that is for other fandoms (Lord of the Rings--I printed out some of the very best fanfic, which is GOOD--and Valdemar and Tortall fic), haven't gotten to L&C yet. I don't know if I want to tackle it! I have enough good fic to last several notebooks, at least. And Masques would take a notebook up all to itself , 'cause I have to have at least 8 point font--and even that is tiny; some people would have to use a magnifying glass to comfortably read it.

I'd print more than I do, but I have to format it all the way I want first--I do it in Word, 8 pt font, and have to fix the formatting--a lot of text from txt files runs together in many places when copied into Word, and takes ages to fix.

Someday I want to learn how to bind my own book. Then I'll print out all of Masques and bind it, so I can lend it to my friends to read.

LOL, Doranwen

Funnily enough, there was one FoLC who did just that! Printed Masques out in the smallest font possible to save on paper - and then used a magnifying glass to read it. <g>

What a sweet compliment.

LabRat

Does it ever! But years ago I came up with a macro to fix 'em, so now all I do is hit a button on my tool bar and the whole thing gets fixed. It's a 3-step search & replace.

• Search for the double hard returns (^P^P) and replace them with XXXX or any other place-holder combo.
• Replace all the remaining hard returns (^P) with a space.
• Replace all the XXXX's with double hard returns.

That gets rid of the hard returns within paragraphs, but keeps the paragraphs separate. Assuming it started off with double spaces between paras -- you can adjust if it's something different, like a hard return followed by 5 spaces for indented paragraphs.

There are still a few things to tidy up, but it's a lot easier this way.

I guess I could go with 8 pt. At the moment I'm using 10pt Arial, going down to 9pt for a longer story, but I could probably read 8pt. I never used to print out fic, but lately I like having it available when I can't get near my computer.

Hope this helps!

PJ

Ditto. They're are several really excellent stories out there, but because they don't use that extra return button, I just can't read 'em anymore.

My screen and I stick to each other like glue, which isn't such a great thing, according to my optometrist, but until I have a pair of frames on my face, I'll stick to the screen.

JD

It hasn't been said yet (I think):

One word at a time!


David (Who reads said words on screen)

I selected "other". I don't read oncscreen because I have a vision problem, so I print out everything I read. Earlier on, I collected the stories I like, but have stopped doing that because I ran out of room to store them.

I don't print anything to read until it goes to annesplace or the Archive. I only want to read stories when they are finished and in their final version.

I don't like to read stories in pieces, but I'm glad other people do, because when I write, I post, and the comments help me complete the final version before I send it to annesplace and the Archive.

Jude