Novel addiction

[averagewriter]

I am just curious, so I want to ask.

Have anyone one of you ever had that phase of novel reading addiction?

I am talking about the unhealthy kind that makes you do nothing in your life other than reading, going as far as abandoning your whole life and even skipping sleep for a day or 2 if the novel is interesting enough.

Being so immersed in a novel that you would go high when something exciting happens in it, really high actually as if you are on drugs.

Feeling so down when you have nothing to read as if the world has turned bleak?

I am wondering?

 

[DreamOfRen]

I did a few weeks back. It was troublesome because the two novels were over 1,000 chapters in length! Ultimately I spent almost 2 weeks straight binging.

 

[averagewriter]

I did a few weeks back. It was troublesome because the two novels were over 1,000 chapters in length! Ultimately I spent almost 2 weeks straight binging.

I am not talking about a novel or two here, but about reading none stop for like a year or two.

 

[Saileri]

Well, for almost a year I was reading during every spot of my free time from dusk to dawn, but I kinda always save myself 6 hours of sleep as a rule, which is my sweet spot. So, yeah, I know that. Hundreds of chapters a day. Unfortunately, after starting to write, it's not possible anymore. Now, I spent all that time writing instead of reading. And I'd say squeezing even more of time for it.

 

[TRNRLogan]

*nervously looks around*

Haha who does that? I'm totally not currently in this situation.

 

[averagewriter]

*nervously looks around*

Haha who does that? I'm totally not currently in this situation.

You.

Edit: Just kidding, believe me, though, this path only has one ending.

Boredom.

 

[averagewriter]

Well, for almost a year I was reading during every spot of my free time from dusk to dawn, but I kinda always save myself 6 hours of sleep as a rule, which is my sweet spot. So, yeah, I know that. Hundreds of chapters a day. Unfortunately, after starting to write, it's not possible anymore. Now, I spent all that time writing instead of reading. And I'd say squeezing even more of time for it.

I am currently the same actually.
Though I am not writing that regularly these days.

 

[Maple-Leaf]

Sounds like everyday life to me.

 

[averagewriter]

Sounds like everyday life to me.

Hope that changes soon.

 

[DreamOfRen]

I am not talking about a novel or two here, but about reading none stop for like a year or two.

Generally 1,400 chapters are read over a 1-2 year time span, maybe more if they are released daily. I just have the benefit of reading a fiction that was already complete.

 

[averagewriter]

Generally 1,400 chapters are read over a 1-2 year time span, maybe more if they are released daily. I just have the benefit of reading a fiction that was already complete.

True.

 

[K5Rakitan]

I spent my summers in middle school doing pretty much nothing but reading and whatever my parents dragged me out of my room to do. Those were physical books, though. I had a goal to get through them before I had to go back to school.

I didn't get my own laptop until I graduated from high school in 2007, and I've never had a smartphone.

 

[Queenfisher]

I wanted to give the first few posts a stunned reaction thingy but then every post in this thread would have it thus far. O_O

I have never had such an addiction (maybe only once when I was reading LotR for the first time back in childhood. But since this discussion is not about specific novels... ). I didn't even know so many people had it...

How... do you do that? I now want to try!

My own addiction is Maladaptive Daydreaming Disorder. I can sometimes spend up to 6-8 hours a day brainstorming writing but never actually putting down a single sentence. Perhaps that counts as binging imaginary books in my head and is similar to what you describe?

 

[averagewriter]

I wanted to give the first few posts a stunned reaction thingy but then every post in this thread would have it thus far. O_O

I have never had it (maybe only once when I was reading LotR for the first time back in childhood. But since this discussion is not about specific novels... ). I didn't even know so many people had it...

How... do you do that? I now want to try!

My own addiction is Maladaptive Daydreaming Disorder. I can sometimes spend up to 6-8 hours a day brainstorming writing but never actually putting down a single sentence. Perhaps that counts as binging imaginary books in my head and is similar to what you describe?

All you have to do is enter that hyper-focus state where 10 hrs passes like 10 mins.
Though I can't do that any longer, at least not when reading novels.
I also tend to daydream on ideas, getting lost in thoughts while walking around aimlessly is one of the fun things I enjoy doing.

 

[Queenfisher]

All you have to do is enter that hyper-focus state where 10 hrs passes like 10 mins.
Though I can't do that any longer, at least not when reading novels.
I also tend to daydream on ideas, getting lost in thoughts while walking around aimlessly is one of the fun things I enjoy doing.

Oh, thanks... My daydreaming does look like 10 hours --> 10 minutes thing, though, so it's a similar type of addiction.

I guess I can't really lose myself in other people's stories because my daydreams provide me with dopamine rush any time I need and in any combo of genre/tropes I want... and when you're addicted to that, it's hard to share the focus with something else

 

[DubstheDuke]

Thats me every day but with writing.

 

[Deleted member 29316]

I'm on two extremes.

There were times I get addicted to reading novels, and there were times I'm on a roll to write stories/draw illustrations. As such, I either stop writing/drawing (when reading) or stop reading (when writing/drawing).

 

[Enlyghten]

I am just curious, so I want to ask.

Have anyone one of you ever had that phase of novel reading addiction?

I am talking about the unhealthy kind that makes you do nothing in your life other than reading, going as far as abandoning your whole life and even skipping sleep for a day or 2 if the novel is interesting enough.

Being so immersed in a novel that you would go high when something exciting happens in it, really high actually as if you are on drugs.

Feeling so down when you have nothing to read as if the world has turned bleak?

I am wondering?

That was my life through highschool. Then I found alcohol. Now I'm pretty much back to it. I'm at work right now and instead of addressing the soul crushing pile of paperwork, I'm reading and commenting with you fine gentlefolk...

*edit* Mind you, this was before it was common to have internet in one's household, so I would be up reading physical books until 0100 or later and wake up to zombie my way through school. This would only exacerbate my depressed emotional state so that the only emotions (other than frustration or anger) I felt were while I was reading.

Not the same thing, exactly, but surely not a healthy dependence.