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Do you enjoy reading, or is it more like a chore?

Respond to the one you most agree with:

  • As a child, I really enjoyed reading, and I still read for enjoyment

    Votes: 18 69.2%
  • As a child, I really enjoyed reading, but as an adult I don't enjoy it

    Votes: 1 3.8%
  • As a child, I disliked reading but I enjoy it now

    Votes: 6 23.1%
  • As a child, I disliked reading, and I still dislike it now.

    Votes: 1 3.8%

  • Total voters
    26

IsaiahF

Dreamer
Yeah, that's a good point - I tend to read only those I have a really really strong sense I'll love, so maybe I need to read some more average books :giggle: But also, just reading out of the genre I most want to write in (fantasy), is also helpful - it's not so close to what I'm writing to bring up fears of being impacted by it, but it's also going somewhere in my unconscious store of patterns to draw on. I'm a firm believer in the notion of attracting ideas and story-wholes based on the kinds of things we actively pursue in research and in our interests. I should probably write some kind of post on that at some point cuz there's a bit of nuance and depth I'd like to get into it.

Agreed - as you say it's clear as anything these days that artists need to be travelling down lesser known roads. People say that originality is impossible; that everything's a repetition - and that's true in a really abstract structural sense, but in terms of 'atmospheric qualities' and 'ideas' it just doesn't make any sense. Einstein said once that we lack the imagination for reality, and I always thought that captured the fervent fertility of the collective unconscious best. Unfortunately this is precisely what most people struggle to sense, locked as they are in the formulaic grip of the past. Hence the need for artists.

I agree with the diagnosis, but not sure about the prediction - I think the studio-model process of making movies are strangling them to death, but I also think there'll always be artists (writers, directors, editors, cinematographers, etc) who feel specifically called to create movies. But I do think there'll be some big changes coming - I heard Ben Affleck has set up a new studio that's supposed to be run by artists, for artists, so maybe that's symptomatic of a new wave coming. One can certainly hope!
 
I myself avoid films instead preferring to watch series, and many big name actors are moving over to series because they know they are likely to be more successful, whilst also being a chance to hone their craft. And if a series is being adapted from a book/series of books, you can replicate it better with being able to fit so much more detail in.

Many cases the series becomes more successful than the original film adaptation, and in some cases the series is more successful than the book. I’ve even taken the step to do some fantasy casting (because it’s super fun) for if my books were adapted to a series - it also helps me to creatively visualise the world, although I need to be careful to not take myself away from my original vision.
 
Yeah, that's a good point - I tend to read only those I have a really really strong sense I'll love, so maybe I need to read some more average books :giggle: But also, just reading out of the genre I most want to write in (fantasy), is also helpful - it's not so close to what I'm writing to bring up fears of being impacted by it, but it's also going somewhere in my unconscious store of patterns to draw on. I'm a firm believer in the notion of attracting ideas and story-wholes based on the kinds of things we actively pursue in research and in our interests. I should probably write some kind of post on that at some point cuz there's a bit of nuance and depth I'd like to get into it.

Agreed - as you say it's clear as anything these days that artists need to be travelling down lesser known roads. People say that originality is impossible; that everything's a repetition - and that's true in a really abstract structural sense, but in terms of 'atmospheric qualities' and 'ideas' it just doesn't make any sense. Einstein said once that we lack the imagination for reality, and I always thought that captured the fervent fertility of the collective unconscious best. Unfortunately this is precisely what most people struggle to sense, locked as they are in the formulaic grip of the past. Hence the need for artists.

I agree with the diagnosis, but not sure about the prediction - I think the studio-model process of making movies are strangling them to death, but I also think there'll always be artists (writers, directors, editors, cinematographers, etc) who feel specifically called to create movies. But I do think there'll be some big changes coming - I heard Ben Affleck has set up a new studio that's supposed to be run by artists, for artists, so maybe that's symptomatic of a new wave coming. One can certainly hope!
When at art school I studied culture and postmodernism and they are such abstract ideas that it’s hard to give a solid definition for each, suffice to say when we talk about repetition, we talk about postmodernism, and some even say we are experiencing a post-postmodernism. Ideas proliferate and grow and change into something new, and it’s no new thing in a sense - look at the legend of King Arthur, that began as a tradition of verbal storytelling, and look at what it’s turned into now! I think there is such a thing as originality, as long as we accept that our reality is always going to be influenced both consciously and subconsciously by everything we’ve experienced. And also, what’s wrong with being influenced by things? We can weave and change those stories in that same storytelling tradition that started when humans probably first walked the earth.
 

IsaiahF

Dreamer
Yep, things are definitely moving in the direction of serial storytelling - the golden age of tv indeed - though I think the Netflix model of churning out one or two seasons of content then cancelling it isn't the best way to go about it :facepalm:

Apologies for editing my previous version of this post, Finch, I just thought I could cut more directly to the heart of what I think on the matter. I think there’s more to reality than just repetition - that there’s a source that original art can come from. That it’s just a matter of attuning ourselves to it. I’d find it a cramped worldview to think that everything new is just the old repackaged, even if repackaged in an interesting and ‘kind of but not really new’ way. I also think that holding open certain possibilities of unfoldment - that we can, for instance, increasingly attune ourselves to something higher coming through - helps us to manifest them, and that not allowing for them can be stifling.
 
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IsaiahF it is an interesting subject to me too. You touched on something that myself and my husband have talked about many a time in terms of the education system and how it’s formulaic, restrictive and archaic. He works in education and I’ve also studied different types of theories on learning, and we’re both firmly believers in the ‘constructivist’ learning theory, which caters to how we interact with the world both individually and collectively. Constructivism allows for a more individualised learning experience.

In major contrast, the behaviourist style - which derives from stimuli response methods. If you’ve heard of ‘Pavlov’s dogs’ which was the litmus test for this theory, which suggests that humans need to be force fed pre-made information in order to learn effectively which I think is absolutely untrue. In some cases yes where there’s only one way of doing something, but even then it’s still a restrictive learning style.

But behaviourism is how much of education worldwide is delivered, and that derives from the industrial revolution where the illiterate masses were offered free education, which arguably is better than no education, but the purpose for this was also largely to churn out the masses to go to work in growing industries keeping the landowners rich and made the politicians look good, and literally nothing has changed to this day. So many people young and old haven’t met their potential because of a restrictive education environment where their creativity and different way of thinking is berated or stifled. My husband works with many children with behavioural problems who have been outright excluded from a classroom environment - get them outside or doing something active or imaginative and they thrive.

On originality, coming from an art school background, where I went from traditional school to specialist art and design institution, they do things differently. They get you to throw away everything you learned before and get you to start from the bottom up, breaking things down to their individual parts and building them up in as many different ways as you can think of. And you know a lot of the types of people that attend art institutions are those who didn’t fit into a traditional academic one - there were also a high proportion of students with ADHD, dyslexia and autism. I think some of those who are neurodivergent often go without their potentials being met, but who have some of the best abilities in thinking differently and originally. Steiner schools take this approach, and many schools in Scandinavia also take this more constructivist approach, which is why their education systems will always be better in terms of being progressive and forward thinking, producing more well rounded students.

So what am I trying to say - you touched on education which I think is the foundation for fostering any kind of creativity and freedom of thought and therefore originality, and I totally agree that most schools hammer this childlike ability to think ‘sideways’ and creatively out of us.

As Netflix - many a good series I have enjoyed has been cancelled and just when it gets good, so maybe I should cancel my subscription. I just watched 1899 on their and couldn’t be more disappointed that I wasted my time with it 🙃
 

Ned Marcus

Maester
I myself avoid films instead preferring to watch series, and many big name actors are moving over to series because they know they are likely to be more successful, whilst also being a chance to hone their craft. And if a series is being adapted from a book/series of books, you can replicate it better with being able to fit so much more detail in.
I'm moving in the opposite direction. I've had enough of series—both books and TV—and now prefer standalones. But I quite like standalone fantasy set in a common world. Occasional appearances of characters from previous stories can be fun, too.
 

IsaiahF

Dreamer
Thanks for the thoughts, Finch! How interesting, a couple of synchronicities there - I'm also in education, wish Australia would model itself on Scandinavian education, am aiming to eventually work in the local Steiner high school, and definitely subscribe to social constructivist approaches to knowledge over behaviourism. Behaviourism is, as you say, better than nothing, but doesn't really help 'draw out' (the etymological meaning of education) the potential of the child. Plus, I literally just started 1899 and was finding it a bit plain! What are the chances. So thank you for the warning, I shall watch no further. For one thing, many of these Netflix series feature dialogue that's just so... on the nose, I guess.

Linking back to the point about originality, yes, I'd put it down to education, but I'd also just put it down to the general materialistic zeitgeist. We don't seem to be interested in the mysterious source of creativity and the collective unconscious - and when we do, we tend to do it in frankly a rather New Age, wish fulfilment way (something that's probably pretty prevalent in writing circles). A young artist growing up in this is bound to feel the pressure of society pushing him back into a box, I think. Can you relate, by any chance - or is this just me?
 
IsaiahF, that you work in education as well is interesting, you’re bound to know a whole lot more than me on those learning styles for sure! - it does frustrate me no end though that so many young people are not meeting their potential through poor education systems. Not just that but the system that most of us have to grow up in, the capitalist/consumerism construct does tend to dictate the current zeitgeist as you say. However I do find how humans behave collectively really interesting, why are there shifts in interests and behaviours that are wholly collective?

I watched a documentary recently that looked at tribes that have an egalitarian system, and the subject of left and right hemispheres of the brain were discussed - I’ll never be smart enough to understand the neuroscience bit - but I think I understood the very basic principle that most people today are constantly searching for a dopamine hit because we’re no longer hunter gatherers. We no longer communicate with nature or the earth how we used to, and many of us have lost that connection and spiritual element, and the consequences of that is our brains have evolved to react entirely differently to stimuli. We’re probably not made to live in such large communities, or in isolation. Those who inherently think differently, such as the artist, the physicist, those who are neurodivergent and a litany of other creative types are probably able to push those boundaries that most of us are ‘trapped’ within. Not sure if that’s what you’re touching on but certainty what has been on my own mind recently.
 

pmmg

Myth Weaver
I agree, but at the moment I'm enjoying not writing series.

At the moment, I am enjoying writing a series, but... I question if it will really matter. I am too slow to get in when the iron is hot, and the world has changed so much. The issues I though this might speak to have already drifted into the shrouded past.

Maybe this one is not the hit for me, but I do have a SciFi in mind after....
 

IsaiahF

Dreamer
Completely agreed. Education systems are failing so many young people. I could probably talk for years about all the ways in which they're being let down by schools as well as universities.

Totally - I find collective behaviour fascinating, too. Do you have an example of a wholly collective behaviour, just so I know the kind of thing you're talking about?

Yeh, one argument I've heard is that ADHD in and of itself is not a pathology; that it only becomes pathology in the context of modern society, which requires a rather sedentary lifestyle, rather than the nomadic requirements of the hunter gatherer life. It's certainly related to what I'm saying, which I think is just that conventional society takes place within a very tiny little bandwidth and that notions of psychological/cosmic depth aren't taken seriously, even by New Age circles that get so emotionally hyped about it all that they lose all scientific rigour. I can imagine some sensitive young artists feeling like their aspirations - to rigorously engage with subjective realities - just aren't reflected in the world around them. And that can be a lonely, potentially even stifling thing. I won't say any more on it for fear of prattling on (unless you want me to :giggle: ), but does that make a bit more sense?
 

Aldarion

Archmage
I enjoy reading, but I'm kinda special there as the things I enjoy the most are military history books and old military manuals... Strategikon, Taktika etc.

Most of all, I enjoy doing research.
 

CupofJoe

Myth Weaver
I lost my reading "spot" at home and now I can't settle to read a book. I can read a few pages but then [because nowhere is quite right] there is the fidget, to find a new comfy way to enjoy the book.
 
Completely agreed. Education systems are failing so many young people. I could probably talk for years about all the ways in which they're being let down by schools as well as universities.

Totally - I find collective behaviour fascinating, too. Do you have an example of a wholly collective behaviour, just so I know the kind of thing you're talking about?

Yeh, one argument I've heard is that ADHD in and of itself is not a pathology; that it only becomes pathology in the context of modern society, which requires a rather sedentary lifestyle, rather than the nomadic requirements of the hunter gatherer life. It's certainly related to what I'm saying, which I think is just that conventional society takes place within a very tiny little bandwidth and that notions of psychological/cosmic depth aren't taken seriously, even by New Age circles that get so emotionally hyped about it all that they lose all scientific rigour. I can imagine some sensitive young artists feeling like their aspirations - to rigorously engage with subjective realities - just aren't reflected in the world around them. And that can be a lonely, potentially even stifling thing. I won't say any more on it for fear of prattling on (unless you want me to :giggle: ), but does that make a bit more sense?
Collective behaviour that fascinates me - anthropology, so how humans evolved to thrive or demise in groups, from the modern day family, to an entire country. Political systems. Then I also find cults interesting so far as human collective behaviour goes. There are obvious cults, then there are cults of trends, fashion etc. that have become part of the subconscious. The word derives from culture as far as my understanding goes, so what makes something a culture? What makes it good or bad, or worth being a part of?

You mentioned New Age circles, I mean here in the UK you still have a stronghold of Paganism (as we know it today) and many people go on their quests for spirituality and finding connection, which there isn’t anything fundamentally wrong with that, but that need to for attachment and belonging interests me.

I’m currently trying to figure out the traditions of my world with my writing right now, establishing the structure and the customs, and even where their origins lie, and when I’ve been reading and researching it all just gets me thinking!
 

IsaiahF

Dreamer
Collective behaviour that fascinates me - anthropology, so how humans evolved to thrive or demise in groups, from the modern day family, to an entire country. Political systems. Then I also find cults interesting so far as human collective behaviour goes. There are obvious cults, then there are cults of trends, fashion etc. that have become part of the subconscious. The word derives from culture as far as my understanding goes, so what makes something a culture? What makes it good or bad, or worth being a part of?

You mentioned New Age circles, I mean here in the UK you still have a stronghold of Paganism (as we know it today) and many people go on their quests for spirituality and finding connection, which there isn’t anything fundamentally wrong with that, but that need to for attachment and belonging interests me.

I’m currently trying to figure out the traditions of my world with my writing right now, establishing the structure and the customs, and even where their origins lie, and when I’ve been reading and researching it all just gets me thinking!
Hmm, yeh, all that is fascinating, Finch. 'What makes it good or bad' - now we're getting into ethics! I agree, nothing like creating a world to get one thinking :giggle:
 
Hmm, yeh, all that is fascinating, Finch. 'What makes it good or bad' - now we're getting into ethics! I agree, nothing like creating a world to get one thinking :giggle:
Or a can of worms?? 😅 have you watched The Good Place on Netflix IsaiahF? I think Michael Schur must enjoy exploring that type of thing because it really goes into the theories of morality on there - as well as being funny and clever. Stick with 1899, I just found the ending a dud, but I think that has more to do with the fact that Netflix did their annoying thing of cancelling something before it got going. They did that with Glow and I’m not happy about it! Why they keep giving Brigerton more seasons is beyond me 😱
 

IsaiahF

Dreamer
Haha! Yeh, actually, I have - the Good Place was a bit of good fun, I thought. Alright, noted for 1899 - and, oh damn, Glow was the wrestling one, hey? I thought that was superbly written and the characters were all so great. That makes no sense to me to cancel! It's that damned algorithm of theirs, I tell ya...
 
For me the hardest part is getting started, once I am about five minutes into reading I get lost and enjoy it. I would say it depends, some chapters feel like work. Some fly by way to quickly. I am currently reading A Song of Ice and Fire (First book). And I really like the Arya chapters, she is my favorite character so far. Those chapters are way to short and I would 100% read a standalone Arya book.

The worst chapters to me are Bran, he is picking up slowly. But I have to force myself through them.
 
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