/lit/ - Literature

>>3469077
Dude, just read. You'll get better at it within a week. You'll soon be able to read for much longer without getting tired.

>>3469077
And start by reading an hour a day, every day.

Close your eyes. Imagine an apple. Can you do that?

Step two: imagine a tower made of those apples.

The author will not describe everything with perfection. I mean, an author's physical description of a character is going to give each person a unique image in their mind....YOU have to partially craft all the characters and the scenery yourself. You have to THINK. If you can't THINK, try watching movies instead.

Stop thinking of books as movies with words.

Reading is not like watching something, it is akin to listening. If a friend tells you a story about yesterday when he was at the bar and it was full, he doesn't have to go on detail about how many people were there or how was the disposition of tables. You are paying attention to his point, to what happened that was important. Not to say a visual thing can't be important, not at all, but that this shouldn't stop you from engaging in a book. You have to access a new way of thinking that is less rigid, so you don't have to struggle or focus to pay attention, you are paying deep attention to how each thing comes together and you allow the writer to surprise you with the next thought.

Damn, that gif is distracting as fuck, zyzz was nuts.

>>3469105
Not OP, I'm this guy>>3469104

I greatly disagree with you. I think crafting the scenery using your imagination is a mandatory part of enjoying books. In my sleep, I often dream of places I created in my mind reading a book.

>>3469077
Proof /fit/ is full of morons. No wonder they look up to a dumb clown like Zyzz.

>>3469111
I find OP interesting actually. I have been theorizing that people who don't enjoy reading books lack the ability to visualize things in their head.

>>3469111
>zyzz
>dumb
Stop being retarded, anon.

>>3469110
Only if you're reading bad fantasy. It's not mandatory at all. Which is not like saying you imagine fantastic places, but the thing is that the writer knows he is not reproducing what he imagine as it is in his words. That is, if I describe my home to you and you've never been here, you'll imagine a certain house in a certain way and I can give you lots of details and you'll have a "dreamy" version of it in your head. If that vision is strong, you'll most definitely feel weird once you visit me, you'll get what I meant withot me having to say a word ever again. The thing is that you cannot rely on having a clear vision to go on with the book, because if you imagine it as a scene in a movie, each sentence will demand the continuity department to change things around. "Wait, the guy grabbed the cup with his left hand? But when he said he turned around I imagined he had his right arm next to the table..." None of this is important. There are other things to visualize other than the physical space, even within physical descriptions. One will definitely imagine wonderful things, but always in relationship to the whole.

>>3469088
>>3469090
I don't really have the habit of reading, but I'll try to at least read an hour per day.
>>3469104
Yes, I know that I have to craft part of the image, my problem is not with that. It gets me tired if I keep imagining image per image, while having to read and understand what was written at the same time.
I don't know why someone would say "if you don't want to think go watch a movie". Just because you don't have to craft the image doesn't mean that what is being shown to you can't be analyzed.
>>3469105
I just think that if you are not seeing the images you are not fully appreciating the book. Almost all the books I've read I just kept on reading and not making the images in my head. I still enjoyed them, but I think I could go deeper, you know?

>>3469127
So what, your characters are floating in an empty white space of nothingness because you feel the author has not provided enough scene description?

>>3469127
I am not even sure if I am agreeing with you, so I will just state my point of view. Whenever I imagine a scene in a book, I only have a very vague picture of it in my head. Say a family is in a room, the kids are playing and the parents are discussing how they will make it through the winter, since they are poor and don't have a lot of money.
Now in my head I have the picture of a shaddy room, that is lit by a single light. I might have a picture of little kids playing on the floor. Now we have to grown ups, a man and a woman who discuss something, while the woman is washing cloth. I usually don't really imagine their physical look. Most of the time it is just people doing something. Maybe the man has black hair cause it was mentioned at some point in the novel, maybe the woman is blond, but that is about it. One thing I do though, is that I imagine their body language while talking. The woman throwing her hands up, while screaming at the man, he hitting the table with his fist. Her eyes rolling or she deeply inhaling. All that, even if it isn't mentioned, but you can imagine it cause of the dialogue.

>>3469140
That's interesting. I seem to put more effort into adding to the scenery, while you add a little bit of body language to people. Maybe I'll try to incorporate that into my reading.

>>3469122
Zyzz was mentally deficient in just about every way possible.

His death should be in pic related.

>>3469143
Never really was interested in him much at all, but wasn't he that guy popular on /fit/ who took all kinds of steroids to get ripped and then died cause of it at age 25 or something?

>>3469137
No, I'm saying that you can't see things that way and there is no such thing as "empty white space of nothingness" versus "description description description".

If I get to you and say "yesterday, at my job, my boss farted and we all had a laugh" you don't have to know anything else and at the same time my boss is not floating in an empty white space, is he? Sure, there are many ways for a writer to tackle what he wants to say and I guess there are some books that are there just for the scenery porn, but I think that just sucks ass and people shouldn't think that's the norm in literature at all.

>>3469145
That's him.

The most hilarious (inept) thing about Zyzz is that he authored poorly written schlock in the form of a fitness guide (at least an error every paragraph) but didn't know what the fuck he was doing when he uploaded it to the 'net, so it was free to download for about a month straight.

It should be illegal to be that dumb, and I guess it is since he died of it.

>>3469140
Exactly. I think that is rather "dreamy", don't you think? Because the body language is meaningful to you, though the color of the hair not so much in your example. Just like in dreams we only have the information that is in someway meaningful. The kids may be playing to the right or to the left, but you don't know, they are just playing, that's what matters.

The dialogue itself makes the gestures. That's great. Exactly what I mean. That there are all so many ways to visualize things and they are not like watching the mise en scene of a movie unfold, because things are not being captured, they are being invented and suggested.

>>3469148
Not him.

If I read that, I imagine a bureau working area, with the boss sitting at his work place and farting loud. Then everyone starts first giggling a little and then all out laughing. The boss might have done it simply because he doesn't care what his workers think about him. He did it on purpose cause he is the 'fun maker' at the company. Whatever. But yes, I can agree, that I don't need a description of your work place to let that scene work.

>>3469157
Yes exactly! I mean I know these people are poor, I know they only have a room to live in. That is all I need to know. I don't have to know that the table they eat from is black, white or brown. I don't need to know if they have one bed or two beds. I don't need to know anything other, than that they are poor. I can imagine a shaddy room.

Yes the dialogue is what is important. I mean is it important that the kids play with a toy car or a tin soldier? Or is it important that the parents have to figure out how to be able to survive the winter? And of course the emotions are important. You can't imagine them just sitting there and arguing in a calm or monotone voice. They talk, rais their voice, maybe stand up.

And yes, I think everyone has a different way of imagining stuff. I think that is another great thing about books. Every person can create their own movie in their head while reading the book. I love it.

>>3469158
Yeah. And I'm not saying one can't imagine, I'm saying one can't rely on that as if the person was there, because that can be exhaustive and for no reason, just missing the point of the laugh and the fart, etc.

So that if I continue "then he yelled 'shut up!' and everyone silenced, except for me. My boss got up, fixed his tie and walked towards me at a slow pace, towering over my head and pressing his huge stomach at my chin" you already have a different vision of how things may look like and what does the whole story mean. And if you are to settle at each sentence, you demand yourself to stop at the next, because you'll rethink everything. And I'm saying one should let it unfold naturally. "And then I farted and my boss started laughing again, grabbing me by the neck and telling us to forget work, for it's party time"

>>3469113
The schools took hold of the culture, taming it and taking away the subversive element of it. So if you are smart, how can you trust or feel interest for something like this? I´ḿ not blaming the school, but the fact that for many people is the only source for culture.

Reading always hurts my eyes and always gives me a headache. My vision is perfect and this happens whether I'm wide awake or sleepy. I have no issues understanding/visualizing what I read and enjoy it very much but after about an hour regardless of how immersed I am in the book the eyestrain and headaches tear me right out of it. Any suggestions?

>>3469153

The thing was zyzz was a character. The kind of personality that was so ridiculous and outlandish you would never have imagined he existed outside a book. He enjoyed his life and others enjoyed hearing about/watchign his.

Your intelligence/lack of writing skills doesn't have to define your personality

>>3469134
yeah
but you'll get better at these things the more u read/grow up
its called being sensitive i guess? lol

>>3469104
>YOU have to partially craft all the characters and the scenery yourself.
Isn't that the fun part?

>>3469470
Dude, Zyzz DIED!
A little absurd comedy is hardly worth your life, is it?

>>3469153
>>3469470
zyzz was a huge fucking beta who only worked out the way he did (to death) because it was the only way he could fuck hot girls

>>3469591
his life was more fun and eventful in 4 years than most people's whole lives because he changed his life.

its objectively worth it

>>3469625

...and he fucked hot girls because of it. Meanwhile you sit in a basement and read lit-crit.

>>3469636
A life being 'fun and eventful' is entirely subjective. You can't say him taking steroids and killing himself because of it was 'objectively worth it' unless you actually are Zyzz so you know exactly what he wanted in life.

saging because off-topic

stop feeding the pseudo-intellectual, molded by /fit/ troll, folks

reported

>>3469660
sitting in my basement is fucking awesome, tho

>>3469077
you gotta find something that grabs your attention and makes you curious to know what happens next

try different styles and genres

>>3469110
>remembering your dreams
You have no idea how jelly I am.

>>3469731
I remember my dreams but they're always boring.

great thread

>>3469077
you might have ADHD
consult your doctor

>>3469077
Hello /fit/, I to am I /fit/izen. The technique of reading is very much the same as the regime for fitness.

Start by picking up light books, and read 10 pages every day for two weeks.

Next week read 20 pages for two weeks.

You need to find a routine that works for you and fit with your schedule.

After some time you will be able to appreciate other books, you wont get bored by reading.

You can move on to heavier books. etc.. it is a process of learning.

This is how I started and it works quite well. It's a matter of routine only. 20 pages in 14 days will get you through 280 pages. Thats the size of a novella.

>>3471875
10/10
almost made me spit my hot chocolate

>>3471875
>I to am I /fit/izen.

The IQ count over there must be in the single digits.

>>3471885
>mfw cardiovascular fitness correlates with iq

>>3471887
>cardiovascular fitness with iq
>muh gains
Pick one.

>>3471885
mensa says suck a dick

>>3471885
I'm a highly intelligent /fit/izen.
. . . And by highly intelligent, I mean that I'm a pretentious lit major who can wax verbose and bore everybody to death with my dense, passé prose.

But seriously; thriving in weight training requires a great deal of intelligence (research, attempt, review, adapt, etc.). The successful ones either do a lot of mental heavy lifting, or have a coach or equivalent mentor who does it for them (read: blasting steroids).

In short, the moderately successful retards obsessed with lifting culture are retarded, whereas the few successful ones most likely are not.

>>3471885
>extrapolation based on false assumptions
I love irony.

>not knowing most of /fit/ migrated from other boards

>>3471910
>Mensa

fuck you guys zyzz is a god

>>3469143

>get a business degree
>successfully market your image/persona, making money off of nothing but your name and your physical presence


Yet you're over there jerking off to descartes because you can't form your own ideologies and calling people mentally deficient.

>>3471919
He was a roider and a coke head. Who gives a shit.

>>3471922
deets please

>>3471885
/fit/izen here

146 WAIS IQ.

There are certainly some knowledgable tripfags on /fit/

But goddamn, /fit/ is retarded

Just look at their acne threads
>OP: "Hey guys, how do I cure acne"
>Fag: "ACCUTANE IMMEDIATELY!!"
>Fag: "STOP EATING GREASY FOODS AND SODA YOU FAT FUCK!"
>Fag: "GET MORE SUN YOU FUCKING BASEMENT DWELLER!"

>>3471885
The guy who wrote that here. Do you think I actually care how I spell or formulate my sentences on an image board. I'm at work and have better stuff to do. Guess what I do... I write for a living. Something most of you faggots never will achieve during your life-time.

fit4life

>>3471938
I know a MMA cage-fighter that browses it, he says it's like any 4chan board you just have to get an eye for what threads you should look into.