I can't read fiction

[KittyFanesParasol]

Anyone else?

I just can't follow the storyline or understand the narrative.

I'm not fussy with non fiction - I'll read anything, but haven't read fiction since childhood.

I'm not neurodiverse. I do have quite bad face blindness but don't think that's related. XH said it was because I have no imagination (he might be right?)

Factual histories are just as weird as fiction often, and have a story line.

What about historical fiction so it’s based on facts/true people?

What about memoirs?

Auto/biographies are fine. Didn't clock that. Not historical fiction, same problem and I get stressed not knowing whether something is true or artistic licence.

I don’t see why it needs to be a problem? Just read what you enjoy.

Unless you are studying for an exam reading is optional. It's meant to be for pleasure and if you don't enjoy reading find another interest.

No 😀I love reading.

Just wondered if there was anyone else out there with this issue?

I agree it doesn't matter but it's à shame. Can you think about what it is about fictional rather than factual narrative that you find difficulty following?

Why does it matter, though? I've written a historical novel. The facts are, insofar as I've been able to ascertain them from archives and general research, true, the rest I've invented. There's a detailed note at the back giving the reader sources for said facts, and explaining the general rationale of the invented portions or things I've omitted for the sake of making the plot work.

But as @JaneJeffer says, you're allowed to read only what you enjoy. Some people don't read anything other than biographies of serial killers or ghostwritten memoirs of sportspeople. You do you.

So you'd like to be able to read fiction, but can't? Can you explain what goes 'wrong' when you pick up a novel, as distinct from picking up a biography?

I worked with someone who couldn’t watch films because she couldn’t follow the plot yet she watched all the soaps 🤷‍♀️

I can read fiction but I prefer true crime or true life accounts of the authors life.

With true crime, provided the author is good - Ann Rule, James Patterson, etc I can actually imagine the scene playing out in my imagination. I am ND and I think that's why my imagination is so vivid. I get such a kick from reading and imagining the scene, I can see every detail and the expressions on their face, feel the terror, etc..

I've loved books since a very young child, in those early years (70's) parents used to read to their children st bedtime. Visiting the library and choosing books was a massive highlight of my week.

I'm the same with TV. Much prefer watching true crime or other documentaries than say Harry Potter or The Lion King which I feel are silly to watch at my age.

Yes. Me. I have of course read fiction but my preference is always non-fiction. I will read any biography, autobiography, historical books. I like to feel as if I’ve learnt something when I finish a book.

That's interesting. Did she ever explain?

My own mother absolutely loathes films, and yet is an inveterate soap watcher, and although she claims films are too long to concentrate on, on an average evening will watch back to back soaps for far longer than the average film length.

(I personally think that her total, lifelong inability to say 'I don't like X -- why don't we do Y instead?' which led to her spending the four years of her courtship with my dad sitting through Westerns at least weekly, permanently put her off the entire experience of film.)

Hmmm, interesting.

Why don’t you try something like.

American dirt

or

the women.

and tell yourself it’s a true story.

then report back!

I cannot read fantasy, science fiction type.

No she didn’t give any reason @TrailingPlant. Maybe it was the thought of having to follow something for a couple of hours or more instead of in half hour digestible chunks.

I prefer non-fiction and find fiction much harder to concentrate on. I often find fiction a chore and only read it as part of book group.

(I heard it helps prevent dementia...and now I like the others there, so I continue and hide the fact that I don't really like crime novels!)

Yes, me too. Can read some historical fiction but find most fiction pointless and can’t understand the story or the point of it. Especially romance or sci-fi. If it can’t happen it baffles me why it would be interesting to read about. My husband chuckles when I reject tv series with dragons too.

But, I’m autistic, which is why.

Same. If you're lucky, there are some nuggets of wisdom layered deep, but you have to dig around for them, and half the time I think "Is that it?" Meanwhile you have to scour through pages and pages of dull non-events. Looking at you, Olive Kitteridge.

I have to admit I don't really get what you mean by struggling to follow the story or understand the narrative - yes in some books authors try different narrative techniques but usually books are designed to be quite linear and easy to follow.
Do you have the same problem with film/tv or people telling you stories in real life.

Have you tried short stories if that's the main issue?

However I agree with pp's, if you don't enjoy it you don't have to do it, not liking reading fiction isn't a moral failing.

I have aphantasia and cannot create pictures in my head.

I have always preferred non fiction, even as a kid. I used to skip over all the descriptive stuff because I could never remember it all.

Sci fi and fantasy stuff is of no interest to me whatsoever. I reckon there's enough weird stuff going on in the world without making up more 🤣🤣🤣

I do wish I could experience the "getting lost in a good book" thing though..

I think you've misunderstood the point of fiction.

Which is...? If I'm going to invest hours immersing myself inside someone's interior world, I want it to be worthwhile. I don't just want to marvel at their landscapes, or think "ah yes, the way she puts the teapot on the table precisely captures that particular mood." Call me shallow 😜

The point of reading fiction is entering a world someone else has made up. Which fictional words you find worthwhile is your prerogative as a reader. If what makes a novel worthwhile to you is primarily plot, or philosophical positions on human nature, or dragons or space battles or a lot of sex, then you need to select what you read accordingly.

But there's no point in reading Olive Kitteridge, if you're not interested in small, quiet, realist stories about smalltown Maine.

Are you sure you’re not neurodivergent? Being unable to follow non explicit action/ sub plot, so that a narrative makes sense, is exactly the sort of thing that flagged my eldest daughter’s autism when it came to comprehension exercises in school.