December Daily: self-discovery

[resonant]

runpunkrun - "something you recently learned about yourself"

terminally_underwhelmed spent the summer introducing me to TV (My Hero Academia), audio drama (The Magnus Archives), and podcasts (The Adventure Zone).

We had all kinds of fun, but I discovered that while reading is an activity that restores introvert energy, anything that requires me to listen will be an activity that uses introvert energy. It's actually less energy-sapping for me to read a book in a room with another person than it is to listen to a podcast all by myself.



Specify a date if you want; otherwise I'll just answer them whenever.

This year, in addition to the usual kinds of questions, I'd also love to get storyish prompts. Storyish meaning you never know what you might get: two sentences of a story, or a description of a story that will never exist, or a love song about how much I like that trope, or a rant about my pet peeve about that trope, or I know nothing about that canon except what I see on social media and here's what I think it might be about, or Ten Reasons Why I Love/Hate/Am Indifferent To that character, canon, or trope, or ...

As always, I'd love to hear about it if you're doing the meme too.

7. muccamukk - "Favourite power couple(s) and what makes them work so well together. Can be storyish or not."
8. armadillo1976 - "I'd appreciate a few words about navigating the issues of kids growing up and having the "mommy writes fanfic, mainly erotica, and mommy's using this word just because it sounds better than porn" conversation. My kiddo is only 5 now, and I have only written one story and am in the middle one the second one, but I see myself writing more, so I've been wondering how this conversation goes."
9. coffeeandink - "You took a break from fandom for a few years. Now that you're back, what's changed and what's stayed the same?"
10. mific - "what about crossovers? Have you written any?"
11. mergatrude - "favourite bit of feedback you've received on a fic?"
12. marginaliana - ghost stories
13. runpunkrun - "a new thing you tried "
14.
15. china_shop - Guardian as described by someone who only knows it via social media
16. kiezh following up with - "What have you heard about MDZS/The Untamed, and what did you think of what you heard?"
17. ride4ever's birthday prompt - "Storyish prompt: for any due South fic you've written, write a prequel or sequel snippet for the fic or meta about the before-or-after that can be imagined about the fic's story arc."
18. mific - "the genderswap trope where a character's gender is changed. Yes? No? Maybe?"
19. runpunkrun - "fake dating: yes or no"
20. minoanmiss - "One of my favorite tropes is Then Let Me Be Evil. What do you think of it/have you explored it/so on and so forth?"
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24. runpunkrun - "John and Rodney in 2020"
25.
26.
27. reginagiraffe - "Hermione/Harry/Ron from Bed and Board in 2020"
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Comments

[china_shop]

That's really interesting. I find audiobooks soothing -- they're kind of like an aural cocoon -- but I always only listen with half my attention, usually while I'm doing other things, and sometimes I have to go back a bit because I've missed a piece of description or whatever. There's a difference (for me) between listening through an earpiece/headphones and listening out loud with other people when the activity we're doing together is listening...

[resonant]

Once I had a job where every year I had to spend a month laying out an enormous catalog of all our year's products, and I would listen to audiobooks while I did it because it was a task that didn't use my language centers at all. But I have almost no memory of any of the books I listened to, because I just didn't retain them at all.

[teigh_corvus]

anything that requires me to listen will be an activity that uses introvert energy.

Oh wow, you're absolutely right. this would explain why I need to pair podfic/podcasts with a mindless task- like cleaning the stove or going for a walk.

[resonant]

That would be helpful! This summer I played a lot of Bejeweled, which helped but wasn't either useful or all that interesting.

[mergatrude]

Oh! That helps me understand my own reaction to audiofic better. I think I'm reading, but what I'm doing is more like watching TV.

And if you'd like another question, favourite bit of feedback you've received on a fic? (Any date.)

[resonant]

Yes, exactly! It seems like reading, but it's not.

Interesting question!

[runpunkrun]

I have to focus really hard to taken in audio stuff like podcasts, so, energy-wise, I get where you're coming from, though I've never really thought about how different media specifically affect my introvert energy.

[resonant]

Every now and then I'd have, like, a button that needed to be sewn on, and podcasts were great for that. If summer had lasted longer, I might have taken up embroidery again.

[runpunkrun]

Yeah, I've found I can listen better if I'm also doing something else, like coloring or playing a game like Candy Crush. It's like it uses up my extra brain power so my attention doesn't wander.

[trobadora]

while reading is an activity that restores introvert energy, anything that requires me to listen will be an activity that uses introvert energy

Yes! Same here! And same for TV, actually, for the visual component as much as the auditory. Which is the opposite of what it's like for most people, I gather ...

[resonant]

TV seems slightly less draining to me than audiobooks/podcasts, so apparently it's the listening.

[reginagiraffe]

I can't do podcasts *at all*. I'm not an auditory learner. If you tell me important info, I have to write it down and see it on the page or I'm much more likely to forget it. Not to mention the fact that I read 10x faster than people talk and it makes me *insane* to have to "read" so slow.

[resonant]

They're hard for me too. Sometimes worth it, but a lot of work.

[mtl]

Ditto. I have found, that to enjoy things like audiobooks, I *need* the actual written book with me and I read along. I consume in tiny spurts - maybe a chapter or two at a time, but if the narrator is awesome, I feel like I get an enhanced version of the book.

That said, I only ever listen to audiobooks of books I've already read & loved - it's like revisiting an old friend with some bonuses.

I can't do audio with new-to-me works. It just doesn't process the same way and I feel frustrated.

And yeah, like you, I read blazingly fast and immerse myself in a written work completely. I cannot do that with audio.