SUM1
Well-Known Member
Hello.
I'm expecting a lot of people on this forum to like fiction, just as people do in general, but I feel very alone in having never liked fiction. Throughout my childhood, my main attention was on computers, and I never watched fictional films or TV shows unless I was forced or there was nothing else on. I never went out of my way to read fictional books either, again unless I was forced, such as part of school, and I never enjoyed them when I was forced. To this day (I'm 19), the number of films I've watched and fictional novels I've read from start to finish is probably under 10 for each. (The number I've consumed parts of though is much, much higher, obviously.)
On the other hand, I did go out of my way to read non-fictional fact books. In all my schools, those were the books I'd select out of the library, and I've always gone out of my way to read or watch non-fictional material on the internet since I started using it: YouTube videos, documentaries, Wikipedia.
The purpose of this post is to a) find out how many people on this forum have also never liked fiction and b) to understand why those on the autism spectrum who do like fiction like it.
I found any consumption of fiction as a waste of time, because it would be a lot of investment into something I couldn't apply in my life or help me understand the world around me. What is annoying though is that when I see how so many autists do like fiction intensely, and that even though I am diagnosed with Asperger's, I see the meaning and value of the autism diagnosis go down and down every time I see how fundamentally different I am to other autists. Even when fundamental things like the liking of non-fiction and the inability to feel empathy are in all the literature around Asperger's, so many autists, both self-professed and diagnosed, are so intensely opposite to those things. Yes, I get it that autism is diverse, but that's not the point. The point is it makes me wonder who on earth I can relate to and where I fall into. At this point, it's really no one. I see people like Star Wars, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Stranger Things, anime, and I see it even more so among autists, but I don't like anything about these things. I've never gained an Aspergic obsession into something fictional, it has always been something factual, like aviation, politics, history, biology.
Anyway, please respond if you can relate at all or if you have any experience or explanation you think is helpful. Thank you.
I'm expecting a lot of people on this forum to like fiction, just as people do in general, but I feel very alone in having never liked fiction. Throughout my childhood, my main attention was on computers, and I never watched fictional films or TV shows unless I was forced or there was nothing else on. I never went out of my way to read fictional books either, again unless I was forced, such as part of school, and I never enjoyed them when I was forced. To this day (I'm 19), the number of films I've watched and fictional novels I've read from start to finish is probably under 10 for each. (The number I've consumed parts of though is much, much higher, obviously.)
On the other hand, I did go out of my way to read non-fictional fact books. In all my schools, those were the books I'd select out of the library, and I've always gone out of my way to read or watch non-fictional material on the internet since I started using it: YouTube videos, documentaries, Wikipedia.
The purpose of this post is to a) find out how many people on this forum have also never liked fiction and b) to understand why those on the autism spectrum who do like fiction like it.
I found any consumption of fiction as a waste of time, because it would be a lot of investment into something I couldn't apply in my life or help me understand the world around me. What is annoying though is that when I see how so many autists do like fiction intensely, and that even though I am diagnosed with Asperger's, I see the meaning and value of the autism diagnosis go down and down every time I see how fundamentally different I am to other autists. Even when fundamental things like the liking of non-fiction and the inability to feel empathy are in all the literature around Asperger's, so many autists, both self-professed and diagnosed, are so intensely opposite to those things. Yes, I get it that autism is diverse, but that's not the point. The point is it makes me wonder who on earth I can relate to and where I fall into. At this point, it's really no one. I see people like Star Wars, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Stranger Things, anime, and I see it even more so among autists, but I don't like anything about these things. I've never gained an Aspergic obsession into something fictional, it has always been something factual, like aviation, politics, history, biology.
Anyway, please respond if you can relate at all or if you have any experience or explanation you think is helpful. Thank you.
