Competition - post a photo you've taken of nature >>

18 and can't read fiction

Hi, so I can read general information and text books with some difficulty, however I cannot read fiction, it's been an issue ever since I was a kid and hence I only ever read newspapers and the like when I was young. I can read the words of the page, but I can't formulate any idea of what is acctually happening nor can I keep track of any plots. I especially struggle with fiction that couldn't theoretically happen in real life. I have just turned 18 and I understand many people read for enjoyment, any ideas on what to read to get started? Something like harry potter would just be too out there at the moment as it is too distant from reality. Something really simple would be useful at this stage

For context I got a 6 in both my GCSE Englishs but that was the covid year, and I simply just picked out text and talked about it, I could never understand what was acctually happening in all texts and relied on other people tell me what was happening

Reply 1

toothysmile

I know what your talking about I can read individual words but forget the paragraph immediately after I've read it so I can't come up with the plot - I reckon it's cos all my attention is focused on actual reading that it can't store all the new information and organise it into a plot, the more abstract it is and the more imagniation it requires the more brain power it takes, and so the harder it is...

Reply 2

Bean_cat

My friend told me something similar once, she mentioned she could read texts but she couldn't imagine any of the descriptions the text gave, like she didn't have the mental image of things the text talked about; she was diagnosed with adhd afterwards but also did very well in school and excelled academically. I apologise if I made things sound so serious but it may not be as drastic as that. If you're trying to work on this, you could start off with comics and webtoons to help you with visualising things in your mind, along with picture books and then compare a book you've read to the movie adaptation of it and compare your thoughts with what was shown in the movie. Maybe trying art will also help with visualisation.

Reply 3

EVRoosevelt

You could try reading "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" - that's a collection of short detective stories, and they're written in a similar style to how a newspaper article might be, with Dr. Watson, the narrator, relaying to you the events of each case. They're also grounded very much in a non-fantasy world! :smile: