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Finding motivation for reading when you just cant seem to get to it?


Nuka

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I am in the middle of Katawa Shoujo, just about to start my first route... but a month ago or so I just CANNOT seem to get myself to start reading again? I somehow feel too restless or stressed and Im ending up browsing reddit or sleeping, or playing Pokémon go.... But I really want to get on with it since Ive heared things like "I wish I could expirience KS for the first time again", and I have so many VN's installed that I really want to read asap.

Its just, very hard to start again because of mental stress/issues...

Help? Will it be woth it if i just force myself to start even if i feel tired/restless?

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First of all: If you don't like Katawa Shoujo, don't fool yourself into thinking you do. A lot of people like it, sure, but if you're not feeling it and it just feels like you're forcing yourself to read out of obligation, then maybe it's not the story for you. I remember dozens of people raving about Grisaia no Kaijitsu when it had just been translated. I gave it a solid 5-6 hours before putting it down, never to play it again. It just wasn't for me, and there's nothing wrong with that.

That said, if this is a general issue with restlessness and an inability to relax...try settling into a comfortable position, maybe make a favourite beverage, turn off your messaging programmes/close your browser, and enjoy it full-screen? It's a pretty easy read, like comfort food in VN format.

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I understand that feeling very well my friend.

My Advice is: Don't force yourself into reading/playing it, just wait until you are in the reading mood (like in the mood to read a good book) get some coffee, maybe some snacks, get comfortable and be happy because you are doing something you like.

If you think you are never on the mood to read the VN you are currently reading/playing, then maybe you should think to yourself if it is really your type of story, if you are really enjoying, and if that's the case, then move on to another one and so on.

That's what I think, hope it helps, even if a little bit.

Edit: lol Makudomi did a pretty good job explaining the same, just as I was typing this welp

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8 minutes ago, Nuka said:

Thank you guys.. Maybe I should try another one and see if that helps getting me into VN mood daily again? I miss it :/ But now I have just lost my spirit/mode to read.

Maybe just maybe, you are experiencing the same thing that happened to me

When I was first getting myself into VN I had the problem that I thought common routes were the most boring thing ever, and when I got to the character routes everything started to get interesting.

If you want, you could try the beginning of your waifu's route and see what if you feel more motivated

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1 minute ago, Onodera Punpun said:

Maybe just maybe, you are experiencing the same thing that happened to me

When I was first getting myself into VN I had the problem that I thought common routes were the most boring thing ever, and when I got to the character routes everything started to get interesting.

Yes that have happened before with me aswell witg common route. Maybe KS picks up when I get into Emis route now?

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6 minutes ago, Nuka said:

Yes that have happened before with me aswell witg common route. Maybe KS picks up when I get into Emis route now?

Try reading it, if you are still unmotivated then is clear that you just aren't enjoying KS, doesn't mean it isn't a vn for you tho.

You could leave it there, read other things, and then come back with more experience in the medium. And maybe then enjoy it.

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I'd say (like others before me have said) try another vn for now then maybe come back to it if you feel like it. I know how it is like to force yourself to read cuz i have been there too. when i first started reading vns i was forcing myself to complete every single route in a vn even the garbage ones just because i wanted to complete the whole vn and feel satisfied. after a while i stopped doing that and i only do the routes that are worth reading. with that being said i do finish all the routes most of the time unless one of them is extremely bad then i avoid it.

Sometimes a certain vn doesn't match my mood but after like a few weeks i come back to it and everything clicks.

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25 minutes ago, Onodera Punpun said:

Try reading it, if you are still unmotivated then is clear that you just aren't enjoying KS, doesn't mean it isn't a vn for you tough.

You could leave it there, read other things, and then come back with more experience in the medium.

Yep, maybe something completely different again, like Umineko/G-senjou no maou.. This is my first nakige, I am not a expirienced reader. But I'll give this another go and see if it hooks me when I start the routes ^_^

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I think visual novels are unique in the way that they're one of the only mediums with such an absurd amount of filler material (ie: food discussions) that don't really contribute much to the story or really anything at all. In my small amount of experience, visual novels generally take a while to take off especially if the common route is longer than average. I haven't played KS, but if you're interested in a specific heroine that probably means that you have some sort of interest in the game and you just either need to give it some time or get to that heroine's route. 

As for whether or not forcing yourself is worth it? I don't think so. One of the big benefits of visual novels is the idea of immersion into the game. To some extent we are supposed to be (in the shoes of) the protagonist, or at least to some extent relate to the protagonist. If you're always restless or tired or can't focus it makes the visual novel medium as a whole lose a lot of its efficacy. Also you might be expecting too much out of KS all the time. The whole "I wish I could read xyz again for the first time" really probably means "I wish I could read that one scene in xyz again for the first time" rather than actually wanting to read the entire visual novel again. Of course, the common route and filler is part of the immersion visual novel experience, but it's probably not the most exciting thing to read regardless.

My advice is just to forget everything, sit down (or stand if you prefer) somewhere comfortable and enjoy any visual novel for what it is and what it has to offer.

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Sometimes I'm just not in the mood for something, even if I've been enjoying it. As an example, I shelved Grisaia no Kajitsu months ago, despite loving the hell out of the common route and only playing my least favorite heroine's route (the game practically forced Sachi on me, I swear). I'll go back for the rest someday, but in the meantime, I moved on to reading books, playing games, reading other VNs, and so forth. Either someday the mood will grab you and you'll be back in it, or it won't. Either way is okay.

There's a whole lot out there to do - if you're not able to get into this one thing, that's okay.

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1 hour ago, Nuka said:

Thank you guys.. Maybe I should try another one and see if that helps getting me into VN mood daily again? I miss it :/ But now I have just lost my spirit/mode to read.

I feel like this, all the time, sometimes I actually just need to just force myself to start reading, because I know how awesome it is when I get started.

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Just now, Nuka said:

This!

really its mostly because, once I start reading I cant let go, especially if I really like the stuff im reading, so sometimes its also because im afraid its gonna mess everything up :sachi: but it has made it so I sometimes dont read anything for like a month and it sucks because in the end, I really love reading vns, like, its the only medium I truly "enjoy" when it comes excitement, emotions and stuff like that.

okay I offtopiced to vn shilling, but you get my point.

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1 minute ago, Kawasumi said:

really its mostly because, once I start reading I cant let go, especially if I really like the stuff im reading, so sometimes its also because im afraid its gonna mess everything up :sachi: but it has made it so I sometimes dont read anything for like a month and it sucks because in the end, I really love reading vns, like, its the only medium I truly "enjoy" when it comes excitement, emotions and stuff like that.

okay I offtopiced to vn shilling, but you get my point.

Dont worry, thank you. Im happy to hear that I am not the only one. I feel like maybe i just need to force myself to start and then it will be enjoyable again. I really enjoy this medium aswell and its been the only thing I have read/played the past 12 months.

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Just now, Nuka said:

Dont worry, thank you. Im happy to hear that I am not the only one. I feel like maybe i just need to force myself to start and then it will be enjoyable again. I really enjoy this medium aswell and its been the only thing I have read/played the past 12 months.

yay! Also, dont be afraid to drop vns that you find yourself enjoying there are so many out there so you have a lot to waste your time on.

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1 minute ago, Kawasumi said:

yay! Also, dont be afraid to drop vns that you find yourself enjoying there are so many out there so you have a lot to waste your time on.

That is a very good advice. Often I feel the massive hype when other people are super excited over a VN, and really want to experience it myself. But sometimes some VNs feels just overrated/doesnt click with me :)

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Maybe I'm still not doing this advice myself here, but I just remember a certain scene from girl anime here inspire me to think a solution here. The solution here would be ask myself something like 'Why I read VN in the first place? Is it because of the interesting medium (Or something like opening and seiyuu here) or just following the hype?' While this advice maybe useless here, hope it could help OP here. Oh, and I think all of the advice above could be helpful to OP too.

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Some VNs take a lot of time to get interesting, for example muv luv takes around 30-40 hours xD(or even more..) but Katawa shoujo is not one of those, if you read a few hours and you didn't enjoy it in that time or it didn't catch your interest then that VN is not for you, there're no plot twist or anything like that, it's purely about human interaction and how "disable" people cope with it.

Just because everyone says a VN is great doesn't mean you will like it, I'm still struggling to finish Umineko and it's one of the most popular VNs out there :P 

Maybe you can tell us what your tastes are so we can recommend you something more fitting for you,
 

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I have the same problem lately, but with reading and enjoying books and vn's in general.

That said, if a visual novel takes long time to become interesting, it's either badly written, or awfully badly paced; good stories instantly take you to where it's the most interesting, give you a glimpse of what's to come and hook you up to it's premise, to the point you won't even observe how much time had passed since it all began. Majority of vn's starts from those damn boring slice of life fragments, regardless whether they are chuuni stories about people who jump between dimensions, fantasy war tales or post-apo sci-fi stories where a dude simply tries to survive against all odds; it's extremely annoying for a seasoned reader and I'm not surprised why so many people have problems with getting into new vn's after a while... unless you're that rare kind of breed, like @Clephas :holo: (wish I still had a passion towards reading like him).

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1 minute ago, Narcosis said:

I have the same problem lately, but with reading and enjoying books and vn's in general.

That said, if a visual novel takes long time to become interesting, it's either badly written, or awfully badly paced; good stories instantly take you to where it's the most interesting, give you a glimpse of what's to come and hook you up to it's premise, to the point you won't even observe how much time had passed since it all began. Majority of vn's starts from those damn boring slice of life fragments, regardless whether they are chuuni stories about people who jump between dimensions, fantasy war tales or post-apo sci-fi stories where a dude simply tries to survive against all odds; it's extremely annoying for a seasoned reader and I'm not surprised why so many people have problems with getting into new vn's after a while... unless you're that rare kind of breed, like @Clephas :holo: (wish I still had a passion towards reading like him).

Understand, my reading speed is high enough that I don't spend much time stuck in the prologue, so I don't suffer in quite the same way as some of you seem to.  Another issue is that I've learned patience when it comes to stories.  When I was a lot younger, I had a lot more difficulty handling the 'in-between' moments that exist in most stories and the buildup to the beginning of the meat of a story's main plot.  Nowadays, I'm more or less used to dealing with forty-page long introductions in long books, as well as having to deal with slice-of-life introductions in VNs that last for a seemingly interminable amount of time.  Unfortunately, that also means that when something passes my level of tolerance, I'm somewhat merciless with it.

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