Have you ever had to drop a piece of fiction because it was too good?

[Jaertin]

I'm curious about how common this is, and how other people experience it. Please vote, and if you feel like sharing, tell us which fiction it was for you and why.

For me it's Sunstone by Shiniez. The relationship in that comic is just so beautiful to me, that it kept making me melancholy as all hell. It got to the point that I was dreading updates, because while I would enjoy reading them, mopiness would almost invariably dominate my thoughts for the rest of the day.

 

[Milkers99]

Cant say i've had that happen to me...
But i do take breaks of certain fics.

 

[Jaertin]

Cant say i've had that happen to me...
But i do take breaks of certain fics.

Click to shrink...

Do you take a break because the fic had a dip in quality, or because it was too good quality and it was too intense?

 

[Milkers99]

Do you take a break because the fic had a dip in quality, or because it was too good quality and it was too intense?

Click to shrink...

Both? Its like if its too much of it, or if i'm not really into that genre at the moment.

 

[Heaven Canceler]

There was a fanfic I once read where Snape got sent back in time to when he was a kid. Basically a fix-fic but with some very well written OCs, including one Scottish or Irish (I don't quite remember and actually have no experience with either in RL so I couldn't identify even if I read it again.) witch who had a strong accent who was absolutley adorable.

Then she died.

Was the first time I cried over a piece of fiction since reading the "Rolling Stones" by Robert A. Heinlein.

 

[erectdispenser]

Usually not in the middle of a first reading/playthrough. But if it means going back to something out of nostalgia, or branching paths in replayability, and then realizing that I don't have time for it, I'd drop it for the time being. Sometimes by going to another work that catches my eye, if it can give me a quick thrill.

Saving the best moments for when I'm feeling down, or when I have time to savor it. If it's something that could use support, like a work in progress, then maybe I'd put a bit of time to support it over a completed work that you could come back to later.

 

[january1may]

I guess I'm a little weird here, because I do not find "too good" to be an appropriate term for stories that make me too sad to continue.
Admittedly, I don't think it's common for me to have stories make me too sad to continue from being overly intense, as opposed to overly dark (such as many Worm fics, or detective-themed TV series).

On the other hand, I had problems with re-reads and catch-ups of some NSFW stories (most notably Eternal Threnody) because the porn was so good that my attempts at reading them kept getting interrupted by fapping, which in turn required a break for the refractory period, and after a few days of such on-and-off reading I often got distracted from actually finishing the story.

 

[zachol]

Yeah, there have been a couple of times where I'm really enjoying a work in terms of style and writing quality but I can tell I'm going to get... sort of weary or despairing about how the story actually goes.
A recent example is Petals of Titanium, which was super awesome but I had to gently drop because I kept feeling extremely tense about where it was going to go. This fairly often ends up happening with old quests where I start getting anxious about old votes.

 

[heralding_bubble]

Fate/stay night, Katawa Shoujo, Bastion, and Transistor.

I managed to finish them the first time (Fate, Lilly with lying in the last choice, and Reset for routes respectively in the first three. I don't remember if Transistor had different routes but I don't think so) but I could never get myself to go that far on a second run in any of them.

For FSN and KS, it's because I fell in love with the routes' characters (Saber and Lilly respectively) and I couldn't play them again because I felt the stories were complete.

Saber and Shirou reunite after eternity in Avalon, and Hisao and Lilly broke up with her eventually leaving back to UK, and that's how it would always be in my mind. Those are the stories of those characters, and I couldn't bear the heartache of seeing it go any different. I watched the "True" Lilly ending on YouTube once, but it just felt fake.

Bastion, because I think I would choose the reset option.

Transistor, because I couldn't bear repeating the ending. It would hurt too much.

 

[DbDRAKE]

if somthing is mad good and updates REALLY GOD DAMN SLOW, I will drop it until it either dies or has a decent buildup of stuff.

If it's good but unfinished, I'll read to the end and then be like "aw shucks no ending oh well" but if I fucking hate waiting months on an update.

 

[Amazon Climber]

Maybe? I'm not sure if this counts, but up until March I was going through a heavy horror phase in my podcast-listening habits. I haven't been able to pick most of them up in months because, somehow, being stuck in a global pandemic has made me reluctant to artificially increase my own anxiety.

 

[Eisen]

Going through Hollow Knight for more than three times.

The clearer in me said yes. The weak me says no since no matter what you choose the little knight will always have to bear the heaviest burden at the end of it all.

 

[PrinceJonathan]

I'll drop a fic that's too good if it abruptly goes on a long hiatus because I would have forgotten why I was following it in the first place and don't feel like re-reading a million words.

Or I suddenly develop a sense of taste and realize the fic I once liked is actually a cringy piece of shit.

Or I'll drop it if it has a sudden Jumping the Shark moment like killing the popular ship.

Or they do something really moronic like let the bad guys get away because the author suddenly decided killing is wrong.

 

[like_marvel]

i think at some point it has happened to everyone !

 

[Ragura]

There are plenty of stories I want to read but do not have the time to.

 

[Albadaarmahagsret]

I constantly put books on the shelf to read later... because they are too good for such a bad mind like me. philosophy, history, psychology, detective stories and developing the mind, morality, the innermost souls of human beings... Unfortunately, the only thing I can do is lure them with low-value fics, albeit with soul... but without that brick from which flight after flight of stairs the path to a city that does not exist. where the truth lies

 

[Soupervan]

Come to think of it yes. I'm not a huge fan of tragedies because being sad sucks and I can't comprehend wanting that so if a fic or book or movie or whatever is too sad at some point I'm liable to give it up if they do too good a job at making me upset even when it's objectively a fine piece of literature for making me sad.

 

[ShogunTrooper]

Not sure if it counts, but I stopped reading the "Dwarves" series by Soleil Comics for somewhat similar reasons.

I am a Dwarf fan, I enjoy the art, I love the characters, the worldbuilding has some neat bits (such as the Dwarves' quasi-Caste System), and the series' last (read: most recent) installment, the 25th, came out 2 years ago, with no continuation being announced. So I stopped on the 22nd installment, because somewhere my brain-wires got crossed into believing that, if I don't finish reading all of the ones I got available, then the series is technically still ongoing, so it's not over yet, somehow?

I dunno, my brain is weird.

Chances are the same will probably happen when I get into the rest of the Lands of Arran comics, of which there are a fair few.

 

[SuperPulp2789]

Not sure if it counts, but I stopped reading the "Dwarves" series by Soleil Comics for somewhat similar reasons.

I am a Dwarf fan, I enjoy the art, I love the characters, the worldbuilding has some neat bits (such as the Dwarves' quasi-Caste System), and the series' last (read: most recent) installment, the 25th, came out 2 years ago, with no continuation being announced. So I stopped on the 22nd installment, because somewhere my brain-wires got crossed into believing that, if I don't finish reading all of the ones I got available, then the series is technically still ongoing, so it's not over yet, somehow?

I dunno, my brain is weird.

Chances are the same will probably happen when I get into the rest of the Lands of Arran comics, of which there are a fair few.

Click to shrink...

You ever read Mages, Elves and Orcs&Goblins? They are series set in the same world

They were amongst my first introduction to Bandes Dassines

Problem is, as you noted, no update in a long time

So I stopped reading

Recently, I have decided to only read finished comics/manga/webtoons/webcomics/Bandes Dassines/anime etc

Because I do NOT like FOMO(Fear of Missing Out)and feeling like my entire weeks or months waiting are dedicated to this next chapter

I stopped downloading new manga chapters after Jujutsu Kaisen finished, I have a BIG backlog now on my hardrives

 

[CILinkz]

i dropped an MHA/Diablo fic that was really good. Izuku was transported to Diablo 2 and apprenticed to the Sorceress. i dropped it bc it had a kinda depressing tone that dropped my mood too much. and after Author confirmed a certain plotpoint will never happen my interest kinda fizzled out.