The Scary Place: The Art of Binging and Total Fictional Obsession

Guys. I have officially gone to the scary place.

So a couple of days ago, I was trying to find something to watch on Netflix while I baked a pie, because that's the kind of action-packed lifestyle I lead. Netflix told me that the TV show The 100, based on the book by Kass Morgan which I read and was exceptionally "meh" on, was very popular. And because I am very open to persuasion, I decided to stream a few episodes while I pied.

Fast forward to 4 am the next morning, when I'm still watching.

Why yes Bellamy thank you for asking you wonderful thing you

This TV show TOOK OVER MY LIFE THIS WEEKEND. I wish I could say I was exaggerating, but... this TV show took over my life. (Seriously. Watch it. Give it a couple episodes and then just WATCHWATCHWATCHWATCH AND SHIP AND SHIP AND WATCH SOME MORE. It has really great writing, complex characters, a SHIP OF LIFE, BLOODY AWESOME female characters and relationships, and Bellamy bloody Blake). But I got to this point in maybe episode 3 or 4 where I just couldn't stop. I'd reach the end of the episode, and I'd just let it roll into the next, because I didn't want to be away from these fictional people. I needed to know what happened to them. I was utterly and totally obsessed.

Me, to The 100. Also me to Bellamy.

(This, by the way, is Bellamy. My husband. Flowers spontaneously blossom when he smiles, and angels weep when he cries.

They need to make out really badly fyi

 He's important. Like, monumentally important to society and the future and my life, so you should watch The 100 and learn why. Okay? Okay.)

Binging isn't just a series thing, of course. I've certainly done the read-until-4am-do-not-stop-do-not-pass-go thing with a single book book, where you sit down in a chair and then you don't move until your brain is mush and the book is over and your butt has actually become the chair. But I'm talking about when you have total world blinders on and you jump into a series or books or TV show, and you STAY THERE until the real world CEASES TO EXIST and ALL YOU ARE IS THAT FICTIONAL WORLD AND YOUR BRAIN IS ON PERMANENT CAPSLOCK AND BY THE END YOU CAN ONLY EXPRESS YOURSELF IN EMOJIS AND !!!! AND ??? AND THE REALLY WEIRD THINGS ON YOUR KEYBOARD LIKE ~ ^ $ `

Okay, so I realize to the non-fandom-oriented, this might seem a little... excessive. Like, maybe you haven't spent an entire day all caps freaking out with your friends about made up hot teenagers blowin' shit up and takin' names and whatever.

But they're just made up people, Gillian!



That's the awesome thing about binging, though. These made up people become extremely real to you, even more so than usual while reading. Reality never intrudes on the story. It's you, and them, and their world. And Bellamy's face. His abs, if you're lucky.

Related: How to Go on a Book Binge

I LOVE binge-watching and binge-reading series. It's my favorite way to do them, which kinda sucks when you're a blogger and you're reading mostly new releases and you usually have some kind of schedule to stick to. I frequently screw my schedule over and following the reading muses. It leads to a lot of trouble later, but I love that binging-mad-obsessed-no-time-for-air feeling enough to hang the consequences. If I get hooked on the first book in a series, and that series is fully or nearly all released, then by Bellamy, I will read it. I will dive headlong into that series and bathe in it and let it soak into my skin until I'm one with the book, yo.

I have an obsessive kind of brain (obviously). When I ship something, I ship it. When I love something, I love it, to the point where I actually have physical fluttery achey symptoms whenever I think about Bellarke it. I love being fully immersed in a fictional world and not coming up to breathe until I've experienced every drop of story available to me. It means I'm always fresh on the details--no memory loss, no "What, who was he again? What, what happened to her mother tragically ten years ago?". It means I get the whole roller coaster experience in one go, just like the characters.

I guess the only downside are the side effects, but I happen to love them. You get immersed in this world for so long that when you try to come out of it, you go into a little bit of shock. Like, you're woozy and disoriented and hungover. You feel strangely lost, and drunk, and jetlagged. You are abruptly without purpose, because your whole life was just turning pages or clicking "YES NEXT EPISODE NETFLIX OF COURSE I'M STILL HERE STOP JUDGING ME".

I AM INDEED THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONCERN OR CONSCIENTIOUS BELLAMY

Like, once I caught up to The 100 (AIRING WEDNESDAYS AT 9 ON THE CW PLEASE WATCH IT IF IT GETS CANCELLED I WILLLLL I DON'T WANT TO FINISH THIS SENTENCE *KNOCKS ON WOOD* *KNOCKS ON TREES*), I didn't know what to DO. I needed more. I wanted more. This story and these characters are all I want right now, and it's done. TO THE TUMBLRS! I shall collect as Bellamy gifs as possible and read as many Bellarke eye contact analyses as I can find! Time to convert all my friends so I can talk about nothing but Bellarke for 24 hours straight! (Sorry not sorry, Meg.)

I couldn't find a place for this gif but it had to be in here (pretend he's talking to you, Meg!)

This, by the way, is what we call the scary place, aka the inability to pull yourself OUT of the fictional world and resume rationality. This is the place where you're so far down into your ship tag on Tumblr that you can't remember ever not Tumblring and the world has a blue background DOESN'T IT?? This is finishing a show or book and then immediately rewatching or rereading all your favorite parts, because you just can't get enough, and then dissecting them with Meg to glean every drop of meaning from them. Ummmmmm... theoretically.

I really like it in the scary place. We are very passionate here. I intend to stay for a long time.

Thank you for the compliment my love it means a lot to me it really does

Book series I've binged:
Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan--this one was a real doozy
Vampire Academy--lost my damn mind
Seven Realms series by Cinda Williams Chima --SKFAHLSKFHSD
Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi--here's how I read this series in three days, novellas, included
The Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce (at age ten or so. It was the first time I remember staying up WAY past my bedtime to finish a series)

TV shows I've binged:
INCALCULABLE
NUMBER TOO HIGH TO BE MATHED
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Do you like to binge-read or -watch? What was the last thing you binged? DO YOU WATCH THE 100 AND CAN WE TALK ABOUT IT?

hmmmm yes what