#experience-taking

This post is about fictionkin, fictives, and other types of fictionfolk and experiences of fictionality. In it I recommend some readings and other resources for definitions, primers, etiquette, history, questioning, databases, and community. I have also shared this list as a Bluesky thread. Updated Dec. 26, 2025.

Definitions

A quick guide to fictionfolk terminology by @aestherians

A fictionfolk glossary by the Dragonheart Collective

Introductions

Fictionkind FAQ, by the Dragonheart Collective

Fictives: A Short Intro, by Ryn^Aristocrats

Soulbonding info carrd, by fairy tea

Changing beliefs & behavior through experience-taking, an academic article by Kaufman & Libby

Etiquette

By the Quicksilver System

By Sprites

By Espeon & Synanthrope

By the Dragonheart Collective (script)

History

A Timeline of the Fictionkin Community, by @houseofchimeras

Pluralpedia on where the word fictive came from, researched largely by LB Lee & sobqjmv

Are you fictionfolk?

Questioning guide for fictionkin, by DoctorCorby

The Big List Of Fictionkind Experiences, by 375-6

Living as fictionfolk

Living as a Fictive: How to Find, Create, and Broaden Your Identity, With and Without Canon, a lecture by Goratrix bani Tremere

Living with a “Problematic” Fictional Identity (And Where to Go from Here), a lecture by Goratrix bani Tremere

What to do when your source upsets you, a booklet by the Dragonheart Collective

Databases

100+ writings in the fictionfolk category in the Alterhuman Archive

17 games, zines, & other creations on itch.io by various

Community

Web ring, maintained by @nova-dracomon

Dreamwidth community, moderated by @tanadin and sun_dragon

Safety in Alterhuman Spaces, by Dragonheart Collective

Hi darling,

Unfortunately we can’t add tags to asks that are already in our inbox, as we can’t edit them! Your former ask and this one are also too far apart for the admin answering your former ask to see this one. I’m pretty sure that whoever answers it will tag it with ‘experience-taking’ though, so you can always search for that tag, as well as other relevant tags such as ‘reading’, ‘books’, and ‘eating disorder’. If you really want the tag attached then we can resend your asks, but this does mean it will be at the top of the box again and therefore it will take us longer to get to it. It’s your choice! Let us know if you want it resent :) 

Sometimes what seems impossible, is just hard.

Keep fighting beautiful <3 

Monday

4:24pm

So today I came across a link and article on tumblr about 

How People Subconsciously Become Their Favorite Fictional Characters . . .

http://www.medicaldaily.com/news/20120514/9878/book-reading-experience-taking-psychology-character-fiction.htm

This has been happening to me since I got into reading when I was in the sixth grade and I got hooked to the book, The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton and the rest of the books by her.

I don't think I've really kept track of all the books I've read where I was "experience-taking" but I'll try and list the ones I remember. 

I'm only putting The Outsiders because it was the first book that got me into reading and I enjoyed it a lot. I'm attached to the book and even developed a fondness for greasers and whatnot because of the book.

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech. I only say this book because I became so engrossed in it I even started to have strange dreams because of it. So I don't think I actually experienced anything too much by reading this but I know I couldn't put the book down and did get quite obsessive over it at one point.

The Catcher In The Rye by J. D. Salinger was definitely one of the first times I experienced absorbing the main characters mannerism and that's why I stopped reading the book. I felt like I connected with Holden so much that it was too much and I just decided to not finish it. I eventually read the sparknotes on it but never picked up the book again. Mind you this was waaay in the beginning before my experience taking was not that bad. Now maybe last summer I tried reading it again and I literally became depressed because of it so I once again stopped reading it. It nevertheless remains one of my favorite books.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time By Mark Haddon. Yes after reading this book I found myself thinking and observing like Christopher did. 

Into The Wild By Jon Krakauer. Another book I couldn't finish. My outlook on  everything became so cynical and my mood began to grow more and more apathetic that I decided to stop reading the book.

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. Which was a recent finish. I really like characters like Charlie (and he reminded my of Christopher from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time). My mind already wonders enough like Charlie's but then after reading it I started to question and wonder things like he would. Not to mention I'm now emotionally attached to the Smiths and can't stop listening to them.

  This only seems to be able to happen if you have a strong connection with the main character you are reading about and doesn't have to happen every time you pick up a book and start reading. I seemed to have found a pattern in the books I've listed started with number 3 and down to number 6. I seem to connect with male main characters who are troubled in one way or another. I'm not really sure what that says about me or means. 

The seventh book I didn't list up above is Palo Alto by James Franco. I didn't list the book because there is no one main character in the book of short stories and you often do not find out the identity of the narrator until some pages in. However I did get greatly affected by this book as well (like I really did with The Catcher In The Rye and Into The Wild, the only difference being I finished this book...for the most part. I didn't finish the last 10 pages for some reason). The pattern for the most part was the same although some stories where focused on the main character being a girl but nonetheless all the stories followed the main characters who all represented this sense of nihilism and self destruction of troubled teen youths.

Even when I'm not reading an actual book I still tend to absorb the main character in his feelings. I do a lot of fanfiction reading as well and I really am drawn to the characters with a troubled past and hard life ad literally seek to only read the angst filled storylines.

"Experience-taking doesn’t always happen. A person has to able to forget about themselves and their own self-concept and self-identity while reading, Kaufman explained."