Ain’t quitting ‘til it’s over! At least, that’s my mantra when it comes to starting a new series (or before books). I’m very forgiving, and if possible, I always want to finish what I started. And even though reading can be very, very unpredictable (bad reads, y’know), it’s just that the happy vibes of starting a new story overwhelm me more than dreading that it’s going to be bad (if the synopsis already hinted at that; sometimes I just read for lulz).

This isn’t just me, admit it; there are times that the first few chapters are…boring. Yes, boring! It has left me uninterested, and my wishful thinking of getting that awesome moment (promised by the summary or reviews) was the only one that motivated me to continue. So I remained hopeful. Four, five, six, seven chapters in, I felt the same! So do you know what I did? Quit? Nah, have you read what I wrote above? No quitting!! That’s way too extreme for me, even! But what I did was *drum roll* SKIP! Yes, I skipped a hella lot of chapters and jumped to where everything would get awesome! Sometimes when we read the beginning is too slow, the build-up leaves a lot to be desired, so I just skip like getting a six on the dice on Snakes and Ladders and go my way to where I think it’s far more interesting. But, of course, there are drawbacks.

Skipping means leaving behind the information that was revealed earlier. I had to patch up information based on the dialogues, events, and other stuff to make up for the lost information. I’m pretty good at patching things up anyway. I’ve learned from many years of being a reader how to process this information. Of course, it isn’t always pool-proof, but I just need to skip it or I might really end up discontinuing it altogether and/or promising myself to read it in the future, but the truth is that might not even happen anymore (I’m a mood reader, you see). Gotta sacrifice to feed my curiosity! And you know what? A lot of times, or more like always, it works well for me!

Let me cite an example! 치즈인더트랩 (Cheese in the Trap). Yeah, that’s one of my favorite webtoons of all time! I skipped 15 chapters, and that was the best thing I did! I tried four times! FOUR!! And discontinued each time, but the moment I got in the mood to read it again, I skipped to 10… then went ahead to 15, and that was where the ball rolled successfully. I got hooked! I was happy that I finally made the decision to skip! After the series ended, I went up to re-read from the start. And wow, now everything made sense, maybe because I had foresight on what the real deal with the story was! I admit, though, that starting from scratch the second time was a better experience than the first—which I always followed weekly before the re-read. Now that it’s complete, I get to savor the finer details that I missed on the first try! And that’s why I strongly advocate rereading!

So yeah, skipping is a thing that may sound wrong—leaving information behind, patching the world building on my own because it left me uninspired—but that’s OK! I think that only means I’m still willing to invest my time. You may leave things behind by skipping, but you can always re-read! At least I ain’t quitting, and that sounds better overall—or at least that’s what I tell myself anyway! Ha!