Some people say they like reading because it's like a movie in your head. Therefore, if they like watching television, then they will automatically love reading. However, this is not my reasoning for reading. On TV, characters are forced on you. A writer creates a character and then bring that character to life. We watch this character interact with others and witness the experiences that make them the character the writer created them to be. TV is us sitting in on someone else's story, we have no part in creating this person. We automatically develop feelings towards this person, not because we decide if we like them or not, rather, because the writer made them to be dynamic so the viewer would pick up the correct emotion towards them.
In reading, creating the characters is a two way street. If an author creates a character, the reader comes up with their own ideas of what this person looks like, how they sound, almost everything. In a movie, the casting director picks an actor, immediately solidifying what this character is. When you read, you get to be the casting director for the movie that you are coming up with as you read over a book. That's why people who read a book typically don't like the movie. The character you have in your mind and the actor don't match, simply because everyone comes up with their own version of the character. I read to make my own movies, and to have a say in which actors I want to play which part. I make the movies, and I don't have the confines of television.
