“Think of a book special to you, and how much bleaker and poorer your life would be if that one writer had not existed—if that one writer had not, a hundred times or a thousand, made the choice to write. You’re going to be that one writer, one day, for somebody you may never meet. Nobody can write that book you’re going to write—that book that will light up and change up a life—but you.”
Honestly I feel this way about stuff that wasn’t even some big life-changing experience to read but just is there for me when I need it, when I can’t deal with the risk of reading something new and need to be comforted, whether it’s reading something sad or funny or whatever.
That includes fanfic. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve re-read some fics because they’re a safe place.