fiction is important. dammit.

[moschus]

cross-posted from Tribal Writer

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Most aspiring fiction writers don’t read enough fiction, which is like a fighter going into the ring with one hand tied behind her back. The game is over before it started. I’ve written about this before - Reading is the Inhale, Writing is the Exhale: Developing Writer’s Intuition - and posted about it in

Comments

[rahkan]

Not sure we're more addicted than we've ever been. Drug use is way down since peaking in the 1980s. Smoking is also way down.

Also not sanguine about the thesis of this post. Even if narrative is something that human beings enjoy, and something that might have served some kind of evolutionary purpose. That does not necessarily prove that time spent reading is time used productively. It still depends on what you actually do get out of it, and whether that thing is something that furthers your personal objectives, and whether using that time to do something else (like get your narrative in audiovisual form) might not be more efficient.

Also, even if narrative is a useful tool for conveying some kind of information, that doesn't mean that information is necessarily beneficial. Fiction could teach people to be cruel and close-minded just as easily as it could teach them to be kind and open-minded.

[moschus]

Fiction could teach people to be cruel and closed-minded? I'm sorry, but do you actually *read* fiction? The very act of reading engages multiple parts of the brain (and also encourages brain plasticity, particularly important as we get older) and forces you into the viewpoint of someone other than yourself; reading expands empathy, it doesn't restrict it. (Also there's a difference between fiction and *propoganda*.)

Smoking and drinking are actually on the rise among teenage girls. The fact that we're an overweight, in-debt nation: sugar is an addiction, as is shopping (a process-oriented addiction), and the Internet has exploded sex addiction* (also a process-oriented addiction) which is closely linked with computer addiction. Work addiction tends to be applauded in our culture. Not to mention that I write this as I sip my Starbucks, which benefits nicely from caffeine addiction.

*anyone who doubts that this is actually an addiction has never been exposed to it, or to the price these addicts and their family members pay for it

[rahkan]

I think I read a fair amount of fiction, at least enough to think that fiction can effectively induce a variety of mental states and attitudes, not all of which might be beneficial (at least from my point of view, though perhaps not that of the author

Just out of curiosity...

[paradigms_lost]

My apologies for diverting (albeit tangentially) from the main topic of your post (fiction), but I was just wondering what types of non-fiction writing you (personally) find compelling, and if you've ever read anything by the likes of Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens (both of whom are renowned for their clarity of thought and the lucidity and eloquence of their writings, especially about complex, subtle, and abstract topics that may be difficult to "visualize")?

After all, sometimes compelling stories can also be told very effectively in the non-fiction format as well, wouldn't you agree?

If so, what specific works of non-fiction or expository writing have personally benefited you most in terms of preparing and strengthening your own skills as a writer of fiction?

Thanks for your time and consideration.