Man, I've been thinking about the concept for weeks now - because of you. What I LIKE about it is that I'm not sure if I agree. What I LOVE about it is that I can't seem to articulate an argument against it. It's a fascinating place to find myself. Whether I agree or disagree doesn't really matter. What matters is that your writings have led me to understand this is a conversation worth having.
So, I'm here to help.
I'm drawn to the idea that a stories value comes from new understandings - which seems to be the same value has nonfiction. But fiction, due to the entertaining aspect of it, can rely on the Transportation Theory to better internalize that new understanding. The value comes from how solidified the new understandings become. Something like;
Nonfiction = motivation
Fiction = Internalization
It's not quite there but something like that.
Doesn't totally feel like it's where you want to go with it but those are just some thoughts on where my mind goes.
The best things about this series might be that nonfiction enthusiasts can't seem to stop thinking about it (maybe wanting to argue it), and fiction readers feel totally validated. My hope is that everyone can cultivate more respect for the stuff that they HAVEN'T been reading.
I love everything about this, and since hearing about the idea from you, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it in my own life. "What you and I need probably isn’t more information. What we need is more magic." = Exactly what I wanted to read today.
If I had to summarize it, I would say:
Fiction ≥ NonFiction
Or
Self Help is Fiction for Academics
(Consider vision boards, ideating, making goals - they are all an imaginary "what if" that we are creating in our mind to achieve some imaginary goal that doesn't exist, but we hope it will)
Excited to read more and more from you about this topic! And hopefully watch some speeches, too.
Great thoughts. I think for now I've settled on Fiction v Nonfiction, though it's probably not the permanent handle. It does do a good job of not outright suggesting one is superior to the other. It's an ongoing litigation that might never ever reach a lasting settlement.
I've grappled with this idea a lot over the last couple of years. In fact, I recently had a conversation with a friend who is an advocate of self-help books. I briefly mentioned I stay away and when I look to read nonfiction, it is only autobiographies, because they are human.
I think you have inspired to finally put birth to this idea. Really enjoyed this article.
Thank you! I've been reading a lot lately about how important good fiction is for the development and maintenance of a healthy mind. If you haven't seen Erik Hoel's "Exit the Supersensorium," I can't recommend it enough.
LOVE THIS and so, I feel compelled to jump in with my own take on the power of fiction in recreating a person from the inside out. Authors of great classics, fictional literature, have changed me beyond what's easily conveyed in a comment, but here goes...
Having grown up apart from interaction with friends or neighbors as a painfully shy, socially inept and terrified country girl (we didn't even have an indoor toilet for a few years), my fascination with classic novels began early and lasted. The 1960's weren't known for that sort of reading. However, by reading just a few pages a day on my own, I was hooked by the age of 10, discovering previously unknown societies, time periods, and personalities which beckoned me to join them and, in return, transformed my heart and mind with each turning of the page.
While I'll never have the class or articulate abilities of Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, Louisa May Alcott, Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorn, John Steinbeck, Ralph Waldo Emerson... their words have elevated and continue to broaden my thinking, empathy and speech, allowing me to interact as a teacher, artist and human with folks I might otherwise find nothing in common.
Masterfully woven words and stories influenced my ability to communicate and connect far beyond my ridiculously tiny, known universe; they have taken me by the hand and walked along not beside, but inside of me, opening doors I'd never have had the nerve to even knock on.
Great non-fictional writing is inarguably worthwhile, and has a permanent place in my personal library. But, for the more part, factual writing doesn't seem to sink in as deeply and stay. Ideas wander in and naturally take up residence through stories. Shared narratives remove transient boundaries like time, ethnicity, social standing and gender, revealing worlds woven from each writer's point of view. The deeper and clearer that view, the more expansive and lasting the experience. This has proven true, for me, in whatever medium they're shared, whether novels, TV or movies, and I can't get enough. It's an addiction I'm happy to feed.
I wasn't affected by Dune quite as much as you, but particularly the fear as the mind killer passage is one of the best. And who knows? I certainly had read dune, and it was in my psyche, as an awkward teenager when I first began to feel the certainty that who I wanted to be would require me to face a lot of fears and insecurities.
The piece around incantation borders around other artforms (song, poetry). One of the most affecting pieces of literature for me were The Four Quartets. In part, at least, because I memorized them on a long commute. I would repeat lines, then stanzas, then sections, then quartets until I could cover the whole thing in 40 minutes. And then I practiced saying it with feeling. Some of those concepts and images really are branded into who I am.
The incantation piece also reminds me of a piece of writing I was working on called the book of conjured shadows. It was an ostensibly non-fiction title, but illustrating the idea that much of what we live in are the stories we tell ourselves (shadows we conjure for ourselves), but told in mystic incantation, science, quotation, and personal essay.
As for Twitter, I think you're shooting for something more like the idea of transforming the story of your life through fiction. Good luck in finding your wording.
Man, I've been thinking about the concept for weeks now - because of you. What I LIKE about it is that I'm not sure if I agree. What I LOVE about it is that I can't seem to articulate an argument against it. It's a fascinating place to find myself. Whether I agree or disagree doesn't really matter. What matters is that your writings have led me to understand this is a conversation worth having.
So, I'm here to help.
I'm drawn to the idea that a stories value comes from new understandings - which seems to be the same value has nonfiction. But fiction, due to the entertaining aspect of it, can rely on the Transportation Theory to better internalize that new understanding. The value comes from how solidified the new understandings become. Something like;
Nonfiction = motivation
Fiction = Internalization
It's not quite there but something like that.
Doesn't totally feel like it's where you want to go with it but those are just some thoughts on where my mind goes.
The best things about this series might be that nonfiction enthusiasts can't seem to stop thinking about it (maybe wanting to argue it), and fiction readers feel totally validated. My hope is that everyone can cultivate more respect for the stuff that they HAVEN'T been reading.
I love everything about this, and since hearing about the idea from you, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it in my own life. "What you and I need probably isn’t more information. What we need is more magic." = Exactly what I wanted to read today.
If I had to summarize it, I would say:
Fiction ≥ NonFiction
Or
Self Help is Fiction for Academics
(Consider vision boards, ideating, making goals - they are all an imaginary "what if" that we are creating in our mind to achieve some imaginary goal that doesn't exist, but we hope it will)
Excited to read more and more from you about this topic! And hopefully watch some speeches, too.
Great thoughts. I think for now I've settled on Fiction v Nonfiction, though it's probably not the permanent handle. It does do a good job of not outright suggesting one is superior to the other. It's an ongoing litigation that might never ever reach a lasting settlement.
I've grappled with this idea a lot over the last couple of years. In fact, I recently had a conversation with a friend who is an advocate of self-help books. I briefly mentioned I stay away and when I look to read nonfiction, it is only autobiographies, because they are human.
I think you have inspired to finally put birth to this idea. Really enjoyed this article.
Thank you! I've been reading a lot lately about how important good fiction is for the development and maintenance of a healthy mind. If you haven't seen Erik Hoel's "Exit the Supersensorium," I can't recommend it enough.
LOVE THIS and so, I feel compelled to jump in with my own take on the power of fiction in recreating a person from the inside out. Authors of great classics, fictional literature, have changed me beyond what's easily conveyed in a comment, but here goes...
Having grown up apart from interaction with friends or neighbors as a painfully shy, socially inept and terrified country girl (we didn't even have an indoor toilet for a few years), my fascination with classic novels began early and lasted. The 1960's weren't known for that sort of reading. However, by reading just a few pages a day on my own, I was hooked by the age of 10, discovering previously unknown societies, time periods, and personalities which beckoned me to join them and, in return, transformed my heart and mind with each turning of the page.
While I'll never have the class or articulate abilities of Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, Louisa May Alcott, Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorn, John Steinbeck, Ralph Waldo Emerson... their words have elevated and continue to broaden my thinking, empathy and speech, allowing me to interact as a teacher, artist and human with folks I might otherwise find nothing in common.
Masterfully woven words and stories influenced my ability to communicate and connect far beyond my ridiculously tiny, known universe; they have taken me by the hand and walked along not beside, but inside of me, opening doors I'd never have had the nerve to even knock on.
Great non-fictional writing is inarguably worthwhile, and has a permanent place in my personal library. But, for the more part, factual writing doesn't seem to sink in as deeply and stay. Ideas wander in and naturally take up residence through stories. Shared narratives remove transient boundaries like time, ethnicity, social standing and gender, revealing worlds woven from each writer's point of view. The deeper and clearer that view, the more expansive and lasting the experience. This has proven true, for me, in whatever medium they're shared, whether novels, TV or movies, and I can't get enough. It's an addiction I'm happy to feed.
I wasn't affected by Dune quite as much as you, but particularly the fear as the mind killer passage is one of the best. And who knows? I certainly had read dune, and it was in my psyche, as an awkward teenager when I first began to feel the certainty that who I wanted to be would require me to face a lot of fears and insecurities.
The piece around incantation borders around other artforms (song, poetry). One of the most affecting pieces of literature for me were The Four Quartets. In part, at least, because I memorized them on a long commute. I would repeat lines, then stanzas, then sections, then quartets until I could cover the whole thing in 40 minutes. And then I practiced saying it with feeling. Some of those concepts and images really are branded into who I am.
The incantation piece also reminds me of a piece of writing I was working on called the book of conjured shadows. It was an ostensibly non-fiction title, but illustrating the idea that much of what we live in are the stories we tell ourselves (shadows we conjure for ourselves), but told in mystic incantation, science, quotation, and personal essay.
As for Twitter, I think you're shooting for something more like the idea of transforming the story of your life through fiction. Good luck in finding your wording.