Why Fiction Is Important

 

I love fiction, obviously, which is why I started this blog. I have to say, it pains me when I see attitudes practically condemning fiction as "entertainment", as if entertainment itself is a thing to scoff at and ridicule. It's even more telling that the same people who scoff at the mention of entertainment are also often people who themselves partake in entertainment. Everyone does. Some people read, watch TV, ride horses, have pets, or work on hobbies. What they're really saying is that only certain types of entertainment are acceptable: Non-fiction reading, golf, or other similar hobbies. 

This kind of attitude is detrimental. There are plenty of people who don't really enjoy fiction that much, which is fine. To each their own, but judging an entire genre as inconsequential drivel is a little much. In my opinion, we all have things we can learn and gain from reading fiction, so I'm going to share a few reasons why I believe fiction is important. 

1.  Fiction provides stimulation for creative thinking processes. Not only are these good "thinking muscles" to flex for imagination, but those same "muscles" can help you find creative solutions to real-world problems in your life, work, and relationships. We learn a lot by observing, and that includes observing various media.

2. Fiction allows people a "safe" place to come to self-realizations, or to explore the concept of humanity and determine the type of person they want to be. It can even help people identify the types of choices, actions, and behaviors that can help them achieve their goals in respect to the type of people they want to be. 

3. Much of our current-day civilization exists because of the people who dared to dream, who dared to wonder what might be possible. They were envisioning possibilities on a much grander scale than those around them. They were often ridiculed, but when they combined those dreams with real-world applications through science, observations, trials, failures, and refining their processes, we ended up with light, cars, flight, mass production, and a host of other amazing advancements. What may seem like fiction now, may very well end up being tomorrow's reality. Fiction is one of the vehicles that allows us to dream, and to translate that dream to others who may create the next greatest advancement. 

4. Throughout history, we have been moved by fiction. Why? Because we love stories. We gravitate to them, and appreciate well-told tales. At first the stories were memorized and orated, much like the actual history that was similarly passed to new generations. Stories have lessons, rebukes and encouragement that are usually more effective than an authority figure saying the same things directly to us. Most of us are familiar with the concept of 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf'. That concept came from a fiction book, as did most childhood favorites. There are reasons we remember those lessons, and it's because those fictional stories were safe ways for us to learn important lessons. Lying will eventually bite you in the butt. Same lesson, not nearly as effective or memorable when simply stated. 

5. Fiction can change the world. I heard stories about how some people panicked because the radio broadcast of "War of the Worlds" was interpreted to be factual real-time news coverage. While it might not have been the "mass hysteria" media hyped it up to be, it sure fooled plenty of grown-ups, so it wasn't some low-quality, mindless drivel. It's easy to tell ourselves that those adults of 1938 were just naive or simply not as smart as today's adults. Certainly, we're more jaded, apathetic, and tech-savvy. Good stories, however, are compelling. If a new technology arrived, combined with a story told in a creative way, such as a fake news broadcast, who knows what might happen. I'm sure there would plenty of modern-day adults thinking it was reality. On the more positive side of things, if it hadn't been for Charles Dickens we might not have become aware of the plight of tons of people, including small children, working in atrocious conditions for way too many hours. The labor laws we have that protect children are thanks to a work of fiction. 

6. Fiction requires a great deal of logical, linear thinking. This is a skill taught in university Philosophy classes. It's not necessarily a skill that is easy for everyone to acquire, but writing and reading fiction can definitely help. Fiction often takes a certain concept, and either asks "what if..." or "if this, then what happens when...", so it forces the reader and writer to think through the steps when given a certain set of constraints such as rules and expectations of a fictitious culture, setting, or decisions a character might make depending on what we've learned about them. I like to think of it as linear predictive thought. If I fail to engage the breaks in my car at a yellow light, I may end up running a red light, or alternately I may prevent the person tail-gating me from rear-ending me. Context, and the ability to follow and analyze the data being presented, is crucial. Therefore, I think reading fiction is pretty important to help exercise those skills. 

7. Developing the ability to read longer sentences is very handy, and makes the task of reading anything a bit easier. After reading quite a few of Charles Dickens' works, I can safely say that it's much easier for me to follow meandering sentences. I often write longer sentences as well (in case you couldn't tell), because I've grown fond of them, but I also realize it makes reading a bit more difficult for some people, and therefore less enjoyable. People are so busy and stressed now, that it's not ideal to write in that fashion. People are reading for fun, for an escape, and not necessarily to mentally slog through difficult reading. I do still think it's important to once-in-a-while sit down with a book that has more difficult sentences in it so we don't lose our ability to understand and interpret more poetic English. This is especially important given the fact that our Constitution, Bill of Rights, and important legal documents all still have lengthy, involved sentences. If we aren't able to properly read and understand those types of sentences we may unknowingly make a legal mistake, or even lose rights, or be taken advantage of in other ways. Reading some older Fiction classics is a great way to get more familiar with intricate sentences. 

Fiction allows us to think, reason, dream, better ourselves, and understand others better as well. It allows us to understand and accept all that humanity is--both good and bad--so that we can learn how to improve, and imagine what needs to happen for humanity to collectively improve. 

I bet the same people raising an eyebrow at the entire genre of Fiction are also some of the first to say, "you should read Shakespeare", because it's become part of history and the evolution of language. He's also got some great stories. Not all Fiction is awesome, or well-written, but that doesn't mean the entire genre is like that. If we toss out the whole genre, then we're doing ourselves a disservice.