The Attitudes Toward Fiction Writing

 

There are probably as many attitudes about fiction writing as there are people, each with their own nuances. My perception, however, is that there are two main attitudes towards fiction as a genre. On one hand, we have those who love fiction and read it willingly. Then there are the others who for a variety of reasons have deemed fiction superfluous. 

I can certainly understand some of the reasoning people may have to reach these conclusions. There are those who feel that with our limited time on Earth, we might as well spend it learning everything possible to achieve our goals and aspirations. 

It's certainly a very lofty goal, and on the surface seems quite admirable. We can read about any subject from Math to how to be better business managers or partners. We can improve our sales skills, conversation skills, and even parenting skills to name a few. 

We have much to gain and appreciate from non-fiction. There are also the many inspirational tales of people's very real lives, tribulations and successes that uplift and motivate. These are, however, rather straightforward in their purpose. 

Fiction is a little different. Fiction forces us to use our minds differently. Instead of dealing with the historical and factual, it requires us to exercise our ability to imagine. Perhaps some still believe that imagination is for children, that once you are past a certain age, you should not be using your imagination. 

Imagination, however, is a crucial part of growth in my opinion. If we cannot, for example, imagine what a better world looks like, how can we ever hope to envision the steps to create said world? Additionally, imagining allows us to step into a scenario or role and try to understand a viewpoint different from our own. 

Fiction allows us to explore thoughts we might rather keep hidden, or help us acknowledge parts of ourselves that we need to improve as humans. We can do so from the safety of a constructed fictional universe that allows us the opportunity to be our most idealistic selves. To be vulnerable in a way the world has taught us to avoid in "real life". 

Fiction, for some, is easier to digest than a non-fiction book about the past. This doesn't mean fiction lacks substance, but that it requires a different type of thought processing. The lessons you work through, consciously and subconsciously, marinate over time when we achieve a mental state that allows us to process lessons. 

Reading about horrors that happened in the past can allow us to dissociate. It's easy to think that we'd never let the same things happen in our own time, but without the skills developed more during analyzing fiction writing, we may lack the ability to pick up on cause and effect, or patterns that are similar. 

We may not watch as closely when we fail to put ourselves in other people's shoes and imagine what they have gone through: what they have sacrificed, lost, or survived. We may altogether miss someone's motivation or possible goal. In order to truly benefit from our non-fiction, we sometimes need the skills better honed in the safe environment of fiction, to foresee potential issues. 

If we choose to read only fiction or non-fiction, we will develop only certain knowledge and skills. It lacks a balance, and instead prevents us from being our best selves. We can attain all the knowledge in the world, but if we have not learned how to imagine another's plight or a better tomorrow, the most we can do regurgitate facts and quotes. We create nothing new without creativity and imagination. 

Additionally, it's worth noting that the world didn't reach its current state of progress by focusing only on what had come before. Progress came from those brave enough to envision something new and daring, something others perhaps considered outlandish and impossible. Today's progress was achieved by those who used creativity and imagination to consider possibilities that never even existed in anyone's mind before. 

When we take that into consideration, perhaps fiction should be given just as much respect as non-fiction. It is different in value, but that does not make it "lesser" in value. Each has a place in our world and in our lives. Fiction can be accepted as is, with full recognition that it helps develop a different, equally important, side of our minds.