Daphne Gray-Grant
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HELPING CORPORATE WRITERS WORK BETTER, FASTER
July 29, 2008
Hooked on books
Why fiction is better than truth
You're 13 years old. It's a hot summer's day and you're stuck in the city, flopped out on the living-room couch, while all your friends are at camp. "Mom," you say -- dragging out the word to three syllables. "I'm bored. I have nothing to do."
"Go read a book," she says tartly. And you roll your eyes. Mothers just don't get it.
Turns out, however, that mom was right. And it's not just any type of book you should be reading. It's fiction. According to studies appearing in the June 2008 issue of New Scientist magazine, readers of narrative fiction scored higher on tests of empathy and social acumen than those who read non-fiction.
But here's the part of the study I found most intriguing: People assigned to read a New Yorker short story did better on social reasoning tests than those who read an essay from the same publication.
"Fiction doesn't get a lot of respect," said Raymond Mar, assistant professor in psychology at Toronto's York University. "It has always been viewed as false and a frivolous thing that had no bearing on real life. But the fact of the matter is, there are effects that continue on after we close the book."
"Fair enough," you say. "But I'm never bored in the summer and my social life is fine, thank you very much. And I'm a non-fiction writer anyway. So, why should I care?" So here's the deal. You should care because writing non-fiction requires understanding your audience. In other words, it's all about social reasoning.
I know it's profoundly tempting to see writing as a solitary task -- stuck as we are in our own little rooms or offices, faced with only the blank screen. But writing, at heart, is a deeply social activity. Unless you're writing a journal -- which is laudable, by the way -- your job is to connect with others.
The success of your sales copy, reports, websites and articles depends upon your ability to reach readers. And to do that, you need to understand their motivations. Fiction, it seems, can help you with that.
The good news is that the homework is pretty fun. You just need to find some novels or short stories you like. Talk to friends, chat with your local librarian or wander through your neighbourhood bookstore to find something that's to your taste.
Reading fiction is a wonderful, life-enhancing activity. But it's also a practical way to improve your writing -- and not just because you absorb the craftsmanship of the writer -- it's because the story itself helps you understand the behaviour of other human beings.
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