Lose Yourself in a Story—And Find Someone Else

I think there are a lot of really good reasons to read fiction.

Of course, I’m not an unprejudiced observer. I write fiction, and so I hope that many people read it. But aside from the obvious blatant self-promotion here, reading fiction—mine, or anybody else’s—creates a better world. It’s true!

Writing for the BBC, scientist Claudia Hammond notes,

Just as pilots can practice flying without leaving the ground, people who read fiction may improve their social skills each time they open a novel. In his research, he has found that as we begin to identify with the characters, we start to consider their goals and desires instead of our own. When they are in danger, our hearts start to race. We might even gasp. But we read with luxury of knowing that none of this is happening to us. We don’t wet ourselves with terror or jump out of windows to escape.

Having said that, some of the neural mechanisms the brain uses to make sense of narratives in stories do share similarities with those used in real-life situations. If we read the word “kick”, for example, areas of the brain related to physically kicking are activated. If we read that a character pulled a light cord, activity increases in the region of the brain associated with grasping. 

To follow a plot, we need to know who knows what, how they feel about it and what each character believes others might be thinking. This requires the skill known as “theory of mind”. When people read about a character’s thoughts, areas of the brain associated with theory of mind are activated.

In other words, reading fiction helps us practice for real life.

In one study, people who read novels appeared to be better than average at reading other people’s emotions. Fiction can help a person understand another person in ways that are inaccessible through other means: readers not only experience the protagonist’s point of view, but their innermost thoughts, their fears, their feelings. Readers spend hours with characters’ perspectives and learning about their backgrounds, and through that time and focus can think—and care—about someone very different from themselves.

This connection between reading fiction and experiencing empathy has been documented in myriad studies, and some of the evidence—to me, in any case—is clear: it’s the act of reading itself that promotes a change in individuals, not that people who are naturally more empathetic gravitate toward fiction, or that fiction readers have specific personality traits primed for greater empathy. I’m finding that fascinating.

Fiction exposes us to life circumstances very different from our own, so we can experience the world as another gender, ethnicity, culture, sexuality, profession, or age. Words on a page can introduce us to what it's like to lose a child, be swept up in a war, be born into poverty, or leave home and immigrate to a new country. And all of that will open our hearts to other experiences, other people, other cares.

So—read fiction. Read lots of fiction. Read about life on imagined planets and life in 12th-century France. Read about people who build castles and people who are driven to madness. Read about good people, broken people, strong people, evil people.

They’ll all make you a better person. Promise!