For more than two thousand years people have insisted that reading fiction is good for you. Aristotle claimed that poetry—he meant the epics of Homer and the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, which we would now call fiction—is a more serious business than history. History, he argued, tells us only what has happened, whereas fiction tells us what can happen, which can stretch our moral imaginations and give us insights into ourselves and other people. This is a strong argument for schools to continue to focus on the literary arts, not just history, science, and social studies.

But is the idea of fiction being good for you merely wishful thinking? The members of a small research group in Toronto—Maja Djikic, Raymond Mar, and I—have been working on the problem. We have turned the idea into questions. In what ways might reading fiction be good for you? If it is good for you, why would this be? And what is the psychological function of art generally?

Through a series of studies, we have discovered that fiction at its best isn’t just enjoyable. It measurably enhances our abilities to empathize with other people and connect with something larger than ourselves.

People often think that a fiction is something untrue, but this is wrong. The word derives from the Latin fingere, to make. As something made, fiction is different from something discovered, as in physics, or from something that happened, as in the news. But this does not mean it is false. Fiction is about possible selves in possible worlds. 

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These days, the teen fiction market enjoys an enormous audience. It seems some girls around school are never seen without a copy of “Twilight” clasped underneath their arm. And while teen fiction rakes in its share of revenue for the publishing houses, when compared to good adult fiction, the majority of teen fiction is often clichéd.

“If a student is capable of reading and comprehending adult fiction… (Read More at the West Seattle Herald).

There is one question I get fairly often:

Yesterday, for example, I went to the Asbury Community (a retirement village that is an upscale version of Mayden’s Heritage Village) to find out if I’m on target for my set and setting. I also went to meet with ten of the most indepenent and active residents to ask 1) if I was on target in my descriptions and 2) if they were even remotely interested in this “teen” story.  They were kind enough to read at least the first four chapters online (or printed out) and let me know what they thought.  Since they were all 60+, and some of them were in their 80’s, I was a little nervous. 

Turns out, I didn’t need to be.  They love Mayden! We talked for an hour, and there was a lot to learn about the “health care” section, which is equivalent to the level of care Anna has.  In fact, they said Mayden made them wonder how many of the residents in Anna’s condition were really lucid underneath.  I was able to explain blogging as a format and where I’m going with the story.  They gave me suggestions about where I needed more detail and we discussed Anna’s “backstory”–where she was thirty years before the story started (I had to confess, I didn’t know yet). In short, we all got each other thinking. That’s the heart of research and Mayden will surely be a better story for it. 

I thank Suzanne Edwards, Bobbie Patterson, Mary Ellen Muldoon, Sandra Wilkens, Betty Peterkin, Jerre Musser, and Nancy Mellem! Also and especially, my hosts and wonderful parents-in-law (the ones who made it all happen), Janie and Ellis Knox.  You all were so very helpful!