Keith Oatley is author of six books of psychology and two novels…..this worthy article features why fiction is worthy! It might surprise you…

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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Due to an illness in the family and travel, Chapter Ten will have to wait a week.  A good lesson in life-as-a-story here, dear readers: Nothing is more important than caring for those you love.  Nothing. Back next week with a chapter that rocks.  (Hint, Anna will be as stunned as anyone that Michael found her. It can only mean one thing… ”magic” must be on the move.)

This is brilliant! The genius of Apple and Pixar shares three great stories from his life (no big deal he says!) on challenge, fate, excellence, and what really matters.  Just think of this guy’s life as a novel…and you are learning much about writing as you go!  Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish!

Lately, the Internet has been wild with this “25 things others don’t know about you” tag game.  I’ll pass, but give you the one really important thing to know.  It comes with (surprise, surprise) a story.

When I was a young writer–think 13, 14, 15–I had an idea.  What if I took ten life topics like love, money, fate, and family, and wrote an article about them once a year, every year, until I died?  How would I change?  How would my writing grow?  I suppose even then I knew I would forever be in evolution, or at least hope to be.

I say hope to be because there was another idea I had when I was young, and this one kept me up at night.  It started to haunt me one night at a school sports event and has yet to let up, even to this day.  Read the rest of this entry

This guy wrote what might be the best book in the world–The Alchemist–at least for great story with all kinds of omens and signs and journeys and all that…and this is his sage advice on how to climb mountains (i.e. be who you are on the long rough road). Just touch the edge of the page and it will turn…Enjoy!

I am unwritten
cant’ read my  mind
I’m undefined
I’m just beginning
the pen’s in my hand
ending unplanned…
        — Natasha Bedingfield

As a writer, my characters are always “becoming” and, over time, they become more and more authentic.  As a person, I’m also becoming authentic (hence my first website, www.BeWhoYouAre.com). Becoming me is never a done deal.  It’s a constant reevaluation.

I thought, when I was a teen, I’d get past this introspective phase, find myself, and that would be that.  I thought it again each time a new era in my life came along. I didn’t expect to have to go back to the drawing board so often–something about that felt like failure, like I wasn’t getting it right.

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There are only two ways to create page turning content in a novel.  And, interestingly, they are the same two things you have to do to create a great life.  You must, on every page, have a problem to solve or an adventure to follow.  Otherwise, your reader will go…ho hum…nothing is happening…no reason to find out what happens next…and put down your book.  Deadly!

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Your life is a story. My life is a story. When your life and my life come together, a new story is formed. When viewed as a story, life has signposts, initiations, milestones, and more. Nearly any novelist will tell you that when you write stories, they come to life in your own life. You can learn a lot about yourself from the stories you write.

When people ask me if one of my main characters is really me, I say ALL my characters are me (at least parts of them are). Even the bad guys. In this way, I write to know myself better. In this category, I’ll write about how life is a story, how the stories we “create” come to life in our own lives, and how we can use the truths about how to write great stories to create a great life.