There are so many things that could be discussed when looking back on what chapter one in our fiction writing textbook taught us. However, the first thing that really stuck out to me were the two main reasons why humans tend to crave fictional stories. The first reason seemed to be pretty obvious to me: humans need to be entertained in order to be satisfied. Whether it be reading a captivating novel, watching a feature film, or playing a game on your phone, humans need to constantly be entertained. Especially in this day and age where technology saturates most people’s daily lives. What do people do when they have nothing to do? They open up their phone searching for some kind of entertainment. Fiction is just another form of entertainment that humans can consume. However, the second reason has more to it. Humans are constantly trying to make meaning of everything around them in order to understand it. I found it interesting that the authors compared this meaning-making to seeking the truth in things. You’d think fiction would be all fake, however, there is almost always some kind of truth that can be found in fiction. The way I think of this is how we can analyze pieces of fiction in order to apply the underlying truthful meaning to our own lives to either relate or learn from it. Ultimately, great fiction needs to have both of these in order to be successful.
