When I was younger, I used to read fiction mainly for entertainment purposes only.
I read famous books by Chinua Achebe and novels from Lantern Publishers. I also read books required for certification exams, like The Potter’s Wheel and Last Days of Forcados High School. Even short stories on Nairaland and Wattpad did not escape my reading radar.
I never knew this aspect of reading would impact my life and how I see the world today.
Read non-fiction to raise your floor, read fiction to raise your ceiling – Eric Stromberg
Reading is good for your personal growth and development.
Nonfiction (Raising Your Floor) focuses on building a strong foundation of knowledge and understanding. Fiction (Raising Your Ceiling) expands your imagination, empathy, and perspective, allowing you to reach higher potential.
And here is how.
The Difference between Reading Non-Fiction and Fiction
You can stand on the shoulders of giants by reading non-fiction. You elevate your floor by learning the wisdom of other people and make yourself smarter, based on their research.
On the other end of the reading spectrum, fiction stimulates creativity by allowing you to move from learning what others say to coming up with original ideas on your own. It unlocks new worlds for you.
Read Fiction to Raise Your Ceiling
Non-fiction is also direct as the writer tries to educate, inspire or entertain you by stating their opinions, experiences and the opinions of other writers before them. In this sense, non-fiction is more constrained because there are certain things that the writer cannot possibly know.
It’s only in fiction that you can learn things that you cannot learn anywhere else. Restraint does not happen in fiction because the writer’s imagination (and yours too) is allowed to run wild.
Because of these differences, ‘your floor’ (by reading non-fiction) is limited to what others have discovered. Meanwhile, ‘your ceiling’ (reading fiction) can expand with no limits.
For non-fiction, it is just facts and opinions – you can choose to agree or disagree.
But for fiction, there is meaning layered within characters, conversations and the plot itself. You can choose to agree with a character because of a certain way you have viewed life or because it reminds you of yourself (or someone) you remember in real life.
To paraphrase Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, “The point of fiction is to look at our world and be moved by it, and then to engage in a series of attempts at clearly seeing that world, interpreting it, questioning it.”
The Most Important Aspect of how Fiction beats Non-Fiction
Ironically, fiction is more realistic to life than non-fiction itself.
Even though reading is a solitary experience, non-fiction often assumes we all have the same starting point and overlooks the concept of sonder. Sonder is understanding that every person, even those you barely know or see passing by, has a unique and full life, just like your own.
Life is different for everyone, and fiction explains it best.
Sticking solely to non-fiction can limit your understanding of diverse perspectives and human experiences. Non-fiction while informative, often presents a narrower view compared to the broad spectrum of life portrayed in fiction.
In this weird sense, fiction creates the most real reality.
This reminds me of how science fiction novels predicted inventions before the actual inventions happened in real life. Arthur C. Clarke’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” which was published in 1968 influenced satellite technology. Another book – Neuromancer (written in 1984 by William Gibson) introduced the idea of cyberspace, resembling modern-day internet and virtual reality.
Because for non-fiction, you treat it as facts.
Who said this? Where is your source? What’s the data that confirms your opinion?
Read Fiction to Raise Your Ceiling
But for fiction, it is really up to you.
The writer has created a world and invited you to it. It’s just you and the book. What lingers is how the story and its characters made you feel and your interpretation of what the writer is trying to say.
For instance, my favourite book of all time is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.
The story talks about a shepherd boy named Santiago who travels across North Africa to the Egyptian pyramids after he dreams of finding treasure there. Santiago meets a king, an alchemist, discovers his true self, and falls in love. He also unlocks the secrets of the universe before finding the treasure of his dreams.
Even though it’s fiction, some parts of my life have played out exactly like the boy’s journey in this novel.
How to Choose Which Fiction to Read
Start with genres or authors you already enjoy and gradually branch out.
My favourite novel genre is fantasy, most especially the epic fantasy subgenre. Books like the Mistborn Series (Brandon Sanderson), and Children of Blood and Bone (Tomi Adeyemi) are good book series I can recommend any day anytime.
Lately, I have read more Nigerian novels like A Spell of Good Things (Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀), Orchestra of minorities (Chigozie Obioma) and Dream Count (Chimamanda Adichie) which are beautiful books to look at too.
You can also get a recommended reading list from your close friends who already read fiction.
Fiction is Your Last Frontier of Truth
Fiction is a mirror reflecting the soul, allowing you to see yourself and others more clearly.
The old ones. The new ones. The classics. The modern novels. Nigerian or Global. The order at which you get back to reading novels does not matter.
The most important thing is that you start right away and begin uncovering the truth for yourself. Sometimes, truth is so complicated to tell, that it needs fiction to make it plausible. Fiction is the lie that help you get to the truth.
Fiction reveals the truth that reality fails to reveal.
All I am saying is to read more novels and short stories. You ultimately learn more from fiction because you learn about human beings. After all, that’s what life is.
Interacting with yourself and interacting with other people so you can gradually become your highest self.
