“Fiction seems to be more effective at changing beliefs than nonfiction, which is designed to persuade through argument and evidence. Studies show that when we read nonfiction, we read with our shields up. We are critical and skeptical. But when we are absorbed in a story, we drop our intellectual guard. We are moved emotionally, and this seems to make us rubbery and easy to shape.” StoriesShowsSeemsBeliefEasyFictionStudyShapesIntellectualEvidenceArgumentMovedCriticalNonfictionSkepticalShields Author:Jonathan Gottschall
“I think action movies on the whole have moved more and more into large spectacle, even leaving out super hero movies that seem to me to be more a fantastic science fiction than they are action movies.” ThinkingWholeSeemsActionFictionHeroMovedScience FictionLeavingFantasticAction MovieSuper Hero Author:Walter Hill
“Truth is the most powerful thing in the world, since even fiction itself must be governed by it, and can only please by its resemblance. The appearance of reality is necessary to make any passion agreeably represented, and to be able to move others we must be moved ourselves, or at least seem to be so, upon some probable grounds.” WorldRealitySeemsTruthAbleMovingPassionPowerfulFictionPleaseTruth IsMovedAppearanceMost PowerfulResemblance Author:Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury
“I've got things I have to do in fiction to sort of register my existence, before I kick the bucket, but it will never be my living and I know it. Plus it never moved fast enough for me and lacked cut and thrust. I need to be in the real show.” KnowsNeedsRealEnoughShowsExistenceFictionCuttingMovedKicksPlusThrustRegisterBuckets Author:William Monahan
“Right around my first year of college - I remember "Song of Solomon," by Toni Morrison, just moved me tremendously. The power of language and how it can peel back truths, bring things to the surface. So I learned a lot from fiction.” YearsFirstsRememberSongLanguageFictionCollegeMovedSurfaceSolomonPower Of Language Author:Barack Obama
“In a way, I see my fiction as having moved in that direction - and the characters as dealing simultaneously with their personal history and with the present in which they are trying to make their way. So that the books are simultaneously about public and interior events. And I am having a great time getting confused and crazed writing about them.” WayWritingTryingBookCharacterFictionEventsMovedConfusedInteriorsGreat TimesPersonal History Author:Frederick Busch