When the News Is Horrible

A wild iris blooming in the bog behind my house.

When the news is horrible and only seems to get worse with each passing day, it can make us pause and wonder if writing fiction is worth the effort. Shouldn’t we instead be encouraging people to vote or writing our legislators or donating money to important causes?

I don’t think it’s an either-or proposition. By writing fiction, we’re sharing with our readers a wonderful gift—to immerse themselves inside someone else’s head and heart for a few hours.

We help our readers feel what it’s like to be someone else.

And if readers can imagine what it’s like to live as someone else, surely they can feel empathy for them.

The relationship between fiction and empathy has been studied in recent years. Here’s a Washington Post article that mentions a couple of different studies: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/07/22/does-reading-fiction-make-you-a-better-person/

If humans can become more empathetic, surely we can also become more respectful of our differences.

Yet, it’s really hard for me to empathize with people who want to impose their religious, moral, or political beliefs on everyone else when those beliefs deny people their rights.

If someone wants to deny LGBTQ people the right to marry or deny women the right to their own privacy in healthcare matters or deny people of color equal opportunities, I’d like to understand what drives that person. Is it about control? Do they tell themselves they’re “right” and everyone who doesn’t believe as they do is “wrong”?

I don’t understand that kind of rigid thinking, that sees the world in such a limited way, without nuance.

On the other hand, if I tried creating a character like that, maybe I’d develop a better understanding of people with such stark beliefs.

And as a result, maybe I’d expand my own ability to empathize.