Impact of novels and fiction books on personal growth?

[effortlesslumen]

What are the pracmatic  reasons for reading a novel? Did some of them had a serious, impact with real life value for you? If yes which one? Especially for inner and outer personal growth. 

The most obvious reasons would be honing your writing skills and speech

Is it a waste of time to read such things when you are very creative?  I want to be more practical and dont want to use up time on enjoying stories in this time of my life. Atleast for the next 3 years, because it seems more important to use my time for diffrent things and other forms of information gathering. I have some unread novels on my bookshelf and i consider to give them away or sell them. 

 

 

Edited September 14, 2023 by effortlesslumen

[Sugarcoat]

The fact you’re questioning it is enough to suggest it’s not necessary imo

or I just have a bias because I myself pretty much never watch movies, read fiction etc .
 

Ofc something can be learnt from everything , value can be gained from everything (depends on the type of mind you have to be able to extract value) but there are more ~direct ~ ways.
 

You said writing/speech. Id say it’s valuable if you want to write/speak in a way that fits that genre , otherwise other type of text can better.
 

There’s so much info in the world I’d try to be as specific and direct as possible in your search. 

 

Also giving a lot of space for your own mind to come up with things itself. 
 

 

[PenguinPablo]

35 minutes ago, Sugarcoat said:

The fact you’re questioning it is enough to suggest it’s not necessary imo

I could also say the opposite: 

The fact you’re questioning it is enough to suggest it’s important and meaningful to you   

Edited September 14, 2023 by PenguinPablo

[Sugarcoat]

1 minute ago, PenguinPablo said:

I could also say the opposite: 

The fact you’re questioning it is enough to suggest it’s important and meaningful to you   

Yea up to op to decide ??

[Ninja_pig]

Many novels have a philosophical or moral element to them that gives the reader new perspectives and ways to think about the world. Elon Musk says that if you want to think like him, you should read lots of books. His book recommendations include: The Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the "Foundations" book series, and the condensed Encyclopedia Britannica. Having inspiration and vision for the future is just as important as technical skills.

[Danioover9000]

@effortlesslumen

4 hours ago, effortlesslumen said:

What are the pracmatic  reasons for reading a novel? Did some of them had a serious, impact with real life value for you? If yes which one? Especially for inner and outer personal growth. 

The most obvious reasons would be honing your writing skills and speech

Is it a waste of time to read such things when you are very creative?  I want to be more practical and dont want to use up time on enjoying stories in this time of my life. Atleast for the next 3 years, because it seems more important to use my time for diffrent things and other forms of information gathering. I have some unread novels on my bookshelf and i consider to give them away or sell them. 

 

 

   Actually fiction books and other art mediums like them are pretty good for your personal development and imagination. I'm reading Dracula by Bram Stoker.

[Ajax]

I don’t like to read fiction because I am a writer and I go into analysis and editor more where I dissect and study the text. It takes away from enjoying the story. However, I do listed to fiction on audiobook and I can really enjoy the story without thinking too much lol! I have to stay away from editor mode most of the time, or I won’t get any writing done! Lol

I do love fiction with audio. I can create the world in my own imagination and “take a vacation”. Also, I find bookworms and librarians very sexy and I love to get into their minds and pants LOL… wrong section for this.

If you are a writer, you should be willing and able to learn from other writers and fiction is an indispensable tool to improve your own writing. After all, writing is creating ideas and you have a buffet of ideas to learn from and create ideas of your own to write about. I know Stephen King has mentioned that reading other people’s novels is an important part of his writing process and he reads daily.

When I am doing serious writing, I will generally listen to a fiction book a week. Actually, from my viewpoint a writer is not actually a writer. But a rewriter. Quality writing comes after many revisions. In the rewriting process, many ideas that I received come to me that add zest to my writing, although my focus is on nonfiction. 

Actually, I value fiction more than movies. I believe the last movie I saw was back in 2017. However, at the moment, I still listen to a novel at least once a month.

Other than that, Imagination is a superpower and fiction can help you create new internal words in your own "imagination". So yes, there is great value to novels and I find them immeasurable more enjoyable than other forms of entertainment. 

[Ajax]

20 hours ago, Danioover9000 said:

@effortlesslumen

   Actually fiction books and other art mediums like them are pretty good for your personal development and imagination. I'm reading Dracula by Bram Stoker.

Amazing book! I have yet to find a film that can duplicate the artistic mastery. Every time I think of a Dracula film, I hear Keanu's god-awful British accent pop into my head. I am beginning to suspect that it was a deliberate attempt to make Johnathan unlikable just for the hell of it!

[Ayham]

There are levels, reading fiction is sure an upgrade from movies, YouTube and those type of activities, it would sure immerse you, improve your attention span, make you get in flow, have real joy rather than dopamine spikes.

But there is more value in reading non fiction, maybe it doesn't get you to the same level of immersion, but it includes all others and more, you learn so much and understand more about the world.

If you are engaged in movies, tv shows, etc. I would say its a great upgrade, very worth it, but it is also a matter of value, how much do you value knowledge and understanding?

You can also balance it out, you can read a heavy non fiction book and a fiction book at the same time, you would specify time for the heavy non fiction book, and for the rest of the day you would read the fiction book whenever you feel like it.

[hyruga]

Novels and fiction books are more awesome because you can remember the stories more and you are far more immersed in the character and growth of the character.

If you read a normal self help book, you will forget about its content in a relatively quick amount of time.

[Sandhu]

First figure out what sort of value you want that align with your goals and then look for resources to get it. You're reversing the process.

[Sandhu]

@hyruga 

1 hour ago, hyruga said:

 

If you read a normal self help book, you will forget about its content in a relatively quick amount of time.

 Re-reading and reviewing your notes are gonna give 10x more value out of a book.

[Florian]

Yes, it inspires.

[effortlesslumen]

12 hours ago, Ayham said:

You can also balance it out, you can read a heavy non fiction book and a fiction book at the same time, you would specify time for the heavy non fiction book, and for the rest of the day you would read the fiction book whenever you feel like it.

I think this a good idea when both type of books align with your life purpose. But sometimes time comes to short and you feel like focusing on non fiction is a better idea.

 

On 14.9.2023 at 9:10 PM, PenguinPablo said:

I could also say the opposite: 

The fact you’re questioning it is enough to suggest it’s important and meaningful to you   

You are right i like to read more of both genres but i wonder if it is better to take a sacrifce and focus on nonfiction that is aligned with current goals. Thats why im questioning. So its true. 

4 hours ago, Sandhu said:

First figure out what sort of value you want that align with your goals and then look for resources to get it. You're reversing the process.

Thats what im currently working on. But have you guys found fiction books that have contributed in fullfilling your life purpose, for those who found it and see it as relevant ? 

16 hours ago, Ajax said:

I don’t like to read fiction because I am a writer and I go into analysis and editor more where I dissect and study the text. It takes away from enjoying the story. However, I do listed to fiction on audiobook and I can really enjoy the story without thinking too much lol! I have to stay away from editor mode most of the time, or I won’t get any writing done! Lol

I do love fiction with audio. I can create the world in my own imagination and “take a vacation”. Also, I find bookworms and librarians very sexy and I love to get into their minds and pants LOL… wrong section for this.

If you are a writer, you should be willing and able to learn from other writers and fiction is an indispensable tool to improve your own writing. After all, writing is creating ideas and you have a buffet of ideas to learn from and create ideas of your own to write about. I know Stephen King has mentioned that reading other people’s novels is an important part of his writing process and he reads daily.

When I am doing serious writing, I will generally listen to a fiction book a week. Actually, from my viewpoint a writer is not actually a writer. But a rewriter. Quality writing comes after many revisions. In the rewriting process, many ideas that I received come to me that add zest to my writing, although my focus is on nonfiction. 

Actually, I value fiction more than movies. I believe the last movie I saw was back in 2017. However, at the moment, I still listen to a novel at least once a month.

Other than that, Imagination is a superpower and fiction can help you create new internal words in your own "imagination". So yes, there is great value to novels and I find them immeasurable more enjoyable than other forms of entertainment. 

The audiobook  part is certainly a good idea if i want to conserve energy and use it to get inspired or gain differnt perspectives, but im already quiet good in those aspect but maybe its good to improve a strenght. For a writer this is a good stragtegy but i have not choosen this as my field. 

[Fred Fulton]

Non-fiction is practically more helpful, like an instruction manual. Fiction has joy, imagination and beauty in its writing that is very rare in non-fiction. There is something about smart phone reading of news or self help that makes me feel slightly sick - fiction is the opposite.

[SeaMonster]

On 9/14/2023 at 2:35 PM, Sugarcoat said:

The fact you’re questioning it is enough to suggest it’s not necessary imo

LOL, no, it could suggest he's just too lazy to read the damn things. 

 

On 9/14/2023 at 1:21 PM, effortlesslumen said:

Is it a waste of time to read such things when you are very creative? 

Just the opposite; good writing hones your creativity, which can be unpolished.

Good novels will expand your mind and teach you things on different levels.

[effortlesslumen]

I consider reading The Adolescent from  Fyodor Dostoevsky. I have read a rough plot outline and it has some litte amount of similarity to my current life, which is quiet hilarious. But im really struggeling with a longterm question on what i would miss out when it is absolutely  necessary to dive deep into practical information. But then again i might asked to early, considering the fact i have not outlined my values and highest goal thoroughly enough. 

Edited September 16, 2023 by effortlesslumen

[SeaMonster]

Because in a novel there's character development, setting, plot -- in other words there is much greater context than any practical information can offer.

It's just higher resolution knowledge.

[Sugarcoat]

9 hours ago, SeaMonster said:

LOL, no, it could suggest he's just too lazy to read the damn things

could be this could that lol. Sure but thats note impression I got. Sounded more like some kind of fomo to me that some people seem to have these days in this personal development thing,  he even alluded to this further down

i like to point people to make space in their life to  go deep into their own minds and to engage their own minds more actively instead of adding yet more consumption to their already probably hectic life and if youre the type who is quite productive too then youre probably  filling your mind up with a lot already.

before you add deepen what you already got...