What do you think?
Rate this book
Finding Truth in Fiction: What Fan Culture Gets Right--And Why It's Good to Get Lost in a Story
In Finding Truth in Fiction, two media psychologists reveal that there's much more to our desire to seek out stories in film, TV, and books than simple diversion - fiction can help us find truth in our real lives. Whether you consider yourself a fan of popular media or whether you find yourself thinking of a particular fictional scene for inspiration, you are not alone.
Though some assume that interest in a fictional world is a sign of psychological trouble, the authors enthusiastically disagree. Because story worlds are simulations of our social world, we use them to make sense of our experiences and even decide what kind of people we want to be. This makes fiction far from trivial. By exploring our relationship with fictional stories and characters, the authors will examine how we create mental models in our minds so we can understand stories and characters and how we differentiate between the identities of characters and the actors who play them. What story arcs, such as the hero's journey, are we drawn to again and again? How do the moments that strike us as important in a story change as we age and move through different stages in our life?
Delving into these questions and many more, the authors conclude that being a fan is not just healthy, it's human.
Though some assume that interest in a fictional world is a sign of psychological trouble, the authors enthusiastically disagree. Because story worlds are simulations of our social world, we use them to make sense of our experiences and even decide what kind of people we want to be. This makes fiction far from trivial. By exploring our relationship with fictional stories and characters, the authors will examine how we create mental models in our minds so we can understand stories and characters and how we differentiate between the identities of characters and the actors who play them. What story arcs, such as the hero's journey, are we drawn to again and again? How do the moments that strike us as important in a story change as we age and move through different stages in our life?
Delving into these questions and many more, the authors conclude that being a fan is not just healthy, it's human.
296 pages, Hardcover
First published February 6, 2020
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 7, 2026
3.5 stars
I love academic takes on fandom. Except I almost always find they contain too much academia and too little fandom. This one dealt with a lot of topics I wasn’t particularly interested in-- the extended discussion of children and story, for instance (got enough of that in a career as a public librarian). And, of course, the fandoms focused on were not the fandoms I wanted them to focus on. Honestly, there was hardly any mention of Star Trek, and it’s the granddaddy of all contemporary fandoms-- I’ll fight you on that point, because Heghlu’meH QaQ jajvam. Instead we got Mad Men, and Friends, and Breaking Bad, and… are those really even fandoms?
Still, the book celebrates the idea that the stories we see on television are meant to be absorbed, explored, examined, manipulated, and transformed into new material, and I’m on board with that.
I love academic takes on fandom. Except I almost always find they contain too much academia and too little fandom. This one dealt with a lot of topics I wasn’t particularly interested in-- the extended discussion of children and story, for instance (got enough of that in a career as a public librarian). And, of course, the fandoms focused on were not the fandoms I wanted them to focus on. Honestly, there was hardly any mention of Star Trek, and it’s the granddaddy of all contemporary fandoms-- I’ll fight you on that point, because Heghlu’meH QaQ jajvam. Instead we got Mad Men, and Friends, and Breaking Bad, and… are those really even fandoms?
Still, the book celebrates the idea that the stories we see on television are meant to be absorbed, explored, examined, manipulated, and transformed into new material, and I’m on board with that.
Displaying 1 of 1 review