Why Readers Read : What
Every Writer Needs to Know
Why do we read? I hadn't
really thought about this
question in any depth. Sure
I could tell you that I do it
because I love to, that those
stolen hours lost in pages are exciting,
exhilarating escapism. But I'd never
considered - and as a psychologist
with my theoretical roots firmly
embedded in science and evolution I
should have - that story is actually a
powerful part of our lives.
Think about it, unlike other pass times
- like quilting,croquet or gambling -
everyone does story in one form or
another. I devour books, my husband
loves to watch TV, my son absorbs
himself in games of breeding dragons
or building pixelated forests. Children
take plastic My Little Pony's and build
families and plan great adventures.
Adults take little painted figurines and
build empires and plan their enemy's
defeat. Gossiping is story, seeing a
psychologist is all about telling your
story, marketers know that a good
story will invest you in their product. I
realised that story is EVERYWHERE.
Which means escapism isn't a good
enough reason for story to be with us.
It's true, getting lost in a story isn't
smart: from centuries ago, when
keeping an eye out for sabre tooth
tigers was pretty essential for
survival, through to modern times,
where paying your mortgage keeps
food in your fridge. Story has been so
pervasive and universal that it's
survived the ruthless mill of evolution,
that unrelenting process that screens
out anything that doesn't ensure our
species will be here to produce future
generations. If it's not securing our
survival, then its cut. Gone.
Extinct.
Why then? Why is story still around?
Why is it woven so tightly into the
layers of our life?
Essentially, story was, and continues
to be, our first virtual reality. Just like
it's much safer for pilots to learn to
fly in simulators, we get to learn the
complicated lessons of life through the
experience of others. In the same way
pilots prefer to make their mistakes
much closer to the ground, we get to
see what could happen if our baby
sitter didn't turn out to be who we
thought they were, how to take down a
zombie, what a serial killer is capable
of, how to navigate a dystopian world,
what the ripple effect of having an
affair with your neighbour is. In real
life, mistakes can be devastating for
pilots and us alike. With story, we get
to do all of this and more, all without
the deadly crash landing.
Evolution thought this was so important
that it actually wired us for story. In
fact, it thought it was so important, it
deeply embedded it into our grey
matter it in two significant ways. The
first has us probing right down at a
cellular level. Neurons are the spindly,
spidery cells that make up our brain
matter. They're the little suckers that
zip information all around our brain
and body. A relatively recent discovery
was that of mirror neurons, cells that
fire both when you do something but
also when you see someone else doing
it. Oh, like hear a story, watch a
movie... or read a book! Mirror neurons
are why we get just as excited
watching sport as playing it, why we
scrunch up in our seats and turn our
eyes away from a horror film.
Or why we have a physical, visceral
response to a great book.
Pretty cool, huh?
Another is in the chemical
communications that happen in our
head. Namely dopamine, the little
molecule involved in pleasure and
reward. Food, sex and cocaine all
trigger the release dopamine in our
brain. And so does devouring a good
book.
In the case of reading, dopamine is
your brains way of rewarding
curiosity, so you can learn the hard-
won lessons the character is enduring
(in the safety of the library or your
lounge room). Interestingly, the more
dopamine is released, the more of a
high we get, the more we want to keep
doing what we're doing. Most
importantly, if the brain anticipates
doing that activity again, like reading,
it will release dopamine accordingly.
Think about it, we've all been there
when our favourite author releases a
new book. When that book finally rests
in your palms, that happy, heady
feeling has you diving into the first
page no matter where you are. It's the
brain's way of encouraging you to go
for it because it felt so good last time.
When I learnt all this, as a reader I
felt validated. I finally figured out
why I turn up to work gritty eyed and
wishing I drank coffee because 'just
one more chapter' turned into 'there's
only a hundred pages to go, I might as
well finish it'. It's not about poor self-
control, an addictive personality or a
belief I can function on three hours
sleep. My brain is wired to want this!
(Okay, fine... maybe self-control got
skipped in my DNA... )
But as a writer I was fascinated.
I realised all this knowledge is the
foundation of what readers are
unconsciously looking for in a story.
Why some books are 'meh' and why
some will be OMG IT'S PHYSICALLY
IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO PUT THIS
DOWN!
If you capture your reader, give them
a character they care about as they
fight, fail but ultimately learn, if you
swallow them whole with your words
and your wit, you've done it. You've
got them. They'll connect with your
protagonist, your story...
Your book.
And if it's really got them hooked, the
ones on your backlist, and the ones
yet to come.
What writer doesn't want that?
In future posts I'll start teasing apart
what the parts of our craft that will
fire a readers' mirror neurons, spark
that rush of dopamine, so check out
the PsychWriter blog: where
psychology meets writing.
Every Writer Needs to Know
Why do we read? I hadn't
really thought about this
question in any depth. Sure
I could tell you that I do it
because I love to, that those
stolen hours lost in pages are exciting,
exhilarating escapism. But I'd never
considered - and as a psychologist
with my theoretical roots firmly
embedded in science and evolution I
should have - that story is actually a
powerful part of our lives.
Think about it, unlike other pass times
- like quilting,croquet or gambling -
everyone does story in one form or
another. I devour books, my husband
loves to watch TV, my son absorbs
himself in games of breeding dragons
or building pixelated forests. Children
take plastic My Little Pony's and build
families and plan great adventures.
Adults take little painted figurines and
build empires and plan their enemy's
defeat. Gossiping is story, seeing a
psychologist is all about telling your
story, marketers know that a good
story will invest you in their product. I
realised that story is EVERYWHERE.
Which means escapism isn't a good
enough reason for story to be with us.
It's true, getting lost in a story isn't
smart: from centuries ago, when
keeping an eye out for sabre tooth
tigers was pretty essential for
survival, through to modern times,
where paying your mortgage keeps
food in your fridge. Story has been so
pervasive and universal that it's
survived the ruthless mill of evolution,
that unrelenting process that screens
out anything that doesn't ensure our
species will be here to produce future
generations. If it's not securing our
survival, then its cut. Gone.
Extinct.
Why then? Why is story still around?
Why is it woven so tightly into the
layers of our life?
Essentially, story was, and continues
to be, our first virtual reality. Just like
it's much safer for pilots to learn to
fly in simulators, we get to learn the
complicated lessons of life through the
experience of others. In the same way
pilots prefer to make their mistakes
much closer to the ground, we get to
see what could happen if our baby
sitter didn't turn out to be who we
thought they were, how to take down a
zombie, what a serial killer is capable
of, how to navigate a dystopian world,
what the ripple effect of having an
affair with your neighbour is. In real
life, mistakes can be devastating for
pilots and us alike. With story, we get
to do all of this and more, all without
the deadly crash landing.
Evolution thought this was so important
that it actually wired us for story. In
fact, it thought it was so important, it
deeply embedded it into our grey
matter it in two significant ways. The
first has us probing right down at a
cellular level. Neurons are the spindly,
spidery cells that make up our brain
matter. They're the little suckers that
zip information all around our brain
and body. A relatively recent discovery
was that of mirror neurons, cells that
fire both when you do something but
also when you see someone else doing
it. Oh, like hear a story, watch a
movie... or read a book! Mirror neurons
are why we get just as excited
watching sport as playing it, why we
scrunch up in our seats and turn our
eyes away from a horror film.
Or why we have a physical, visceral
response to a great book.
Pretty cool, huh?
Another is in the chemical
communications that happen in our
head. Namely dopamine, the little
molecule involved in pleasure and
reward. Food, sex and cocaine all
trigger the release dopamine in our
brain. And so does devouring a good
book.
In the case of reading, dopamine is
your brains way of rewarding
curiosity, so you can learn the hard-
won lessons the character is enduring
(in the safety of the library or your
lounge room). Interestingly, the more
dopamine is released, the more of a
high we get, the more we want to keep
doing what we're doing. Most
importantly, if the brain anticipates
doing that activity again, like reading,
it will release dopamine accordingly.
Think about it, we've all been there
when our favourite author releases a
new book. When that book finally rests
in your palms, that happy, heady
feeling has you diving into the first
page no matter where you are. It's the
brain's way of encouraging you to go
for it because it felt so good last time.
When I learnt all this, as a reader I
felt validated. I finally figured out
why I turn up to work gritty eyed and
wishing I drank coffee because 'just
one more chapter' turned into 'there's
only a hundred pages to go, I might as
well finish it'. It's not about poor self-
control, an addictive personality or a
belief I can function on three hours
sleep. My brain is wired to want this!
(Okay, fine... maybe self-control got
skipped in my DNA... )
But as a writer I was fascinated.
I realised all this knowledge is the
foundation of what readers are
unconsciously looking for in a story.
Why some books are 'meh' and why
some will be OMG IT'S PHYSICALLY
IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO PUT THIS
DOWN!
If you capture your reader, give them
a character they care about as they
fight, fail but ultimately learn, if you
swallow them whole with your words
and your wit, you've done it. You've
got them. They'll connect with your
protagonist, your story...
Your book.
And if it's really got them hooked, the
ones on your backlist, and the ones
yet to come.
What writer doesn't want that?
In future posts I'll start teasing apart
what the parts of our craft that will
fire a readers' mirror neurons, spark
that rush of dopamine, so check out
the PsychWriter blog: where
psychology meets writing.
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