# Fiction vs non-fiction Created On: 01-19-2024 08:59 am Up:: [[Reading (MOC)]] Tags:: #note/evergreen🌲 Topics:: [[Fiction (Book)]], [[Non-fiction (Book)]] Related:: --- Looking at some data I've collected (from my Kobo), I read [[The Left Hand of Darkness (Book)]] at around one page per-minute. Whereas, I read [[You Are a Writer (So Start Acting Like One) (Book)]] at two-and-a-half pages per minute - a 2.5x speed difference. Why is that? In general, non-fiction shouldn't have layered meaning, right? If it does, it's probably a bad work of non-fiction, because a NF's success is based on making clear arguments and then convincing the reader that they're right by providing evidentiary information/proof - it's expository, so it's on the burden of the author. That's not the case with fiction - IMO, the majority of the burden is on the reader through interpretation and comprehension. Most fiction is actually layered with sub-text and deeper meaning beyond the surface-layer story, like I mentioned in my notes: "is this an allegory? It feels like it, maybe... but what to?". This analysis takes more time and effort to interpret and comprehend the layers presented AND NOT presented to the reader. Certainly all of that is dependent on whether or not one chooses to read that deep, I guess. 🤷 I've always found literary interpretation super interesting: full of musing, and a land where answers are hardly ever right or wrong. Yet, difficulty of interpretation and comprehension varies in fiction. For example, I think Frank Herbert's writing style is denser and takes more effort to interpret and comprehend than Le Guin's writing. That's because Frank pushes you into the deep end of the pool and asks you after if you know how to swim - he's masterfully good at withholding valuable context that makes you question how much you really know and should know... That seeds doubt; it interrupts and weakens one's interpretation potential until you continue reading, and through that, not only does the "surface-level" story evolve, but so does the interpretation potential. I just find it's been a steeper path for me - read slower and I spend a lot more time "chewing on what I'm reading" compared to non-fiction.