On Writing, Fiction, Non-Fiction, and . . . Possibilianism?

Some days the hits just keep comin' (er, um, because I'm on my lunch break??). Apropos of all the other writer-related stuff (about which I've written more in the past week than in all of the six years I've maintained this blog), this interesting interview with David Eagleman.

A couple of money quotes:

On making complex ideas accessible (something dear to my heart):

I just follow the rule I tell all my students: if you can’t explain it to an eighth grader in a way that he/she would understand it, then you don’t understand it. As a corollary, one must understand the importance of narrative. Our brains have evolved to care about story. If you want to penetrate the brain of a listener, wrap the information in things they care about.

On writing "academic texts," non-fiction, and fiction:

In academic texts there is a particular landscape of facts that needs to be surveyed. In nonfiction one chooses a particular path through that landscape, taking the reader on a special journey of your choosing. In fiction one takes off into the third dimension.

Also, Eagleman is also responsible for a "movement" (his term, not mine) called "possibilianism." Who knew?

Have I mentioned how much I missed blogging?