Why creative professionals need to read classic fiction

In an ideal world, one wouldn't really "need" a reason to pick up a classic. But times have changed ??

In today's world, a typical bookshelf comprises management books, mantras by gurus, productivity tips, etc.

While these are useful, we seem to have lost the importance of slow reading and getting engrossed in rich prose. Here are a few reasons why creative professionals must pick up that classic right now.

Focussed creativity and slow reading

Many classics, such as those by Charles Dickens, Leo Tolstoy, etc., vividly portray a world arrested in time. Since this is not a world we live in, they deliberately make us slow down to relate to the context. And slow reading is a great thing! This builds an active imagination and sets us into a flow state, which is the perfect antithesis to the infinite scrolling on social media.

Descriptive prose and visual library

I have always been a proponent of building a visual library through sources unrelated to a designer's chosen medium. Top concept artists read voraciously to enrich their sketchbooks with worlds built by masters of the medium.

Smoke lowering down from chimney-pots, making a soft black drizzle, with flakes of soot in it as big as full-grown snowflakes—gone into mourning, one might imagine, for the death of the sun. Dogs, undistinguishable in mire. Horses, scarcely better; splashed to their very blinkers. Foot passengers, jostling one another’s umbrellas in a general infection of ill temper. .... Charles Dickens, Bleak House

The above prose is a small excerpt that vividly portrays layers of information on the environment, characters, and their interaction with mood and sentiment. This leads to unique perspectives that can be used by environmental artists, visual development designers, etc.

Empathy and other world views

Perception and worldview, to a large extent, bring bias into the canvas. A creative professional has to strive to be objective and position himself/herself outside this bias to develop an output that will fully relate to the user.

Classics have been tested over time, and generations of readers have been influenced by their worldview, which may not be progressive/liberal enough, depending on the book we pick up. This helps build empathy against the filters a designer has put up in his/her mind.

Powerful storytelling

At their heart, classics are a master class in storytelling. No further explanation is needed, but a good story makes the difference between a creative output that hits the mark and one which remains forgotten.

Also, they are a happy respite from the content overload we surround ourselves with in a hyperconnected world

A few books I suggest

David Copperfield - Dickens

Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

A bend in the river - VS Naipaul

Train to Pakistan - Khushwant Singh

.. and many, many more... Happy reading!