Walk into any bookstore and you’ll likely notice it — the fiction section takes up more space than nonfiction. More shelves. More variety. More imagination stretched across the room. At first glance, it’s just how the store is laid out. But look closer, and it becomes something more — a metaphor for how we live, think, and often escape.

Fiction is the space where anything is possible. It’s where stories are shaped not by what is, but by what could be. It represents hope, fear, ambition, and struggle through characters and places that don’t exist — yet feel deeply real. And in that way, fiction reflects the mind. The dreams we entertain. The fears we invent. The lives we imagine, even if we never live them.

Nonfiction, in contrast, is grounded. It deals with facts, reality, lessons, and lived experience. It’s the truth as it happened — direct and structured. It reflects what is, not what might be. It represents discipline, knowledge, and the clarity of evidence.

So why is fiction larger?

Because we spend more time in our heads than we do in reality. We create stories about who we are, what others think of us, what the future holds. We write mental novels filled with imagined failures, future successes, or endless what-ifs. We don’t always act on them, but we live in them all the same.

Fiction is larger because our inner worlds are larger. We build narratives constantly. Some serve us. Some don’t. But they all shape how we move through life. The metaphor reminds us that while facts matter, stories drive. They inspire action, guide emotion, and reveal what we really believe about ourselves.

The key is knowing the difference. When to embrace the fiction — to dream, to create, to imagine better. And when to return to nonfiction — to face what’s real, act with intention, and build on solid ground.

In the bookstore, fiction may take up more shelves.
In life, it’s up to you to decide which story you choose to live by.