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Great writers have often used psychology to create compelling stories that take us out of ourselves, but what is it about stories that appeal to us so strongly? In his new book The Science of Storytelling, Will Storr delves into the modern science of the mind to explain why great stories work, and how writers can use these lessons to make novels and scripts come alive.

Storytelling is not just something we do for fun: our brains tell us stories to make sense of the world. When we create a mental representation of the world from a story, we are using the same neural tools that we use to model the real world with our senses and memories. Where our senses fall short, our minds fill in the gaps. Psychologists describe this experience of reality as a controlled hallucination.

As highly social animals, humans have evolved to be experts at modelling not only our environment but the minds of other humans. Storr recounts the idea that humans, like the pet cats and dogs we’ve tamed, have undergone a process of domestication, making us better at reading social cues and more reliant on others. “The magic of story is its ability to connect mind with mind in a manner that’s unrivalled even by love,” says Storr.

We are fascinated by other people, and letting us see the world from someone else’s point of view is a key part of the attraction of stories. While many story theorists have focused on the plot structures that make a successful story, Storr argues that a writer’s most important challenge is to devise characters that feel real and stimulate our social curiosity. Our mental substantiation of fictional people is so powerful that almost a  report hearing characters’ voices in their heads even when they weren’t reading.

Our entire identity is built around a story the brain tells itself, with our selves as the hero. These stories about our lives are more fictional than we realise. Studies have shown that we create false memories to achieve the identity we want, and instances when we behaved immorally.

Storr argues that all good characters have a flawed model of the world and how to control it – and that is what makes them interesting. In a good story, protagonists often face a moment when they are faced with evidence that their understanding of the world is wrong. If the story has a happy ending, the character may recognise their flaw and change who they are to overcome their challenges. In tragedies, the protagonist often refuses to change – and this leads to their downfall.

The book also makes a convincing case for the power of stories to shape our attitudes. The stories we accept as true inform our political beliefs and once these are established, they are difficult to shake — because they’re part of our identity. The brain works hard to defend its beliefs: when volunteers were presented with arguments contradicting their political views in a , they showed neural responses similar to those that would be provoked by a predator. Fortunately, stories can also increase our empathy towards others.  shows that simply watching sitcoms or music videos with Muslim or Arab characters is enough to reduce levels of prejudice towards those groups.

According to Storr, the dramatic question that drives a good narrative is “who is this person”? For writers of all stripes, or for anyone interested in understanding the hero of their own story a little better, The Science of Storytelling is an essential read.