No one really wants to sing the blues. We only want to hear other people singing the blues. It’s hard to believe that a homeless, hungry, abandoned soul would choose to write a song about it. Surviving takes all your energy. But listening to someone else lamenting their pretended sorrows somehow...

We love our sugary success stories—the sweet and gripping fantasies we hope might someday happen to us. “Mailroom clerk becomes company CEO.” “Out-of-luck waitress wins huge lottery.” “Overlooked teen becomes Hollywood megastar.” We quietly insert our names to secretly imagine the powerful,...