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This is somewhat awkward to confess, but here goes. Several novels sit next to my bed, each incompletely read. Inside my phone, I'm some distance through 36 audio novels, which pales compared to the forty-six ebooks I've set aside on my digital device. The situation does not account for the increasing stack of pre-release copies beside my living room table, striving for blurbs, now that I work as a professional author myself.

Starting with Persistent Completion to Deliberate Setting Aside

On the surface, these numbers might appear to support recent thoughts about current focus. A writer observed a short while ago how easy it is to break a person's attention when it is divided by social media and the news cycle. They stated: “Perhaps as individuals' concentration shift the fiction will have to change with them.” Yet as an individual who previously would stubbornly complete every title I started, I now view it a personal freedom to stop reading a novel that I'm not enjoying.

The Finite Span and the Glut of Possibilities

I don't believe that this tendency is caused by a short attention span – rather more it relates to the feeling of life moving swiftly. I've often been struck by the monastic teaching: “Place death every day in view.” Another point that we each have a only limited time on this planet was as sobering to me as to anyone else. But at what different point in history have we ever had such direct entry to so many mind-blowing creative works, anytime we choose? A glut of riches awaits me in every bookstore and behind each screen, and I aim to be intentional about where I focus my energy. Might “DNF-ing” a novel (term in the literary community for Unfinished) be not a mark of a poor focus, but a selective one?

Reading for Empathy and Reflection

Especially at a time when publishing (and thus, selection) is still controlled by a particular demographic and its concerns. While reading about characters unlike ourselves can help to strengthen the capacity for compassion, we also choose books to reflect on our individual lives and place in the universe. Before the titles on the racks better depict the backgrounds, realities and issues of prospective individuals, it might be extremely difficult to hold their focus.

Contemporary Writing and Reader Engagement

Naturally, some novelists are effectively crafting for the “modern attention span”: the concise style of certain recent novels, the tight sections of different authors, and the quick sections of several modern stories are all a wonderful demonstration for a shorter form and style. Additionally there is plenty of writing guidance geared toward grabbing a reader: refine that initial phrase, enhance that opening chapter, increase the drama (higher! further!) and, if crafting thriller, put a victim on the beginning. That advice is completely good – a potential publisher, house or audience will use only a few precious moments deciding whether or not to forge ahead. There's no point in being obstinate, like the writer on a class I attended who, when challenged about the storyline of their book, declared that “it all becomes clear about three-fourths of the through the book”. Not a single novelist should force their reader through a set of challenges in order to be grasped.

Crafting to Be Understood and Granting Time

And I absolutely write to be clear, as to the extent as that is achievable. At times that requires leading the audience's interest, steering them through the plot beat by economical point. Occasionally, I've discovered, comprehension demands perseverance – and I must give me (as well as other creators) the freedom of meandering, of building, of straying, until I find something authentic. An influential writer argues for the novel developing new forms and that, as opposed to the standard plot structure, “other patterns might assist us conceive innovative methods to craft our narratives alive and real, continue producing our works novel”.

Transformation of the Story and Modern Formats

In that sense, the two viewpoints align – the story may have to evolve to accommodate the modern consumer, as it has continually accomplished since it originated in the 18th century (in its current incarnation today). It could be, like earlier novelists, tomorrow's writers will return to publishing incrementally their books in periodicals. The upcoming such creators may even now be releasing their content, chapter by chapter, on digital platforms including those accessed by millions of frequent readers. Art forms evolve with the times and we should permit them.

Beyond Limited Concentration

But we should not claim that all shifts are all because of limited focus. If that was so, brief fiction anthologies and very short stories would be regarded much more {commercial|profitable|marketable