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This is somewhat awkward to admit, but here goes. A handful of titles rest beside my bed, each partially consumed. Within my smartphone, I'm some distance through 36 audiobooks, which pales alongside the nearly fifty Kindle titles I've left unfinished on my e-reader. The situation doesn't count the growing collection of pre-release editions near my living room table, vying for endorsements, now that I have become a published novelist in my own right.

Starting with Dogged Finishing to Deliberate Abandonment

Initially, these stats might seem to confirm contemporary thoughts about modern attention spans. An author observed not long back how simple it is to lose a person's focus when it is scattered by online networks and the news cycle. He remarked: “Perhaps as people's attention spans evolve the fiction will have to adjust with them.” However as someone who previously would doggedly complete every title I picked up, I now regard it a personal freedom to stop reading a novel that I'm not connecting with.

The Finite Duration and the Abundance of Options

I don't feel that this habit is caused by a brief attention span – more accurately it stems from the feeling of time passing quickly. I've often been impressed by the Benedictine maxim: “Hold mortality daily in view.” A different reminder that we each have a only 4,000 weeks on this world was as sobering to me as to anyone else. And yet at what different moment in human history have we ever had such direct availability to so many amazing creative works, at any moment we want? A surplus of options meets me in every library and on each screen, and I aim to be deliberate about where I focus my attention. Is it possible “not finishing” a novel (abbreviation in the book world for Unfinished) be rather than a indication of a limited focus, but a thoughtful one?

Choosing for Empathy and Reflection

Notably at a time when the industry (consequently, selection) is still led by a certain demographic and its quandaries. Even though exploring about characters different from us can help to develop the muscle for compassion, we also select stories to think about our own journeys and role in the society. Unless the works on the displays better represent the experiences, realities and issues of prospective individuals, it might be very challenging to keep their focus.

Contemporary Writing and Reader Engagement

Of course, some writers are skillfully writing for the “modern focus”: the tweet-length writing of certain recent novels, the compact pieces of others, and the quick sections of numerous modern books are all a wonderful example for a briefer approach and technique. And there is no shortage of writing advice geared toward grabbing a reader: refine that initial phrase, polish that start, elevate the tension (further! higher!) and, if writing mystery, place a dead body on the first page. That advice is entirely sound – a prospective publisher, house or audience will spend only a a handful of precious seconds deciding whether or not to proceed. It is no point in being contrary, like the person on a writing course I attended who, when questioned about the narrative of their novel, announced that “it all becomes clear about three-quarters of the into the story”. Not a single author should subject their follower through a sequence of difficult tasks in order to be comprehended.

Creating to Be Accessible and Granting Patience

And I certainly write to be understood, as far as that is possible. At times that demands leading the audience's interest, steering them through the plot beat by economical step. Sometimes, I've discovered, comprehension takes perseverance – and I must allow my own self (and other creators) the permission of exploring, of building, of straying, until I hit upon something meaningful. An influential writer contends for the story discovering fresh structures and that, rather than the standard dramatic arc, “other forms might help us envision novel ways to craft our stories dynamic and true, keep creating our novels original”.

Evolution of the Story and Contemporary Mediums

In that sense, the two opinions align – the novel may have to evolve to suit the today's reader, as it has constantly accomplished since it first emerged in the 1700s (in the form today). Maybe, like past writers, tomorrow's creators will return to releasing in parts their novels in periodicals. The future those authors may already be sharing their content, chapter by chapter, on online services such as those accessed by many of regular readers. Art forms evolve with the era and we should permit them.

More Than Short Focus

However do not claim that all shifts are completely because of reduced concentration. If that was so, brief fiction compilations and flash fiction would be viewed considerably more {commercial|profitable|marketable