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This is slightly uncomfortable to reveal, but here goes. A handful of titles rest beside my bed, every one only partly finished. Within my mobile device, I'm some distance through thirty-six listening titles, which pales next to the forty-six digital books I've left unfinished on my e-reader. The situation fails to count the increasing stack of early versions near my side table, competing for blurbs, now that I work as a published writer in my own right.

Starting with Determined Finishing to Purposeful Setting Aside

At first glance, these stats might appear to confirm recent thoughts about today's concentration. One novelist commented a short while ago how simple it is to distract a individual's concentration when it is scattered by online networks and the constant updates. They stated: “It could be as people's attention spans change the fiction will have to adapt with them.” Yet as someone who once would persistently get through whatever novel I began, I now view it a human right to set aside a novel that I'm not connecting with.

The Finite Duration and the Abundance of Options

I don't think that this habit is due to a brief concentration – rather more it relates to the awareness of life passing quickly. I've consistently been affected by the spiritual maxim: “Hold death daily in view.” A different idea that we each have a mere limited time on this world was as sobering to me as to anyone else. But at what previous point in our past have we ever had such direct entry to so many mind-blowing creative works, anytime we desire? A wealth of options greets me in every bookshop and on any screen, and I want to be deliberate about where I channel my attention. Could “DNF-ing” a novel (shorthand in the literary community for Did Not Finish) be not a sign of a weak intellect, but a selective one?

Choosing for Connection and Insight

Notably at a time when book production (and therefore, selection) is still led by a certain group and its quandaries. Even though reading about individuals unlike us can help to strengthen the ability for compassion, we furthermore read to think about our own journeys and place in the world. Before the titles on the racks more fully represent the backgrounds, stories and concerns of prospective individuals, it might be very challenging to hold their attention.

Contemporary Authorship and Reader Engagement

Certainly, some novelists are skillfully crafting for the “today's interest”: the short style of some recent novels, the compact fragments of others, and the brief chapters of several recent stories are all a wonderful demonstration for a more concise approach and technique. Additionally there is an abundance of author guidance designed for grabbing a audience: perfect that first sentence, polish that beginning section, elevate the stakes (more! more!) and, if writing thriller, place a victim on the first page. Such suggestions is completely sound – a potential publisher, editor or buyer will spend only a several valuable minutes determining whether or not to forge ahead. There is little reason in being contrary, like the individual on a workshop I attended who, when challenged about the plot of their manuscript, declared that “everything makes sense about 75% of the way through”. Not a single novelist should force their follower through a series of 12 labours in order to be understood.

Writing to Be Accessible and Granting Time

And I absolutely compose to be clear, as to the extent as that is possible. On occasion that needs holding the consumer's hand, steering them through the narrative beat by economical step. Occasionally, I've understood, insight demands patience – and I must allow myself (as well as other writers) the freedom of wandering, of adding depth, of deviating, until I discover something true. One writer contends for the fiction developing new forms and that, as opposed to the standard narrative arc, “alternative forms might assist us conceive novel ways to make our tales dynamic and real, continue producing our works original”.

Evolution of the Book and Current Mediums

From that perspective, the two perspectives align – the novel may have to evolve to suit the today's reader, as it has constantly achieved since it first emerged in the 18th century (in the form currently). Maybe, like past novelists, future writers will go back to releasing in parts their books in publications. The next such writers may already be releasing their content, section by section, on digital services such as those accessed by countless of regular users. Art forms shift with the times and we should permit them.

More Than Short Attention Spans

However do not claim that any shifts are entirely because of shorter concentration. Were that true, short story anthologies and flash fiction would be considered much more {commercial|profitable|marketable