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It's somewhat uncomfortable to admit, but let me explain. Five novels sit beside my bed, every one incompletely read. Inside my smartphone, I'm some distance through thirty-six audio novels, which looks minor next to the nearly fifty ebooks I've set aside on my digital device. This doesn't count the growing pile of early editions near my coffee table, competing for endorsements, now that I work as a established novelist personally.

Starting with Persistent Finishing to Purposeful Setting Aside

On the surface, these figures might look to corroborate contemporary opinions about current attention spans. One novelist commented recently how effortless it is to distract a individual's concentration when it is scattered by social media and the 24-hour news. They suggested: “Maybe as readers' concentration change the literature will have to adjust with them.” However as someone who used to persistently finish every title I picked up, I now regard it a human right to put down a story that I'm not in the mood for.

The Finite Duration and the Abundance of Options

I don't think that this tendency is caused by a limited focus – instead it relates to the awareness of existence passing quickly. I've often been impressed by the spiritual teaching: “Keep death each day before your eyes.” One point that we each have a just 4,000 weeks on this world was as shocking to me as to everyone. And yet at what other time in our past have we ever had such immediate availability to so many amazing creative works, whenever we want? A wealth of riches meets me in each bookshop and within every device, and I aim to be intentional about where I focus my attention. Could “DNF-ing” a story (term in the literary community for Unfinished) be not just a sign of a poor focus, but a discerning one?

Reading for Empathy and Self-awareness

Especially at a era when publishing (and thus, commissioning) is still dominated by a particular social class and its concerns. Although reading about characters unlike ourselves can help to build the ability for compassion, we furthermore select stories to reflect on our personal journeys and place in the world. Before the titles on the displays more fully represent the backgrounds, lives and issues of possible individuals, it might be quite challenging to keep their attention.

Modern Storytelling and Consumer Engagement

Of course, some authors are skillfully crafting for the “today's interest”: the concise style of selected recent works, the compact sections of others, and the quick chapters of numerous modern books are all a impressive showcase for a shorter style and method. Furthermore there is an abundance of writing advice aimed at securing a reader: refine that first sentence, polish that start, raise the tension (higher! more!) and, if writing crime, introduce a victim on the beginning. That advice is all good – a prospective agent, editor or audience will devote only a several precious moments choosing whether or not to continue. There's no benefit in being difficult, like the person on a workshop I participated in who, when questioned about the plot of their manuscript, declared that “the meaning emerges about three-fourths of the way through”. Not a single writer should subject their audience through a set of difficult tasks in order to be understood.

Writing to Be Understood and Allowing Patience

But I certainly compose to be comprehended, as far as that is possible. Sometimes that demands holding the audience's interest, steering them through the story beat by economical step. Occasionally, I've discovered, insight demands perseverance – and I must give myself (along with other writers) the freedom of exploring, of adding depth, of deviating, until I discover something authentic. A particular thinker argues for the story finding fresh structures and that, instead of the traditional plot structure, “other forms might help us envision innovative approaches to make our stories alive and authentic, keep making our books fresh”.

Transformation of the Story and Contemporary Platforms

From that perspective, both perspectives converge – the fiction may have to evolve to accommodate the modern audience, as it has repeatedly done since it first emerged in the historical period (in the form currently). Perhaps, like earlier authors, coming writers will go back to releasing in parts their books in periodicals. The upcoming such authors may already be publishing their writing, chapter by chapter, on web-based sites like those accessed by many of frequent readers. Art forms evolve with the period and we should allow them.

Not Just Short Focus

But we should not say that all changes are completely because of limited concentration. Were that true, concise narrative anthologies and flash fiction would be considered far more {commercial|profitable|marketable