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This is a bit embarrassing to admit, but here goes. Several titles wait next to my bed, all incompletely consumed. On my phone, I'm partway through thirty-six audio novels, which seems small compared to the forty-six Kindle titles I've left unfinished on my e-reader. The situation doesn't account for the increasing pile of pre-release versions near my coffee table, striving for praises, now that I am a published author in my own right.

Beginning with Determined Completion to Purposeful Abandonment

Initially, these figures might seem to support recently expressed opinions about today's attention spans. An author observed recently how effortless it is to lose a person's attention when it is scattered by online networks and the constant updates. He stated: “Perhaps as people's attention spans shift the literature will have to adapt with them.” But as a person who used to stubbornly complete every book I picked up, I now regard it a personal freedom to put down a book that I'm not enjoying.

The Finite Time and the Wealth of Options

I don't believe that this tendency is due to a limited focus – more accurately it stems from the awareness of existence moving swiftly. I've always been impressed by the monastic principle: “Place death daily before your eyes.” A different idea that we each have a just finite period on this world was as shocking to me as to others. But at what previous time in history have we ever had such immediate access to so many incredible creative works, at any moment we want? A surplus of treasures meets me in each library and on every screen, and I want to be purposeful about where I focus my attention. Might “DNF-ing” a book (abbreviation in the book world for Did Not Finish) be not just a sign of a limited focus, but a discerning one?

Selecting for Empathy and Insight

Especially at a period when the industry (and therefore, commissioning) is still controlled by a certain demographic and its quandaries. Even though engaging with about people distinct from our own lives can help to build the muscle for understanding, we also choose books to think about our personal experiences and place in the society. Before the titles on the displays better reflect the experiences, stories and concerns of possible audiences, it might be extremely difficult to keep their attention.

Current Storytelling and Consumer Engagement

Certainly, some writers are indeed skillfully crafting for the “contemporary attention span”: the short writing of certain current works, the tight fragments of different authors, and the short chapters of various contemporary stories are all a impressive showcase for a more concise style and style. Additionally there is plenty of writing guidance geared toward grabbing a audience: hone that first sentence, polish that opening chapter, elevate the drama (more! further!) and, if crafting thriller, put a dead body on the opening. Such advice is entirely sound – a prospective agent, editor or buyer will devote only a several limited moments determining whether or not to continue. There's little reason in being contrary, like the person on a workshop I joined who, when challenged about the narrative of their novel, declared that “everything makes sense about three-fourths of the into the story”. No author should put their follower through a sequence of 12 labours in order to be grasped.

Crafting to Be Understood and Granting Time

But I do write to be clear, as much as that is possible. On occasion that needs leading the audience's attention, guiding them through the narrative point by efficient beat. At other times, I've realised, insight takes perseverance – and I must grant me (along with other writers) the freedom of exploring, of layering, of straying, until I discover something meaningful. One writer argues for the fiction discovering new forms and that, rather than the conventional plot structure, “alternative forms might help us envision novel approaches to make our tales alive and real, keep making our works novel”.

Change of the Novel and Modern Mediums

In that sense, both viewpoints agree – the novel may have to adapt to accommodate the today's reader, as it has repeatedly accomplished since it originated in the historical period (as we know it currently). Maybe, like previous novelists, coming creators will return to releasing in parts their works in newspapers. The future such authors may already be publishing their writing, section by section, on digital platforms such as those accessed by countless of regular users. Genres change with the times and we should allow them.

Beyond Brief Focus

However do not claim that every shifts are completely because of limited concentration. If that was so, short story collections and flash fiction would be viewed considerably more {commercial|profitable|marketable