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It's a bit awkward to admit, but let me explain. Five books sit by my bed, all partially finished. On my smartphone, I'm midway through thirty-six audiobooks, which looks minor alongside the 46 ebooks I've set aside on my e-reader. The situation does not count the growing collection of pre-release copies next to my side table, competing for blurbs, now that I have become a established author in my own right.

From Determined Reading to Deliberate Letting Go

At first glance, these numbers might look to corroborate contemporary thoughts about today's concentration. One novelist noted not long back how simple it is to lose a person's focus when it is scattered by digital platforms and the 24-hour news. They stated: “Maybe as readers' attention spans change the fiction will have to adjust with them.” But as a person who used to doggedly complete any title I began, I now regard it a personal freedom to set aside a story that I'm not enjoying.

The Short Time and the Glut of Possibilities

I do not believe that this practice is due to a limited attention span – rather more it comes from the awareness of existence slipping through my fingers. I've always been impressed by the spiritual teaching: “Place the end each day before your eyes.” Another idea that we each have a only 4,000 weeks on this planet was as horrifying to me as to anyone else. And yet at what other moment in our past have we ever had such direct availability to so many amazing works of art, whenever we choose? A wealth of treasures awaits me in any bookshop and on every screen, and I strive to be intentional about where I direct my time. Could “DNF-ing” a novel (term in the publishing industry for Incomplete) be not just a sign of a limited intellect, but a selective one?

Selecting for Connection and Reflection

Especially at a era when the industry (and therefore, commissioning) is still dominated by a certain demographic and its concerns. While engaging with about people different from our own lives can help to develop the ability for empathy, we furthermore read to consider our individual lives and position in the world. Unless the works on the displays more accurately reflect the identities, stories and issues of prospective individuals, it might be extremely difficult to keep their focus.

Contemporary Writing and Consumer Engagement

Certainly, some authors are effectively creating for the “contemporary attention span”: the short writing of certain recent novels, the tight pieces of additional writers, and the short chapters of numerous recent titles are all a impressive showcase for a briefer approach and method. And there is an abundance of craft advice designed for grabbing a consumer: perfect that initial phrase, improve that beginning section, raise the tension (higher! more!) and, if crafting mystery, place a victim on the opening. This advice is all solid – a prospective representative, editor or audience will spend only a a handful of valuable moments determining whether or not to proceed. It is little reason in being obstinate, like the writer on a writing course I attended who, when challenged about the narrative of their book, declared that “the meaning emerges about three-fourths of the into the story”. No novelist should put their reader through a set of 12 labours in order to be grasped.

Writing to Be Accessible and Granting Patience

And I do create to be comprehended, as to the extent as that is possible. At times that requires leading the audience's interest, guiding them through the story step by efficient beat. Sometimes, I've realised, understanding demands perseverance – and I must grant myself (and other writers) the freedom of exploring, of building, of digressing, until I discover something authentic. A particular author argues for the novel discovering innovative patterns and that, instead of the conventional dramatic arc, “other structures might help us imagine new ways to create our stories dynamic and authentic, keep creating our books original”.

Transformation of the Story and Modern Mediums

Accordingly, the two perspectives agree – the story may have to evolve to accommodate the today's audience, as it has repeatedly done since it originated in the 18th century (as we know it today). It could be, like previous authors, coming writers will go back to releasing in parts their novels in publications. The future those writers may even now be publishing their writing, chapter by chapter, on online sites including those used by countless of monthly users. Art forms change with the times and we should permit them.

More Than Limited Concentration

But do not claim that every evolutions are entirely because of shorter concentration. Were that true, concise narrative compilations and flash fiction would be considered much more {commercial|profitable|marketable