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This is a bit uncomfortable to confess, but I'll say it. Several titles sit beside my bed, each only partly finished. Within my mobile device, I'm partway through thirty-six listening titles, which pales compared to the nearly fifty digital books I've left unfinished on my digital device. That doesn't count the increasing pile of advance editions next to my living room table, competing for praises, now that I am a professional novelist myself.

From Persistent Finishing to Deliberate Letting Go

Initially, these figures might look to confirm recently expressed thoughts about modern concentration. A writer noted a short while ago how easy it is to lose a individual's attention when it is fragmented by online networks and the news cycle. They remarked: “It could be as individuals' concentration evolve the writing will have to adapt with them.” But as someone who used to doggedly finish whatever book I started, I now consider it a personal freedom to stop reading a novel that I'm not connecting with.

Life's Finite Duration and the Wealth of Possibilities

I don't believe that this habit is a result of a limited focus – rather more it comes from the feeling of existence moving swiftly. I've always been struck by the Benedictine principle: “Place mortality daily in view.” One point that we each have a mere 4,000 weeks on this world was as sobering to me as to anyone else. However at what other moment in our past have we ever had such immediate access to so many mind-blowing works of art, whenever we want? A wealth of options greets me in any library and behind each digital platform, and I want to be intentional about where I channel my attention. Might “abandoning” a novel (shorthand in the book world for Unfinished) be rather than a mark of a poor focus, but a thoughtful one?

Selecting for Empathy and Insight

Especially at a era when book production (and thus, selection) is still controlled by a certain group and its quandaries. Even though exploring about people different from our own lives can help to strengthen the capacity for understanding, we also read to consider our own journeys and position in the universe. Until the titles on the shelves better reflect the identities, stories and concerns of possible audiences, it might be extremely challenging to maintain their focus.

Modern Storytelling and Audience Interest

Of course, some writers are indeed effectively writing for the “today's attention span”: the concise prose of selected modern works, the focused sections of additional writers, and the quick parts of various contemporary titles are all a impressive showcase for a shorter form and technique. Additionally there is plenty of writing guidance aimed at securing a audience: hone that opening line, improve that start, increase the stakes (more! further!) and, if crafting thriller, place a dead body on the first page. This guidance is entirely solid – a possible publisher, editor or reader will spend only a several valuable seconds deciding whether or not to continue. There's no point in being contrary, like the person on a writing course I attended who, when questioned about the narrative of their novel, declared that “the meaning emerges about 75% of the through the book”. No author should put their reader through a set of challenges in order to be understood.

Crafting to Be Clear and Giving Patience

But I do write to be clear, as to the extent as that is feasible. Sometimes that requires guiding the reader's hand, steering them through the narrative beat by succinct point. Occasionally, I've realised, comprehension requires time – and I must allow myself (along with other writers) the permission of meandering, of building, of deviating, until I discover something true. A particular writer contends for the story discovering fresh structures and that, instead of the standard narrative arc, “different structures might help us envision novel methods to craft our tales alive and true, continue producing our books fresh”.

Change of the Novel and Current Formats

In that sense, both opinions converge – the story may have to evolve to accommodate the today's audience, as it has continually accomplished since it originated in the historical period (as we know it currently). Maybe, like previous novelists, tomorrow's creators will return to releasing in parts their books in publications. The next such writers may even now be publishing their work, part by part, on online sites like those used by millions of monthly users. Genres change with the period and we should permit them.

More Than Short Attention Spans

But let us not assert that any shifts are completely because of shorter focus. Were that true, brief fiction compilations and flash fiction would be viewed much more {commercial|profitable|marketable