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It's slightly awkward to confess, but let me explain. Five novels rest beside my bed, all incompletely consumed. On my mobile device, I'm partway through thirty-six audiobooks, which seems small next to the forty-six Kindle titles I've left unfinished on my e-reader. That does not count the increasing stack of pre-release editions next to my coffee table, competing for praises, now that I work as a professional writer personally.

Beginning with Persistent Reading to Purposeful Abandonment

At first glance, these numbers might appear to confirm recently expressed comments about today's attention spans. A writer commented recently how easy it is to distract a individual's focus when it is fragmented by online networks and the 24-hour news. He suggested: “It could be as individuals' attention spans evolve the fiction will have to adapt with them.” However as someone who once would persistently complete whatever title I picked up, I now view it a personal freedom to stop reading a story that I'm not connecting with.

The Limited Span and the Abundance of Options

I wouldn't believe that this habit is caused by a limited concentration – instead it comes from the feeling of time passing quickly. I've consistently been impressed by the Benedictine principle: “Place mortality each day before your eyes.” A different idea that we each have a only finite period on this planet was as horrifying to me as to others. And yet at what other point in our past have we ever had such instant availability to so many amazing creative works, at any moment we choose? A surplus of treasures meets me in every library and within every device, and I strive to be intentional about where I direct my energy. Could “DNF-ing” a book (shorthand in the book world for Unfinished) be not a sign of a limited focus, but a thoughtful one?

Selecting for Connection and Self-awareness

Particularly at a time when publishing (and thus, selection) is still led by a specific social class and its issues. While exploring about characters distinct from ourselves can help to develop the ability for understanding, we furthermore choose books to think about our personal experiences and role in the society. Until the books on the racks better depict the identities, stories and concerns of potential individuals, it might be quite difficult to maintain their interest.

Contemporary Writing and Reader Attention

Certainly, some writers are actually successfully writing for the “contemporary attention span”: the short style of certain current works, the tight sections of others, and the quick chapters of various modern stories are all a wonderful showcase for a briefer form and method. And there is plenty of writing tips designed for securing a reader: refine that opening line, enhance that opening chapter, elevate the stakes (higher! more!) and, if writing mystery, introduce a victim on the opening. That advice is entirely solid – a prospective representative, publisher or reader will devote only a a handful of valuable moments deciding whether or not to proceed. There is little reason in being contrary, like the individual on a workshop I participated in who, when challenged about the storyline of their book, declared that “it all becomes clear about three-fourths of the way through”. No author should put their audience through a set of challenges in order to be grasped.

Writing to Be Accessible and Giving Patience

And I do create to be clear, as to the extent as that is achievable. Sometimes that needs holding the reader's hand, steering them through the story step by succinct step. Sometimes, I've understood, understanding requires perseverance – and I must give me (as well as other authors) the permission of wandering, of adding depth, of digressing, until I discover something true. An influential writer makes the case for the novel developing innovative patterns and that, instead of the conventional dramatic arc, “alternative forms might assist us conceive innovative approaches to make our narratives dynamic and true, persist in making our works fresh”.

Transformation of the Book and Current Mediums

Accordingly, both perspectives agree – the novel may have to change to fit the today's audience, as it has repeatedly done since it first emerged in the historical period (in its current incarnation today). It could be, like earlier authors, future writers will revert to publishing incrementally their books in periodicals. The future those writers may even now be publishing their writing, part by part, on online platforms like those used by millions of regular visitors. Genres shift with the era and we should allow them.

Beyond Short Attention Spans

However let us not say that any changes are completely because of limited concentration. If that were the case, concise narrative anthologies and flash fiction would be considered much more {commercial|profitable|marketable