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This is somewhat embarrassing to confess, but here goes. Five titles rest beside my bed, all partially consumed. On my mobile device, I'm midway through 36 listening titles, which pales next to the forty-six digital books I've left unfinished on my e-reader. The situation fails to account for the expanding collection of advance editions near my living room table, competing for praises, now that I work as a published author personally.

From Determined Reading to Purposeful Abandonment

At first glance, these stats might appear to confirm contemporary comments about today's concentration. A writer observed not long back how simple it is to lose a person's concentration when it is divided by digital platforms and the 24-hour news. He suggested: “It could be as people's focus periods change the writing will have to adjust with them.” Yet as someone who previously would persistently complete every title I began, I now view it a individual choice to put down a book that I'm not enjoying.

Our Finite Span and the Wealth of Options

I don't think that this habit is a result of a brief focus – more accurately it stems from the sense of life moving swiftly. I've consistently been struck by the spiritual maxim: “Keep mortality daily in view.” A different idea that we each have a just 4,000 weeks on this Earth was as horrifying to me as to others. And yet at what other point in our past have we ever had such immediate entry to so many mind-blowing works of art, anytime we want? A surplus of treasures meets me in any bookstore and behind any device, and I want to be purposeful about where I channel my attention. Is it possible “not finishing” a novel (abbreviation in the publishing industry for Did Not Finish) be not a mark of a weak mind, but a discerning one?

Reading for Connection and Reflection

Notably at a time when the industry (consequently, selection) is still controlled by a specific demographic and its concerns. Although reading about individuals distinct from us can help to build the capacity for compassion, we furthermore read to think about our personal lives and role in the world. Before the books on the displays more accurately reflect the backgrounds, lives and interests of prospective individuals, it might be quite hard to hold their interest.

Current Authorship and Reader Interest

Certainly, some novelists are indeed effectively writing for the “today's interest”: the concise writing of selected recent books, the tight fragments of different authors, and the brief chapters of various modern books are all a wonderful example for a briefer approach and style. Additionally there is no shortage of craft guidance geared toward grabbing a reader: hone that initial phrase, enhance that opening chapter, raise the drama (more! further!) and, if crafting mystery, place a mystery on the opening. Such advice is all good – a potential representative, editor or buyer will spend only a a handful of precious seconds determining whether or not to forge ahead. There's no point in being difficult, like the writer on a workshop I attended who, when confronted about the plot of their novel, stated that “it all becomes clear about three-quarters of the way through”. No novelist should force their follower through a set of challenges in order to be comprehended.

Crafting to Be Understood and Allowing Patience

But I absolutely create to be comprehended, as far as that is possible. Sometimes that requires leading the audience's interest, directing them through the plot beat by economical point. Occasionally, I've realised, understanding demands patience – and I must allow me (along with other authors) the permission of wandering, of adding depth, of straying, until I discover something meaningful. One author makes the case for the fiction discovering new forms and that, instead of the conventional narrative arc, “other structures might help us conceive innovative ways to make our narratives alive and real, keep creating our books novel”.

Transformation of the Book and Current Formats

Accordingly, both perspectives converge – the novel may have to evolve to fit the modern reader, as it has constantly accomplished since it first emerged in the 18th century (in its current incarnation now). Maybe, like past novelists, coming writers will go back to serialising their works in publications. The next these creators may even now be publishing their writing, part by part, on digital platforms including those used by many of monthly visitors. Art forms shift with the times and we should let them.

More Than Limited Attention Spans

But we should not say that every evolutions are all because of limited focus. If that were the case, concise narrative anthologies and micro tales would be considered much more {commercial|profitable|marketable