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This is a bit uncomfortable to reveal, but I'll say it. A handful of titles rest next to my bed, each only partly consumed. On my phone, I'm midway through thirty-six audiobooks, which looks minor compared to the forty-six ebooks I've abandoned on my Kindle. That does not include the expanding collection of pre-release editions near my living room table, competing for blurbs, now that I work as a published writer myself.

Beginning with Persistent Reading to Deliberate Letting Go

At first glance, these stats might seem to corroborate recently expressed thoughts about current attention spans. One novelist noted a short while ago how simple it is to lose a reader's focus when it is divided by digital platforms and the constant updates. The author remarked: “It could be as readers' focus periods shift the fiction will have to change with them.” Yet as an individual who used to stubbornly complete whatever book I picked up, I now regard it a human right to put down a story that I'm not connecting with.

The Finite Span and the Abundance of Choices

I don't feel that this habit is due to a limited focus – more accurately it comes from the awareness of existence passing quickly. I've often been struck by the spiritual maxim: “Keep death every day in view.” Another reminder that we each have a just 4,000 weeks on this Earth was as shocking to me as to anyone else. And yet at what other moment in our past have we ever had such instant access to so many mind-blowing creative works, at any moment we want? A glut of riches awaits me in each bookstore and on each device, and I strive to be purposeful about where I focus my time. Might “not finishing” a book (term in the literary community for Unfinished) be not a sign of a poor focus, but a discerning one?

Choosing for Connection and Insight

Notably at a time when book production (and therefore, commissioning) is still led by a specific social class and its quandaries. While exploring about individuals unlike us can help to develop the capacity for empathy, we also read to think about our individual lives and position in the world. Before the titles on the racks more accurately depict the identities, lives and issues of potential readers, it might be very challenging to maintain their attention.

Modern Storytelling and Audience Interest

Naturally, some authors are actually skillfully crafting for the “contemporary interest”: the concise writing of some current books, the compact pieces of others, and the brief sections of several modern books are all a wonderful example for a shorter approach and method. Furthermore there is no shortage of author tips geared toward securing a audience: refine that initial phrase, improve that start, raise the stakes (higher! more!) and, if crafting mystery, introduce a mystery on the opening. Such suggestions is all good – a possible agent, publisher or buyer will spend only a several limited seconds choosing whether or not to continue. There is no benefit in being contrary, like the person on a workshop I participated in who, when questioned about the narrative of their novel, announced that “everything makes sense about three-fourths of the into the story”. No writer should force their follower through a series of difficult tasks in order to be understood.

Creating to Be Understood and Allowing Space

But I certainly create to be understood, as much as that is possible. At times that needs leading the audience's interest, guiding them through the plot point by economical beat. At other times, I've discovered, comprehension demands perseverance – and I must give me (as well as other writers) the permission of exploring, of layering, of deviating, until I discover something meaningful. One thinker makes the case for the novel developing fresh structures and that, as opposed to the conventional narrative arc, “other patterns might help us envision new ways to craft our tales vital and authentic, keep making our novels fresh”.

Transformation of the Novel and Modern Platforms

In that sense, both viewpoints agree – the novel may have to change to accommodate the modern consumer, as it has repeatedly accomplished since it first emerged in the historical period (in its current incarnation now). It could be, like earlier authors, coming authors will go back to releasing in parts their works in newspapers. The upcoming such writers may currently be sharing their writing, section by section, on web-based services like those accessed by many of frequent readers. Genres change with the period and we should allow them.

Not Just Limited Concentration

Yet let us not say that every shifts are all because of reduced concentration. If that were the case, brief fiction compilations and flash fiction would be regarded much more {commercial|profitable|marketable