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It's somewhat awkward to admit, but here goes. Several novels rest next to my bed, each partially consumed. Within my smartphone, I'm midway through thirty-six audiobooks, which seems small next to the 46 ebooks I've abandoned on my digital device. That doesn't include the growing pile of early copies next to my coffee table, vying for endorsements, now that I have become a professional novelist myself.

Starting with Persistent Reading to Intentional Abandonment

Initially, these numbers might look to confirm recently expressed opinions about modern attention spans. An author commented not long back how easy it is to lose a reader's concentration when it is divided by digital platforms and the 24-hour news. The author suggested: “It could be as people's focus periods shift the fiction will have to adjust with them.” Yet as someone who previously would doggedly finish any novel I began, I now view it a personal freedom to put down a story that I'm not enjoying.

Our Finite Time and the Wealth of Choices

I wouldn't think that this tendency is caused by a brief concentration – more accurately it stems from the awareness of time slipping through my fingers. I've always been struck by the Benedictine teaching: “Keep mortality daily in view.” Another reminder that we each have a just limited time on this planet was as shocking to me as to anyone else. And yet at what previous point in our past have we ever had such immediate availability to so many incredible masterpieces, at any moment we want? A glut of treasures greets me in any library and within every digital platform, and I strive to be intentional about where I direct my time. Could “not finishing” a novel (shorthand in the publishing industry for Did Not Finish) be not just a sign of a limited focus, but a thoughtful one?

Reading for Connection and Reflection

Especially at a era when book production (and therefore, acquisition) is still controlled by a specific social class and its concerns. Although engaging with about people unlike our own lives can help to develop the capacity for empathy, we furthermore choose books to think about our individual experiences and role in the society. Before the titles on the shelves more accurately reflect the identities, stories and issues of prospective audiences, it might be extremely hard to hold their interest.

Current Writing and Reader Attention

Naturally, some writers are indeed effectively writing for the “contemporary interest”: the tweet-length writing of certain modern works, the tight pieces of others, and the brief parts of numerous recent stories are all a impressive example for a briefer approach and technique. And there is plenty of craft tips aimed at capturing a consumer: refine that opening line, polish that start, elevate the stakes (higher! higher!) and, if crafting thriller, put a victim on the beginning. Such guidance is all solid – a potential representative, publisher or audience will devote only a several limited minutes determining whether or not to proceed. There's no benefit in being contrary, like the writer on a class I attended who, when questioned about the narrative of their manuscript, announced that “it all becomes clear about three-quarters of the through the book”. Not a single writer should force their reader through a series of 12 labours in order to be comprehended.

Crafting to Be Clear and Allowing Time

And I certainly compose to be understood, as much as that is achievable. At times that demands guiding the consumer's hand, directing them through the narrative step by efficient beat. Occasionally, I've discovered, insight demands patience – and I must give myself (and other creators) the freedom of wandering, of building, of digressing, until I find something true. An influential thinker contends for the story developing innovative patterns and that, as opposed to the standard plot structure, “alternative structures might help us imagine new approaches to create our narratives alive and authentic, keep creating our novels fresh”.

Change of the Book and Current Formats

In that sense, the two opinions converge – the novel may have to change to suit the modern audience, as it has repeatedly accomplished since it first emerged in the historical period (in its current incarnation today). Perhaps, like past novelists, tomorrow's writers will return to releasing in parts their novels in publications. The upcoming these writers may even now be publishing their work, part by part, on digital services such as those visited by millions of regular users. Art forms evolve with the era and we should permit them.

Not Just Short Focus

But we should not assert that every evolutions are all because of reduced focus. If that were the case, brief fiction compilations and very short stories would be viewed considerably more {commercial|profitable|marketable