🔗 Share this article

It's a bit uncomfortable to admit, but let me explain. Five titles rest by my bed, every one incompletely consumed. On my phone, I'm partway through thirty-six audiobooks, which pales alongside the nearly fifty ebooks I've left unfinished on my Kindle. The situation fails to account for the increasing stack of early copies beside my side table, vying for endorsements, now that I have become a published novelist personally.

Beginning with Persistent Finishing to Intentional Setting Aside

On the surface, these stats might seem to corroborate recently expressed comments about today's attention spans. An author observed recently how effortless it is to distract a individual's attention when it is divided by social media and the news cycle. The author stated: “Maybe as people's attention spans change the literature will have to adapt with them.” But as an individual who once would doggedly finish any title I picked up, I now view it a human right to put down a book that I'm not in the mood for.

Our Short Span and the Glut of Options

I don't believe that this practice is caused by a limited attention span – more accurately it stems from the awareness of existence slipping through my fingers. I've always been struck by the Benedictine maxim: “Hold mortality every day in mind.” Another point that we each have a mere limited time on this Earth was as shocking to me as to anyone else. However at what other moment in history have we ever had such direct access to so many amazing works of art, anytime we want? A wealth of options awaits me in each bookshop and within every device, and I aim to be deliberate about where I channel my time. Is it possible “not finishing” a story (term in the literary community for Unfinished) be not just a indication of a weak focus, but a thoughtful one?

Choosing for Empathy and Reflection

Especially at a period when book production (consequently, selection) is still controlled by a specific demographic and its concerns. Although engaging with about individuals different from us can help to strengthen the muscle for compassion, we furthermore read to reflect on our individual journeys and position in the society. Until the titles on the shelves better depict the identities, lives and issues of potential readers, it might be very difficult to keep their attention.

Current Writing and Consumer Interest

Naturally, some novelists are skillfully creating for the “modern interest”: the tweet-length style of some modern books, the compact fragments of different authors, and the brief sections of various contemporary books are all a excellent example for a shorter style and method. And there is an abundance of craft guidance designed for grabbing a consumer: refine that opening line, improve that start, elevate the drama (higher! further!) and, if writing thriller, introduce a dead body on the beginning. This advice is completely good – a potential representative, editor or audience will spend only a a handful of precious moments choosing whether or not to proceed. There is little reason in being contrary, like the writer on a workshop I participated in who, when challenged about the narrative of their book, stated that “it all becomes clear about three-fourths of the into the story”. Not a single writer should put their audience through a set of 12 labours in order to be understood.

Creating to Be Understood and Giving Space

But I do create to be comprehended, as to the extent as that is possible. Sometimes that needs holding the consumer's interest, directing them through the narrative step by economical point. Occasionally, I've realised, understanding demands time – and I must give me (as well as other creators) the freedom of meandering, of adding depth, of straying, until I hit upon something meaningful. One writer makes the case for the fiction finding innovative patterns and that, as opposed to the traditional plot structure, “alternative patterns might enable us envision innovative approaches to create our stories alive and true, persist in creating our works original”.

Transformation of the Novel and Modern Formats

From that perspective, both viewpoints align – the story may have to change to fit the today's reader, as it has constantly done since it originated in the 1700s (in its current incarnation now). It could be, like earlier writers, coming writers will go back to serialising their novels in newspapers. The upcoming these writers may even now be releasing their writing, section by section, on web-based platforms like those visited by millions of regular visitors. Genres shift with the era and we should let them.

More Than Limited Attention Spans

Yet let us not claim that any changes are all because of shorter focus. If that were the case, brief fiction compilations and micro tales would be regarded far more {commercial|profitable|marketable