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It's a bit uncomfortable to confess, but let me explain. A handful of titles rest beside my bed, each partially consumed. Inside my phone, I'm midway through thirty-six listening titles, which pales compared to the nearly fifty digital books I've left unfinished on my digital device. That doesn't account for the growing pile of advance editions near my side table, vying for praises, now that I am a professional author in my own right.

Starting with Determined Completion to Purposeful Setting Aside

Initially, these numbers might appear to corroborate recent opinions about today's attention spans. An author noted recently how effortless it is to distract a person's attention when it is fragmented by social media and the 24-hour news. He suggested: “It could be as people's concentration evolve the writing will have to change with them.” But as a person who used to persistently get through every novel I started, I now regard it a personal freedom to stop reading a novel that I'm not in the mood for.

Our Limited Duration and the Glut of Choices

I wouldn't think that this practice is due to a short concentration – rather more it stems from the feeling of time slipping through my fingers. I've always been impressed by the monastic principle: “Hold death each day before your eyes.” One idea that we each have a just 4,000 weeks on this Earth was as sobering to me as to anyone else. However at what other moment in our past have we ever had such immediate entry to so many amazing creative works, anytime we want? A surplus of riches awaits me in every bookshop and on any digital platform, and I aim to be purposeful about where I focus my time. Is it possible “not finishing” a book (term in the book world for Unfinished) be rather than a sign of a limited intellect, but a discerning one?

Reading for Understanding and Insight

Notably at a time when publishing (and thus, selection) is still dominated by a certain group and its issues. While exploring about characters different from our own lives can help to build the capacity for understanding, we additionally read to reflect on our own experiences and role in the society. Unless the titles on the racks better reflect the backgrounds, stories and interests of potential readers, it might be quite challenging to hold their interest.

Modern Authorship and Audience Engagement

Naturally, some authors are actually successfully creating for the “today's interest”: the concise prose of some current works, the focused sections of additional writers, and the short sections of various recent books are all a excellent showcase for a shorter style and method. And there is no shortage of author advice aimed at grabbing a audience: perfect that opening line, improve that start, increase the tension (further! further!) and, if creating thriller, place a mystery on the opening. That suggestions is completely sound – a possible agent, publisher or audience will devote only a several precious minutes determining whether or not to continue. There's little reason in being obstinate, like the writer on a workshop I participated in who, when confronted about the plot of their book, declared that “the meaning emerges about three-quarters of the way through”. Not a single author should put their audience through a sequence of 12 labours in order to be understood.

Creating to Be Accessible and Granting Patience

And I do write to be clear, as far as that is achievable. Sometimes that demands leading the consumer's interest, steering them through the plot point by efficient point. Occasionally, I've realised, comprehension requires patience – and I must give myself (and other authors) the freedom of wandering, of adding depth, of straying, until I hit upon something meaningful. One author argues for the novel discovering new forms and that, instead of the standard dramatic arc, “alternative patterns might enable us envision innovative methods to craft our tales vital and true, keep making our works novel”.

Change of the Story and Current Mediums

From that perspective, both viewpoints converge – the novel may have to change to accommodate the modern consumer, as it has continually achieved since it first emerged in the 1700s (as we know it today). Perhaps, like past novelists, tomorrow's writers will go back to publishing incrementally their books in periodicals. The next these writers may even now be publishing their content, section by section, on web-based services including those accessed by millions of frequent visitors. Creative mediums shift with the period and we should let them.

Beyond Limited Attention Spans

However we should not claim that every changes are all because of limited attention spans. Were that true, short story compilations and flash fiction would be considered considerably more {commercial|profitable|marketable