Novels I Didn't Complete Reading Are Piling Up by My Nightstand. Could It Be That's a Benefit?
It's slightly awkward to admit, but let me explain. Five titles sit by my bed, all incompletely read. On my mobile device, I'm midway through 36 audio novels, which pales alongside the forty-six digital books I've abandoned on my Kindle. This doesn't account for the growing collection of advance copies near my coffee table, vying for praises, now that I work as a published writer myself.
From Dogged Finishing to Deliberate Setting Aside
On the surface, these stats might seem to corroborate recent opinions about modern focus. An author commented a short while ago how effortless it is to break a person's focus when it is fragmented by online networks and the news cycle. The author remarked: “Perhaps as individuals' focus periods shift the writing will have to change with them.” But as an individual who used to doggedly complete whatever novel I started, I now regard it a personal freedom to stop reading a novel that I'm not in the mood for.
Our Finite Time and the Glut of Options
I don't think that this tendency is caused by a limited concentration – more accurately it stems from the awareness of existence moving swiftly. I've consistently been affected by the monastic teaching: “Hold mortality each day before your eyes.” Another reminder that we each have a mere limited time on this Earth was as sobering to me as to others. And yet at what different point in our past have we ever had such direct entry to so many incredible creative works, whenever we desire? A wealth of options meets me in every bookstore and on any device, and I aim to be intentional about where I channel my attention. Is it possible “abandoning” a story (shorthand in the literary community for Did Not Finish) be not just a indication of a limited mind, but a selective one?
Choosing for Understanding and Insight
Particularly at a time when book production (and therefore, selection) is still led by a particular demographic and its quandaries. Even though exploring about characters different from ourselves can help to develop the muscle for understanding, we also select stories to consider our personal journeys and place in the universe. Before the books on the displays more accurately depict the backgrounds, lives and issues of potential readers, it might be very difficult to maintain their attention.
Modern Writing and Reader Attention
Certainly, some novelists are effectively creating for the “today's focus”: the short style of selected recent novels, the focused fragments of others, and the short parts of various recent stories are all a excellent example for a briefer style and technique. Additionally there is plenty of author advice geared toward grabbing a consumer: refine that initial phrase, improve that opening chapter, elevate the stakes (higher! higher!) and, if creating mystery, introduce a mystery on the opening. This guidance is completely sound – a potential representative, house or buyer will spend only a few precious seconds determining whether or not to proceed. There is little reason in being difficult, like the writer on a workshop I joined who, when questioned about the narrative of their book, stated that “it all becomes clear about 75% of the into the story”. No writer should subject their follower through a sequence of 12 labours in order to be understood.
Writing to Be Accessible and Allowing Space
And I absolutely write to be clear, as far as that is possible. At times that requires holding the consumer's hand, guiding them through the story beat by efficient point. Occasionally, I've discovered, understanding takes perseverance – and I must grant myself (and other writers) the freedom of meandering, of adding depth, of deviating, until I find something meaningful. One author argues for the story developing new forms and that, as opposed to the standard plot structure, “different structures might help us envision innovative ways to make our tales alive and true, persist in producing our works original”.
Transformation of the Novel and Contemporary Formats
From that perspective, each viewpoints agree – the story may have to adapt to suit the contemporary audience, as it has constantly achieved since it first emerged in the 18th century (as we know it today). Perhaps, like previous novelists, future authors will go back to serialising their books in newspapers. The future these authors may currently be publishing their work, section by section, on web-based services like those visited by many of frequent readers. Genres shift with the era and we should allow them.
More Than Brief Focus
Yet do not say that all changes are entirely because of shorter attention spans. Were that true, short story anthologies and very short stories would be regarded much more {commercial|profitable|marketable