Novels I Didn't Complete Reading Are Piling Up by My Bedside. Could It Be That's a Good Thing?

It's a bit awkward to confess, but I'll say it. Several books sit next to my bed, all only partly read. Within my mobile device, I'm midway through 36 audiobooks, which looks minor next to the forty-six digital books I've set aside on my digital device. That doesn't include the increasing pile of pre-release copies beside my side table, vying for endorsements, now that I have become a professional novelist myself.

Beginning with Dogged Completion to Purposeful Letting Go

At first glance, these numbers might seem to confirm recently expressed comments about modern attention spans. A writer observed recently how easy it is to lose a person's attention when it is scattered by online networks and the 24-hour news. The author stated: “Maybe as individuals' attention spans change the literature will have to adapt with them.” However as a person who previously would doggedly complete whatever book I started, I now regard it a personal freedom to put down a story that I'm not in the mood for.

Life's Limited Duration and the Wealth of Options

I do not feel that this practice is a result of a short attention span – rather more it comes from the sense of existence slipping through my fingers. I've consistently been struck by the Benedictine principle: “Hold mortality each day in view.” Another idea that we each have a only limited time on this world was as horrifying to me as to anyone else. But at what different time in our past have we ever had such immediate access to so many incredible masterpieces, anytime we want? A surplus of treasures greets me in each library and on any screen, and I want to be intentional about where I channel my energy. Is it possible “abandoning” a novel (abbreviation in the book world for Did Not Finish) be rather than a sign of a weak focus, but a selective one?

Choosing for Empathy and Self-awareness

Particularly at a era when the industry (and thus, acquisition) is still controlled by a specific group and its quandaries. Even though engaging with about individuals different from ourselves can help to develop the muscle for compassion, we also read to reflect on our personal journeys and position in the world. Unless the titles on the displays more fully depict the experiences, lives and issues of prospective readers, it might be very hard to keep their focus.

Current Writing and Consumer Engagement

Certainly, some writers are actually effectively crafting for the “today's interest”: the short style of selected recent novels, the tight pieces of different authors, and the short sections of various modern stories are all a wonderful example for a more concise approach and style. Furthermore there is no shortage of writing tips geared toward capturing a reader: refine that first sentence, polish that beginning section, increase the stakes (further! further!) and, if creating thriller, put a mystery on the opening. That guidance is completely sound – a possible publisher, editor or audience will spend only a several limited moments deciding whether or not to continue. It is no point in being difficult, like the person on a class I participated in who, when confronted about the plot of their book, stated that “it all becomes clear about three-fourths of the way through”. No author should subject their audience through a sequence of 12 labours in order to be grasped.

Crafting to Be Accessible and Giving Space

Yet I absolutely create to be clear, as to the extent as that is achievable. On occasion that requires holding the audience's hand, directing them through the plot point by economical point. At other times, I've discovered, understanding demands patience – and I must grant my own self (as well as other creators) the freedom of wandering, of building, of straying, until I hit upon something authentic. A particular author argues for the story developing innovative patterns and that, rather than the standard narrative arc, “different patterns might help us conceive innovative approaches to make our tales vital and true, keep making our works original”.

Evolution of the Novel and Contemporary Formats

In that sense, each viewpoints agree – the fiction may have to evolve to suit the today's audience, as it has repeatedly achieved since it first emerged in the historical period (in its current incarnation now). Maybe, like earlier writers, future authors will return to serialising their novels in periodicals. The future such creators may even now be sharing their writing, part by part, on web-based sites including those used by many of monthly users. Genres evolve with the period and we should let them.

More Than Short Attention Spans

Yet let us not claim that any shifts are entirely because of reduced focus. If that were the case, brief fiction compilations and flash fiction would be considered considerably more {commercial|profitable|marketable