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It's somewhat embarrassing to admit, but I'll say it. Five books sit by my bed, every one partially finished. Inside my phone, I'm midway through thirty-six listening titles, which looks minor compared to the nearly fifty digital books I've set aside on my e-reader. That does not count the growing stack of pre-release editions next to my living room table, competing for praises, now that I am a published author in my own right.

From Determined Reading to Intentional Abandonment

At first glance, these figures might look to support recently expressed comments about modern attention spans. An author noted recently how easy it is to distract a person's attention when it is scattered by online networks and the news cycle. They remarked: “Maybe as readers' concentration shift the literature will have to change with them.” Yet as a person who previously would stubbornly complete every novel I picked up, I now view it a human right to set aside a story that I'm not connecting with.

The Short Duration and the Abundance of Options

I do not feel that this habit is due to a short attention span – more accurately it stems from the feeling of time passing quickly. I've always been impressed by the Benedictine teaching: “Keep mortality every day in mind.” Another idea that we each have a mere limited time on this Earth was as shocking to me as to everyone. But at what different moment in history have we ever had such immediate availability to so many amazing creative works, at any moment we desire? A surplus of riches greets me in any library and on every digital platform, and I want to be purposeful about where I direct my energy. Could “not finishing” a story (shorthand in the book world for Did Not Finish) be not a mark of a poor intellect, but a discerning one?

Choosing for Connection and Insight

Notably at a period when publishing (and thus, commissioning) is still controlled by a specific group and its issues. Even though engaging with about individuals unlike our own lives can help to develop the muscle for understanding, we also read to reflect on our own journeys and place in the world. Before the titles on the racks more accurately represent the experiences, stories and interests of potential readers, it might be extremely challenging to hold their interest.

Current Writing and Consumer Attention

Of course, some authors are indeed successfully creating for the “contemporary focus”: the short writing of certain modern works, the tight fragments of others, and the short sections of several recent stories are all a wonderful demonstration for a more concise approach and style. And there is no shortage of craft tips geared toward securing a audience: refine that initial phrase, enhance that beginning section, elevate the tension (higher! further!) and, if writing crime, place a dead body on the first page. That guidance is completely solid – a prospective publisher, publisher or audience will spend only a several limited moments deciding whether or not to forge ahead. There is no benefit in being contrary, like the individual on a class I joined who, when questioned about the plot of their manuscript, announced that “it all becomes clear about three-quarters of the through the book”. Not a single novelist should force their audience through a series of difficult tasks in order to be grasped.

Writing to Be Understood and Allowing Patience

Yet I absolutely create to be comprehended, as far as that is possible. At times that needs guiding the audience's interest, guiding them through the narrative point by economical point. At other times, I've understood, comprehension takes perseverance – and I must allow me (along with other writers) the grace of exploring, of building, of straying, until I hit upon something authentic. An influential thinker argues for the novel finding new forms and that, instead of the conventional narrative arc, “other forms might help us conceive new approaches to make our narratives alive and true, keep making our novels novel”.

Transformation of the Story and Modern Platforms

In that sense, both opinions converge – the novel may have to adapt to fit the modern audience, as it has continually achieved since it first emerged in the historical period (in its current incarnation now). It could be, like previous novelists, tomorrow's creators will revert to publishing incrementally their novels in periodicals. The next these authors may currently be publishing their content, section by section, on online platforms like those accessed by countless of monthly readers. Creative mediums shift with the era and we should allow them.

Beyond Brief Attention Spans

But we should not claim that any evolutions are entirely because of limited attention spans. If that were the case, brief fiction anthologies and flash fiction would be viewed far more {commercial|profitable|marketable