Novels I Abandoned Enjoying Are Piling Up by My Bedside. What If That's a Benefit?
It's somewhat uncomfortable to confess, but I'll say it. Several titles wait by my bed, every one partially finished. Within my smartphone, I'm midway through over three dozen audiobooks, which seems small alongside the nearly fifty ebooks I've left unfinished on my digital device. The situation does not account for the expanding stack of advance versions next to my side table, competing for endorsements, now that I am a professional author myself.
Starting with Persistent Finishing to Deliberate Letting Go
At first glance, these stats might look to support recent thoughts about today's concentration. An author noted a short while ago how easy it is to lose a individual's focus when it is divided by digital platforms and the news cycle. They suggested: “It could be as individuals' attention spans change the literature will have to change with them.” But as a person who previously would stubbornly get through whatever title I started, I now regard it a personal freedom to put down a story that I'm not in the mood for.
The Short Time and the Abundance of Options
I don't think that this practice is due to a short attention span – more accurately it relates to the sense of time moving swiftly. I've consistently been struck by the monastic teaching: “Keep the end daily in view.” A different point that we each have a mere finite period on this Earth was as horrifying to me as to everyone. However at what other time in history have we ever had such direct access to so many amazing works of art, anytime we choose? A glut of riches greets me in every bookstore and behind every digital platform, and I strive to be intentional about where I focus my attention. Might “DNF-ing” a story (term in the book world for Did Not Finish) be rather than a mark of a weak intellect, but a selective one?
Reading for Empathy and Reflection
Particularly at a time when the industry (and therefore, selection) is still led by a specific demographic and its concerns. While engaging with about people distinct from ourselves can help to strengthen the muscle for empathy, we also choose books to think about our personal experiences and place in the society. Unless the books on the displays more fully represent the identities, lives and concerns of potential audiences, it might be very hard to hold their attention.
Modern Storytelling and Reader Engagement
Of course, some writers are indeed successfully crafting for the “modern interest”: the short writing of some current novels, the compact sections of others, and the brief chapters of numerous recent books are all a wonderful showcase for a more concise form and technique. And there is an abundance of author guidance geared toward capturing a consumer: perfect that initial phrase, enhance that beginning section, raise the tension (further! further!) and, if writing mystery, place a dead body on the beginning. Such guidance is all sound – a prospective representative, publisher or buyer will devote only a few precious minutes choosing whether or not to forge ahead. There's no benefit in being difficult, like the individual on a class I attended who, when challenged about the storyline of their novel, announced that “the meaning emerges about three-fourths of the into the story”. Not a single writer should subject their audience through a series of difficult tasks in order to be comprehended.
Creating to Be Clear and Granting Time
And I absolutely create to be clear, as much as that is achievable. At times that needs holding the consumer's interest, guiding them through the story beat by efficient beat. Sometimes, I've realised, comprehension demands patience – and I must give me (along with other creators) the permission of exploring, of building, of digressing, until I hit upon something authentic. An influential writer makes the case for the fiction finding innovative patterns and that, rather than the standard dramatic arc, “other patterns might help us envision new approaches to create our narratives vital and real, keep creating our novels fresh”.
Change of the Story and Modern Formats
Accordingly, both opinions align – the novel may have to evolve to suit the modern audience, as it has repeatedly achieved since it first emerged in the 1700s (in the form now). Perhaps, like past writers, coming writers will go back to publishing incrementally their books in periodicals. The next those authors may currently be sharing their work, section by section, on online platforms such as those visited by millions of monthly users. Genres evolve with the period and we should allow them.
Beyond Brief Attention Spans
However let us not claim that any evolutions are all because of limited focus. Were that true, short story collections and very short stories would be viewed much more {commercial|profitable|marketable
