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This is somewhat awkward to admit, but I'll say it. A handful of novels wait by my bed, all partially finished. On my phone, I'm some distance through 36 audio novels, which seems small alongside the 46 ebooks I've set aside on my Kindle. The situation fails to account for the expanding stack of early copies near my coffee table, striving for endorsements, now that I work as a established writer in my own right.

From Dogged Completion to Purposeful Letting Go

At first glance, these figures might appear to corroborate recent comments about current concentration. An author noted recently how effortless it is to distract a person's concentration when it is fragmented by digital platforms and the constant updates. They suggested: “Maybe as individuals' focus periods change the literature will have to change with them.” Yet as someone who once would doggedly complete whatever novel I picked up, I now consider it a human right to set aside a story that I'm not in the mood for.

Our Limited Time and the Glut of Choices

I do not believe that this habit is a result of a limited focus – more accurately it relates to the feeling of time moving swiftly. I've always been impressed by the monastic principle: “Place mortality every day in mind.” Another point that we each have a just 4,000 weeks on this world was as shocking to me as to others. And yet at what previous time in history have we ever had such direct access to so many amazing creative works, anytime we desire? A glut of treasures awaits me in any library and on any screen, and I strive to be purposeful about where I direct my time. Is it possible “not finishing” a story (term in the literary community for Incomplete) be rather than a sign of a weak focus, but a discerning one?

Choosing for Empathy and Insight

Particularly at a time when publishing (consequently, commissioning) is still dominated by a particular social class and its quandaries. While engaging with about characters distinct from ourselves can help to develop the capacity for understanding, we also choose books to reflect on our individual lives and position in the world. Until the titles on the shelves more accurately represent the backgrounds, lives and interests of potential individuals, it might be extremely difficult to hold their focus.

Current Authorship and Consumer Interest

Naturally, some authors are effectively creating for the “today's attention span”: the tweet-length style of some recent works, the compact fragments of others, and the short parts of various contemporary books are all a wonderful showcase for a shorter approach and technique. Additionally there is an abundance of craft guidance geared toward securing a consumer: hone that initial phrase, enhance that beginning section, raise the drama (more! further!) and, if creating thriller, introduce a dead body on the opening. That advice is entirely solid – a possible representative, editor or audience will spend only a several valuable moments determining whether or not to proceed. There's no benefit in being contrary, like the writer on a writing course I participated in who, when challenged about the narrative of their manuscript, declared that “everything makes sense about 75% of the into the story”. Not a single novelist should put their follower through a sequence of challenges in order to be grasped.

Writing to Be Understood and Giving Patience

But I certainly write to be understood, as far as that is possible. On occasion that demands guiding the reader's hand, guiding them through the plot beat by economical beat. Occasionally, I've realised, insight demands perseverance – and I must grant my own self (and other authors) the freedom of exploring, of building, of straying, until I discover something authentic. A particular thinker argues for the story discovering new forms and that, as opposed to the traditional plot structure, “other patterns might assist us envision innovative methods to create our tales dynamic and authentic, keep making our works novel”.

Change of the Novel and Modern Mediums

In that sense, each viewpoints align – the fiction may have to adapt to suit the today's consumer, as it has constantly achieved since it originated in the 18th century (in the form now). It could be, like earlier authors, tomorrow's writers will revert to publishing incrementally their books in publications. The future those creators may currently be publishing their work, section by section, on online platforms like those visited by countless of regular users. Creative mediums change with the era and we should let them.

More Than Short Focus

But we should not assert that every changes are completely because of reduced attention spans. Were that true, brief fiction anthologies and very short stories would be viewed much more {commercial|profitable|marketable