This is somewhat uncomfortable to admit, but I'll say it. A handful of books rest by my bed, each incompletely consumed. Within my phone, I'm midway through 36 audiobooks, which looks minor alongside the 46 ebooks I've abandoned on my e-reader. That doesn't count the expanding collection of advance versions near my side table, competing for endorsements, now that I have become a published author in my own right.
At first glance, these stats might seem to confirm recently expressed thoughts about current focus. An author commented recently how simple it is to distract a person's attention when it is fragmented by social media and the 24-hour news. They suggested: “It could be as people's concentration evolve the literature will have to adjust with them.” Yet as someone who once would doggedly complete whatever book I picked up, I now view it a personal freedom to stop reading a book that I'm not enjoying.
I wouldn't believe that this habit is caused by a limited attention span – more accurately it stems from the sense of life moving swiftly. I've always been struck by the Benedictine principle: “Place death each day in mind.” Another idea that we each have a just 4,000 weeks on this world was as shocking to me as to everyone. And yet at what previous time in our past have we ever had such direct entry to so many mind-blowing works of art, anytime we desire? A surplus of riches greets me in every bookstore and on every screen, and I want to be intentional about where I focus my energy. Might “abandoning” a story (abbreviation in the publishing industry for Incomplete) be rather than a sign of a weak focus, but a selective one?
Notably at a time when publishing (and therefore, selection) is still dominated by a particular group and its quandaries. Although exploring about characters distinct from our own lives can help to develop the muscle for understanding, we additionally choose books to think about our personal journeys and position in the world. Unless the titles on the shelves more fully represent the experiences, lives and interests of prospective readers, it might be quite challenging to keep their attention.
Certainly, some authors are indeed successfully writing for the “contemporary focus”: the short style of some current books, the compact pieces of others, and the quick chapters of several recent stories are all a wonderful showcase for a more concise approach and style. Additionally there is no shortage of writing tips geared toward capturing a reader: hone that initial phrase, polish that opening chapter, increase the drama (more! further!) and, if creating thriller, place a dead body on the beginning. This guidance is all good – a potential publisher, house or reader will spend only a several valuable moments determining whether or not to continue. There is no point in being difficult, like the person on a workshop I participated in who, when challenged about the storyline of their novel, declared that “it all becomes clear about three-fourths of the through the book”. Not a single novelist should force their follower through a series of difficult tasks in order to be understood.
But I certainly compose to be comprehended, as much as that is achievable. On occasion that demands holding the audience's interest, directing them through the plot beat by succinct step. Sometimes, I've discovered, comprehension requires perseverance – and I must grant my own self (and other writers) the permission of wandering, of building, of digressing, until I find something meaningful. An influential writer argues for the story finding new forms and that, instead of the conventional narrative arc, “alternative forms might enable us conceive novel methods to make our tales dynamic and true, continue making our novels fresh”.
Accordingly, each opinions converge – the fiction may have to change to fit the today's reader, as it has constantly done since it first emerged in the 1700s (as we know it today). It could be, like earlier novelists, future authors will revert to releasing in parts their books in newspapers. The future these writers may currently be publishing their work, section by section, on online platforms including those visited by many of frequent users. Art forms evolve with the times and we should let them.
But do not claim that every changes are entirely because of shorter concentration. If that was so, short story compilations and very short stories would be viewed much more {commercial|profitable|marketable
