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It's slightly uncomfortable to confess, but here goes. Five titles wait beside my bed, every one incompletely consumed. Inside my smartphone, I'm partway through 36 listening titles, which looks minor alongside the nearly fifty ebooks I've abandoned on my Kindle. This fails to include the expanding collection of early versions beside my living room table, vying for praises, now that I am a established writer in my own right.

Starting with Persistent Reading to Intentional Setting Aside

At first glance, these numbers might appear to corroborate contemporary comments about today's attention spans. An author commented a short while ago how easy it is to break a person's concentration when it is divided by social media and the news cycle. He stated: “Maybe as readers' attention spans evolve the fiction will have to adjust with them.” Yet as a person who previously would stubbornly get through whatever title I began, I now consider it a human right to set aside a story that I'm not in the mood for.

Our Finite Time and the Abundance of Options

I wouldn't think that this habit is caused by a short attention span – instead it relates to the feeling of existence passing quickly. I've often been struck by the Benedictine maxim: “Keep death each day before your eyes.” A different point that we each have a mere 4,000 weeks on this planet was as sobering to me as to anyone else. However at what other moment in our past have we ever had such instant access to so many amazing creative works, whenever we desire? A glut of riches greets me in any bookshop and on each digital platform, and I want to be intentional about where I direct my energy. Is it possible “DNF-ing” a story (shorthand in the publishing industry for Incomplete) be not just a sign of a weak mind, but a discerning one?

Choosing for Empathy and Reflection

Notably at a time when the industry (and therefore, acquisition) is still led by a particular demographic and its concerns. Even though exploring about individuals distinct from us can help to strengthen the muscle for empathy, we also read to consider our individual lives and place in the universe. Unless the titles on the displays more fully represent the backgrounds, lives and concerns of potential audiences, it might be very challenging to keep their interest.

Modern Writing and Reader Attention

Certainly, some novelists are actually successfully crafting for the “contemporary interest”: the concise style of certain current novels, the compact sections of different authors, and the brief sections of various contemporary books are all a impressive showcase for a shorter form and style. And there is plenty of author guidance aimed at securing a consumer: perfect that initial phrase, improve that opening chapter, elevate the tension (more! further!) and, if crafting mystery, put a victim on the first page. This suggestions is all sound – a potential publisher, house or buyer will spend only a several limited moments choosing whether or not to continue. There is little reason in being contrary, like the person on a class I attended who, when challenged about the storyline of their novel, stated that “it all becomes clear about 75% of the way through”. Not a single writer should force their audience through a set of challenges in order to be understood.

Creating to Be Accessible and Allowing Space

But I do compose to be comprehended, as to the extent as that is achievable. On occasion that requires guiding the audience's attention, steering them through the story beat by succinct step. Sometimes, I've discovered, understanding takes perseverance – and I must grant my own self (along with other writers) the grace of exploring, of building, of straying, until I discover something meaningful. A particular writer makes the case for the fiction finding fresh structures and that, instead of the traditional dramatic arc, “different forms might enable us imagine new ways to create our tales dynamic and real, keep making our novels novel”.

Change of the Story and Current Formats

From that perspective, both opinions agree – the fiction may have to adapt to suit the modern reader, as it has continually accomplished since it first emerged in the 1700s (in the form now). Maybe, like previous novelists, future authors will go back to serialising their books in newspapers. The next these writers may already be sharing their writing, part by part, on digital platforms like those used by millions of frequent users. Art forms evolve with the period and we should permit them.

Beyond Short Attention Spans

However let us not say that any shifts are completely because of shorter concentration. If that was so, concise narrative compilations and flash fiction would be considered far more {commercial|profitable|marketable