Novels I Haven't Finished Reading Are Accumulating by My Bedside. What If That's a Positive Sign?

It's somewhat awkward to confess, but I'll say it. A handful of novels wait by my bed, each incompletely consumed. On my mobile device, I'm partway through over three dozen audiobooks, which seems small compared to the nearly fifty ebooks I've left unfinished on my Kindle. That fails to include the expanding collection of pre-release copies beside my living room table, striving for blurbs, now that I have become a professional writer in my own right.

Starting with Determined Completion to Deliberate Abandonment

At first glance, these stats might appear to confirm recent comments about current attention spans. An author observed recently how effortless it is to distract a individual's attention when it is divided by social media and the 24-hour news. They remarked: “Maybe as people's concentration change the fiction will have to change with them.” Yet as a person who used to persistently complete whatever book I picked up, I now view it a individual choice to set aside a novel that I'm not connecting with.

The Short Time and the Glut of Possibilities

I don't feel that this tendency is caused by a brief focus – instead it relates to the awareness of existence slipping through my fingers. I've always been affected by the spiritual teaching: “Place mortality daily in view.” Another idea that we each have a only 4,000 weeks on this Earth was as shocking to me as to others. And yet at what other time in our past have we ever had such instant entry to so many amazing creative works, whenever we choose? A glut of riches greets me in every bookstore and within each screen, and I strive to be intentional about where I direct my time. Is it possible “DNF-ing” a novel (term in the book world for Incomplete) be not just a mark of a limited intellect, but a thoughtful one?

Reading for Empathy and Self-awareness

Notably at a time when book production (consequently, acquisition) is still led by a certain demographic and its concerns. While reading about people different from us can help to develop the ability for compassion, we also choose books to think about our individual lives and role in the universe. Until the titles on the shelves more accurately depict the identities, lives and issues of potential audiences, it might be quite difficult to keep their attention.

Modern Writing and Reader Interest

Of course, some writers are indeed successfully crafting for the “modern focus”: the concise writing of certain recent books, the tight pieces of others, and the short chapters of numerous modern titles are all a impressive example for a more concise approach and technique. Additionally there is an abundance of craft tips designed for securing a reader: perfect that opening line, improve that opening chapter, elevate the stakes (higher! higher!) and, if crafting crime, introduce a victim on the beginning. This advice is completely good – a prospective agent, publisher or audience will spend only a several precious seconds choosing whether or not to proceed. There's no benefit in being contrary, like the person on a class I joined who, when challenged about the storyline of their manuscript, announced that “it all becomes clear about three-quarters of the into the story”. Not a single author should put their audience through a sequence of difficult tasks in order to be understood.

Creating to Be Understood and Allowing Time

But I absolutely write to be comprehended, as much as that is achievable. Sometimes that demands holding the reader's attention, guiding them through the narrative step by succinct beat. Sometimes, I've realised, insight takes time – and I must give my own self (along with other creators) the freedom of wandering, of layering, of deviating, until I hit upon something true. One writer contends for the story finding innovative patterns and that, instead of the standard narrative arc, “different structures might assist us imagine new ways to create our narratives alive and authentic, continue making our works novel”.

Evolution of the Story and Contemporary Platforms

In that sense, each perspectives agree – the fiction may have to evolve to accommodate the today's reader, as it has constantly done since it originated in the 1700s (as we know it today). Perhaps, like past novelists, tomorrow's creators will return to releasing in parts their novels in newspapers. The future these authors may already be publishing their writing, chapter by chapter, on digital sites including those accessed by millions of frequent visitors. Art forms shift with the era and we should let them.

More Than Brief Concentration

But let us not assert that any evolutions are entirely because of shorter concentration. Were that true, short story anthologies and flash fiction would be regarded far more {commercial|profitable|marketable