Works I Haven't Finished Exploring Are Accumulating by My Nightstand. What If That's a Positive Sign?

It's somewhat awkward to confess, but here goes. A handful of titles sit beside my bed, every one partially finished. Inside my mobile device, I'm some distance through over three dozen listening titles, which pales alongside the forty-six Kindle titles I've set aside on my e-reader. The situation fails to account for the growing collection of pre-release copies next to my coffee table, competing for blurbs, now that I work as a professional author in my own right.

Starting with Dogged Completion to Purposeful Setting Aside

At first glance, these numbers might seem to corroborate contemporary thoughts about today's focus. An author commented recently how effortless it is to distract a reader's focus when it is fragmented by social media and the constant updates. The author suggested: “Perhaps as people's concentration change the writing will have to change with them.” However as someone who previously would persistently complete every title I picked up, I now regard it a human right to put down a book that I'm not connecting with.

Life's Finite Duration and the Wealth of Options

I don't believe that this tendency is due to a short attention span – more accurately it relates to the sense of time moving swiftly. I've consistently been affected by the Benedictine principle: “Place mortality daily in view.” One point that we each have a mere finite period on this planet was as sobering to me as to others. But at what other time in human history have we ever had such instant availability to so many incredible creative works, at any moment we desire? A wealth of treasures awaits me in any bookshop and within each device, and I aim to be purposeful about where I channel my energy. Is it possible “DNF-ing” a book (abbreviation in the publishing industry for Incomplete) be not just a mark of a poor focus, but a discerning one?

Reading for Understanding and Self-awareness

Particularly at a era when the industry (consequently, commissioning) is still controlled by a particular social class and its concerns. Although reading about individuals distinct from us can help to strengthen the capacity for compassion, we also choose books to consider our individual lives and role in the world. Unless the titles on the shelves more accurately represent the identities, lives and interests of potential audiences, it might be very hard to maintain their attention.

Contemporary Storytelling and Audience Engagement

Certainly, some writers are actually effectively writing for the “today's interest”: the tweet-length style of some current works, the tight fragments of additional writers, and the brief parts of various recent stories are all a impressive demonstration for a shorter form and method. And there is an abundance of craft guidance aimed at securing a consumer: refine that first sentence, enhance that beginning section, raise the stakes (further! more!) and, if crafting crime, introduce a dead body on the first page. This advice is all solid – a possible representative, publisher or audience will use only a few precious minutes determining whether or not to proceed. It is no benefit in being contrary, like the person on a writing course I attended who, when challenged about the storyline of their book, announced that “the meaning emerges about three-quarters of the through the book”. No novelist should subject their follower through a sequence of challenges in order to be comprehended.

Writing to Be Accessible and Granting Space

And I do create to be understood, as much as that is possible. Sometimes that requires holding the reader's attention, directing them through the plot step by succinct point. Occasionally, I've understood, understanding requires time – and I must allow me (as well as other creators) the grace of exploring, of adding depth, of deviating, until I find something meaningful. A particular author makes the case for the novel finding fresh structures and that, rather than the standard narrative arc, “other patterns might enable us envision innovative approaches to create our stories dynamic and true, persist in making our books original”.

Change of the Book and Contemporary Platforms

From that perspective, the two opinions converge – the fiction may have to adapt to fit the modern audience, as it has constantly achieved since it first emerged in the 18th century (in the form currently). It could be, like previous writers, future writers will go back to releasing in parts their novels in newspapers. The next such authors may already be sharing their content, chapter by chapter, on digital services such as those accessed by many of regular users. Art forms shift with the period and we should permit them.

More Than Limited Focus

Yet let us not say that any shifts are entirely because of limited focus. If that were the case, concise narrative compilations and very short stories would be viewed far more {commercial|profitable|marketable