Works I Didn't Complete Reading Are Piling Up by My Bed. Could It Be That's a Benefit?

It's slightly uncomfortable to reveal, but here goes. Several books sit next to my bed, every one only partly consumed. Within my mobile device, I'm midway through over three dozen audio novels, which looks minor alongside the nearly fifty digital books I've left unfinished on my Kindle. This fails to account for the growing stack of advance copies near my side table, competing for endorsements, now that I am a established author personally.

From Dogged Finishing to Deliberate Letting Go

On the surface, these figures might appear to confirm recently expressed comments about today's attention spans. One novelist noted not long back how effortless it is to break a individual's concentration when it is fragmented by social media and the news cycle. He suggested: “Maybe as people's concentration shift the writing will have to adapt with them.” However as someone who once would stubbornly complete every book I began, I now consider it a personal freedom to set aside a book that I'm not in the mood for.

Our Finite Time and the Glut of Choices

I don't think that this practice is due to a short concentration – rather more it relates to the sense of existence slipping through my fingers. I've always been affected by the Benedictine maxim: “Keep mortality each day in view.” A different point that we each have a only 4,000 weeks on this Earth was as horrifying to me as to anyone else. But at what previous time in history have we ever had such immediate access to so many incredible masterpieces, anytime we desire? A surplus of treasures greets me in any bookstore and behind each digital platform, and I aim to be deliberate about where I channel my energy. Is it possible “DNF-ing” a story (term in the book world for Incomplete) be not a sign of a weak mind, but a thoughtful one?

Reading for Understanding and Insight

Notably at a era when book production (and therefore, commissioning) is still dominated by a certain demographic and its issues. While engaging with about individuals different from us can help to strengthen the ability for empathy, we additionally choose books to consider our individual journeys and place in the world. Unless the titles on the shelves more accurately depict the backgrounds, stories and concerns of possible individuals, it might be very difficult to keep their attention.

Contemporary Writing and Audience Attention

Certainly, some writers are indeed effectively crafting for the “contemporary focus”: the concise style of selected recent novels, the focused sections of additional writers, and the brief parts of numerous modern books are all a impressive example for a briefer style and technique. Additionally there is no shortage of craft guidance geared toward grabbing a reader: refine that opening line, improve that opening chapter, raise the tension (further! more!) and, if crafting thriller, place a dead body on the opening. This guidance is all sound – a prospective publisher, publisher or buyer will use only a a handful of limited seconds deciding whether or not to forge ahead. It is little reason in being contrary, like the individual on a writing course I attended who, when challenged about the storyline of their novel, declared that “it all becomes clear about three-quarters of the way through”. No writer should subject their follower through a set of challenges in order to be comprehended.

Crafting to Be Clear and Allowing Space

And I absolutely write to be comprehended, as far as that is possible. At times that requires guiding the reader's hand, guiding them through the story point by economical point. Sometimes, I've discovered, comprehension demands patience – and I must allow myself (and other writers) the freedom of meandering, of adding depth, of straying, until I discover something true. One thinker argues for the novel finding innovative patterns and that, rather than the traditional dramatic arc, “other structures might enable us conceive new ways to craft our narratives alive and real, keep making our books original”.

Change of the Novel and Contemporary Platforms

In that sense, both viewpoints converge – the story may have to evolve to fit the modern consumer, as it has constantly achieved since it began in the 18th century (in its current incarnation currently). Perhaps, like previous authors, future authors will revert to serialising their works in periodicals. The next these authors may currently be sharing their writing, part by part, on digital platforms like those used by millions of monthly visitors. Art forms shift with the era and we should allow them.

Not Just Brief Attention Spans

But let us not claim that every evolutions are all because of limited attention spans. If that was so, concise narrative compilations and flash fiction would be viewed far more {commercial|profitable|marketable