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It's a bit embarrassing to reveal, but here goes. A handful of titles wait beside my bed, every one only partly read. On my phone, I'm some distance through thirty-six listening titles, which seems small next to the 46 digital books I've left unfinished on my Kindle. The situation doesn't count the increasing stack of pre-release versions next to my coffee table, striving for endorsements, now that I am a professional novelist personally.

From Dogged Reading to Intentional Setting Aside

At first glance, these figures might seem to support recently expressed opinions about today's concentration. A writer noted recently how easy it is to distract a reader's attention when it is scattered by social media and the news cycle. He suggested: “It could be as people's concentration evolve the literature will have to change with them.” But as someone who previously would doggedly finish any novel I began, I now regard it a personal freedom to set aside a novel that I'm not in the mood for.

Life's Finite Duration and the Glut of Choices

I wouldn't feel that this practice is caused by a limited focus – instead it relates to the awareness of existence passing quickly. I've always been struck by the monastic principle: “Keep mortality daily in view.” Another idea that we each have a mere finite period on this Earth was as horrifying to me as to others. However at what different moment in history have we ever had such direct entry to so many amazing creative works, anytime we choose? A wealth of treasures meets me in any bookstore and within every screen, and I want to be purposeful about where I channel my energy. Is it possible “DNF-ing” a book (shorthand in the book world for Unfinished) be not a sign of a poor mind, but a thoughtful one?

Selecting for Empathy and Self-awareness

Particularly at a period when book production (and thus, selection) is still led by a certain social class and its concerns. While exploring about characters different from our own lives can help to develop the muscle for understanding, we furthermore choose books to think about our personal journeys and place in the society. Unless the titles on the shelves better reflect the backgrounds, realities and concerns of potential readers, it might be quite difficult to maintain their focus.

Contemporary Storytelling and Consumer Attention

Naturally, some writers are indeed skillfully writing for the “modern interest”: the short style of selected current novels, the tight pieces of additional writers, and the brief sections of various modern books are all a impressive example for a more concise approach and style. Additionally there is an abundance of author advice designed for grabbing a reader: refine that opening line, polish that beginning section, raise the stakes (higher! further!) and, if writing crime, introduce a mystery on the beginning. That guidance is completely solid – a prospective publisher, editor or audience will spend only a a handful of precious minutes deciding whether or not to proceed. It is little reason in being obstinate, like the person on a workshop I participated in who, when questioned about the plot of their manuscript, declared that “it all becomes clear about three-quarters of the way through”. Not a single writer should subject their audience through a sequence of 12 labours in order to be grasped.

Writing to Be Clear and Allowing Space

And I do write to be clear, as far as that is achievable. Sometimes that needs guiding the reader's attention, steering them through the plot step by efficient point. At other times, I've realised, comprehension requires time – and I must allow my own self (as well as other authors) the permission of exploring, of adding depth, of straying, until I discover something true. An influential thinker makes the case for the fiction discovering innovative patterns and that, as opposed to the conventional narrative arc, “other structures might assist us conceive innovative approaches to make our stories alive and authentic, keep producing our novels original”.

Evolution of the Book and Current Formats

From that perspective, the two viewpoints agree – the story may have to change to accommodate the modern reader, as it has repeatedly achieved since it first emerged in the historical period (as we know it now). Maybe, like past authors, tomorrow's creators will go back to publishing incrementally their works in newspapers. The next these authors may even now be publishing their writing, section by section, on digital services like those used by countless of monthly visitors. Creative mediums shift with the era and we should allow them.

Not Just Limited Concentration

But let us not claim that all shifts are completely because of limited attention spans. Were that true, short story anthologies and flash fiction would be regarded far more {commercial|profitable|marketable