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It's a bit embarrassing to reveal, but here goes. Five books wait by my bed, each incompletely finished. Inside my mobile device, I'm some distance through over three dozen audiobooks, which pales alongside the forty-six digital books I've set aside on my digital device. The situation does not account for the expanding collection of pre-release editions next to my side table, striving for praises, now that I am a established author myself.

Starting with Determined Reading to Purposeful Letting Go

On the surface, these figures might look to corroborate recent comments about today's focus. An author observed recently how easy it is to break a reader's concentration when it is fragmented by social media and the constant updates. The author suggested: “Maybe as people's attention spans shift the fiction will have to change with them.” Yet as someone who previously would stubbornly get through whatever novel I started, I now regard it a personal freedom to set aside a story that I'm not connecting with.

The Finite Duration and the Glut of Possibilities

I wouldn't think that this tendency is a result of a limited attention span – more accurately it stems from the feeling of existence moving swiftly. I've always been impressed by the monastic teaching: “Place death every day in mind.” Another point that we each have a just limited time on this world was as sobering to me as to others. However at what other point in human history have we ever had such immediate entry to so many mind-blowing creative works, anytime we desire? A wealth of treasures greets me in every bookshop and within each screen, and I aim to be purposeful about where I focus my attention. Could “not finishing” a story (shorthand in the book world for Did Not Finish) be not a mark of a limited intellect, but a selective one?

Reading for Empathy and Self-awareness

Particularly at a time when book production (consequently, selection) is still controlled by a certain demographic and its concerns. While reading about people distinct from ourselves can help to strengthen the muscle for compassion, we furthermore read to reflect on our individual lives and position in the universe. Before the titles on the shelves more fully represent the experiences, realities and issues of prospective readers, it might be extremely challenging to keep their interest.

Contemporary Authorship and Consumer Engagement

Of course, some writers are indeed successfully writing for the “today's focus”: the concise prose of selected current works, the focused sections of others, and the brief chapters of several contemporary books are all a wonderful showcase for a shorter approach and technique. Furthermore there is an abundance of craft guidance geared toward grabbing a reader: refine that initial phrase, enhance that start, increase the stakes (higher! further!) and, if creating thriller, introduce a mystery on the first page. That guidance is all sound – a possible agent, house or buyer will use only a a handful of limited moments choosing whether or not to proceed. There is no point in being difficult, like the individual on a workshop I attended who, when challenged about the narrative of their manuscript, announced that “it all becomes clear about 75% of the through the book”. No novelist should subject their reader through a set of 12 labours in order to be grasped.

Creating to Be Accessible and Allowing Patience

And I absolutely compose to be understood, as much as that is feasible. Sometimes that needs guiding the audience's interest, guiding them through the story point by efficient step. Occasionally, I've understood, insight demands patience – and I must allow myself (as well as other creators) the grace of wandering, of building, of straying, until I find something meaningful. A particular thinker contends for the story discovering new forms and that, rather than the standard dramatic arc, “alternative patterns might assist us conceive innovative ways to craft our stories alive and true, keep creating our books fresh”.

Evolution of the Book and Contemporary Formats

Accordingly, each opinions align – the novel may have to evolve to suit the modern reader, as it has constantly done since it began in the historical period (as we know it today). Perhaps, like past writers, tomorrow's creators will return to publishing incrementally their novels in periodicals. The future such authors may even now be sharing their content, part by part, on web-based sites including those used by millions of regular visitors. Genres shift with the times and we should allow them.

Not Just Brief Concentration

Yet we should not claim that every evolutions are all because of limited attention spans. If that were the case, concise narrative collections and very short stories would be considered far more {commercial|profitable|marketable