Books I Abandoned Exploring Are Stacking by My Nightstand. Is It Possible That's a Positive Sign?
It's slightly uncomfortable to admit, but here goes. A handful of books rest next to my bed, all partially consumed. On my mobile device, I'm midway through over three dozen audio novels, which seems small alongside the 46 ebooks I've left unfinished on my digital device. That does not include the expanding stack of early copies near my living room table, competing for blurbs, now that I am a established writer myself.
Beginning with Dogged Completion to Intentional Setting Aside
Initially, these figures might appear to confirm recent thoughts about today's attention spans. A writer observed a short while ago how easy it is to lose a reader's focus when it is divided by online networks and the 24-hour news. The author remarked: “Maybe as individuals' attention spans shift the writing will have to adapt with them.” But as someone who previously would stubbornly complete any novel I picked up, I now regard it a individual choice to stop reading a book that I'm not in the mood for.
The Short Duration and the Abundance of Choices
I do not believe that this practice is caused by a brief attention span – more accurately it stems from the feeling of life slipping through my fingers. I've often been impressed by the Benedictine maxim: “Hold the end daily before your eyes.” One reminder that we each have a only limited time on this planet was as horrifying to me as to anyone else. And yet at what other time in human history have we ever had such immediate availability to so many mind-blowing works of art, anytime we want? A wealth of options awaits me in every library and within each screen, and I strive to be intentional about where I focus my time. Could “not finishing” a novel (abbreviation in the book world for Incomplete) be not just a mark of a weak intellect, but a discerning one?
Selecting for Empathy and Reflection
Especially at a period when book production (and thus, acquisition) is still controlled by a specific demographic and its issues. Even though reading about characters unlike ourselves can help to develop the capacity for empathy, we furthermore choose books to consider our individual experiences and position in the society. Before the books on the shelves more fully reflect the experiences, realities and issues of potential audiences, it might be very challenging to maintain their interest.
Current Authorship and Consumer Engagement
Of course, some novelists are successfully crafting for the “contemporary focus”: the short style of selected current novels, the focused fragments of others, and the short sections of numerous contemporary titles are all a impressive demonstration for a shorter approach and style. Furthermore there is plenty of writing guidance designed for securing a consumer: hone that first sentence, polish that start, raise the drama (further! more!) and, if writing mystery, place a victim on the opening. Such suggestions is all sound – a prospective publisher, house or reader will spend only a few valuable minutes choosing whether or not to continue. It is no benefit in being obstinate, like the individual on a writing course I joined who, when questioned about the narrative of their novel, declared that “it all becomes clear about three-quarters of the through the book”. No writer should subject their follower through a sequence of difficult tasks in order to be understood.
Writing to Be Understood and Granting Time
And I absolutely create to be clear, as much as that is possible. At times that requires holding the consumer's interest, directing them through the narrative point by succinct step. At other times, I've understood, comprehension requires time – and I must allow myself (along with other writers) the permission of exploring, of layering, of straying, until I find something authentic. An influential thinker argues for the fiction finding innovative patterns and that, instead of the conventional narrative arc, “other patterns might assist us envision novel ways to make our stories alive and authentic, persist in making our works fresh”.
Transformation of the Story and Modern Platforms
In that sense, both perspectives align – the novel may have to evolve to fit the modern consumer, as it has constantly accomplished since it originated in the 18th century (in its current incarnation now). Perhaps, like earlier writers, future creators will return to releasing in parts their novels in newspapers. The future these authors may even now be releasing their writing, part by part, on online services like those used by millions of monthly readers. Creative mediums shift with the times and we should allow them.
More Than Brief Focus
But we should not claim that any changes are all because of reduced attention spans. If that was so, brief fiction anthologies and flash fiction would be considered far more {commercial|profitable|marketable
