Works I Haven't Finished Exploring Are Stacking by My Bed. What If That's a Positive Sign?
This is somewhat awkward to reveal, but I'll say it. Several novels wait beside my bed, all partially read. Within my phone, I'm partway through thirty-six listening titles, which pales compared to the nearly fifty ebooks I've abandoned on my Kindle. This doesn't account for the increasing collection of advance versions near my side table, striving for blurbs, now that I have become a established novelist in my own right.
From Dogged Finishing to Intentional Setting Aside
At first glance, these figures might appear to support recent opinions about modern attention spans. One novelist observed recently how simple it is to break a reader's focus when it is divided by digital platforms and the 24-hour news. He remarked: “It could be as readers' concentration change the fiction will have to change with them.” Yet as a person who previously would stubbornly complete whatever title I started, I now regard it a individual choice to stop reading a novel that I'm not connecting with.
The Short Span and the Abundance of Choices
I don't believe that this tendency is caused by a brief focus – instead it comes from the awareness of time slipping through my fingers. I've consistently been impressed by the spiritual teaching: “Keep the end every day before your eyes.” One idea that we each have a just finite period on this world was as sobering to me as to everyone. But at what previous time in human history have we ever had such instant entry to so many amazing creative works, at any moment we choose? A glut of riches greets me in any library and within any device, and I want to be intentional about where I direct my attention. Could “abandoning” a story (abbreviation in the book world for Incomplete) be rather than a mark of a limited focus, but a selective one?
Reading for Empathy and Reflection
Notably at a era when publishing (and therefore, acquisition) is still controlled by a specific social class and its issues. Although engaging with about characters different from us can help to develop the muscle for empathy, we also select stories to reflect on our own journeys and position in the universe. Before the titles on the displays more accurately represent the backgrounds, stories and issues of possible readers, it might be extremely difficult to maintain their focus.
Contemporary Writing and Consumer Interest
Certainly, some novelists are successfully writing for the “contemporary interest”: the short prose of some recent novels, the focused pieces of others, and the short chapters of numerous recent stories are all a impressive showcase for a briefer form and method. Additionally there is an abundance of writing advice aimed at capturing a reader: refine that initial phrase, polish that start, raise the tension (higher! more!) and, if writing crime, place a dead body on the beginning. This advice is completely good – a potential publisher, publisher or reader will use only a few precious moments determining whether or not to continue. There's no benefit in being obstinate, like the writer on a workshop I joined who, when questioned about the plot of their novel, stated that “the meaning emerges about 75% of the into the story”. No author should subject their audience through a series of 12 labours in order to be understood.
Writing to Be Clear and Granting Time
Yet I absolutely create to be clear, as far as that is achievable. Sometimes that demands guiding the reader's attention, guiding them through the narrative point by succinct step. Sometimes, I've discovered, insight requires patience – and I must allow me (and other creators) the permission of wandering, of adding depth, of digressing, until I hit upon something authentic. One writer argues for the story developing fresh structures and that, instead of the traditional plot structure, “other structures might enable us imagine novel approaches to make our stories alive and authentic, continue making our works original”.
Transformation of the Novel and Modern Platforms
From that perspective, the two opinions align – the novel may have to evolve to suit the modern reader, as it has repeatedly achieved since it originated in the 1700s (as we know it currently). Maybe, like previous writers, future creators will go back to serialising their works in newspapers. The future such authors may currently be releasing their content, section by section, on web-based services like those used by millions of monthly readers. Art forms shift with the era and we should allow them.
Beyond Brief Concentration
Yet we should not say that all shifts are completely because of shorter concentration. Were that true, short story collections and micro tales would be viewed considerably more {commercial|profitable|marketable
