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This is slightly embarrassing to admit, but I'll say it. Five titles wait next to my bed, each partially finished. On my smartphone, I'm partway through over three dozen audiobooks, which seems small compared to the forty-six ebooks I've left unfinished on my e-reader. That doesn't count the increasing stack of pre-release versions next to my living room table, competing for praises, now that I have become a professional writer in my own right.

Starting with Persistent Completion to Purposeful Abandonment

At first glance, these numbers might seem to confirm recently expressed opinions about current attention spans. A writer observed recently how effortless it is to distract a individual's concentration when it is fragmented by digital platforms and the news cycle. He remarked: “Maybe as people's focus periods evolve the writing will have to adjust with them.” Yet as a person who used to persistently get through any novel I started, I now consider it a personal freedom to put down a novel that I'm not connecting with.

Life's Finite Duration and the Abundance of Options

I do not feel that this practice is caused by a limited focus – more accurately it comes from the feeling of life moving swiftly. I've consistently been affected by the spiritual maxim: “Keep mortality every day in view.” Another idea that we each have a only 4,000 weeks on this planet was as horrifying to me as to others. However at what different moment in human history have we ever had such direct entry to so many incredible masterpieces, whenever we choose? A surplus of treasures meets me in any bookstore and behind every screen, and I strive to be purposeful about where I channel my time. Could “DNF-ing” a book (shorthand in the literary community for Incomplete) be rather than a mark of a limited intellect, but a selective one?

Reading for Understanding and Reflection

Particularly at a time when the industry (and therefore, acquisition) is still dominated by a certain demographic and its concerns. Although reading about people unlike ourselves can help to develop the capacity for compassion, we furthermore select stories to reflect on our personal journeys and position in the world. Before the books on the shelves more fully represent the identities, realities and concerns of prospective individuals, it might be very hard to hold their interest.

Modern Storytelling and Reader Interest

Naturally, some novelists are indeed skillfully crafting for the “modern attention span”: the tweet-length prose of some current books, the tight pieces of additional writers, and the brief sections of various modern books are all a wonderful example for a briefer form and style. Additionally there is plenty of author guidance aimed at securing a reader: refine that initial phrase, polish that start, elevate the drama (further! more!) and, if writing crime, place a dead body on the first page. Such advice is completely sound – a possible agent, editor or buyer will spend only a few valuable seconds choosing whether or not to proceed. It is little reason in being difficult, like the person on a writing course I participated in who, when challenged about the plot of their manuscript, declared that “it all becomes clear about three-quarters of the into the story”. Not a single author should force their reader through a sequence of 12 labours in order to be grasped.

Creating to Be Understood and Giving Space

But I certainly create to be comprehended, as much as that is feasible. Sometimes that needs guiding the reader's attention, guiding them through the story point by succinct point. Sometimes, I've understood, understanding takes patience – and I must give myself (and other writers) the grace of exploring, of layering, of straying, until I hit upon something true. An influential author argues for the fiction finding new forms and that, as opposed to the traditional plot structure, “different structures might assist us conceive novel methods to make our tales dynamic and authentic, continue producing our novels fresh”.

Transformation of the Novel and Contemporary Platforms

From that perspective, the two opinions agree – the novel may have to evolve to suit the modern consumer, as it has repeatedly achieved since it first emerged in the 1700s (in the form now). Maybe, like earlier authors, future writers will return to publishing incrementally their books in newspapers. The next such writers may even now be releasing their writing, chapter by chapter, on web-based services including those visited by countless of regular readers. Art forms evolve with the period and we should allow them.

Not Just Brief Concentration

But let us not claim that every shifts are completely because of limited attention spans. Were that true, brief fiction compilations and micro tales would be regarded considerably more {commercial|profitable|marketable