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This is a bit awkward to confess, but here goes. Five novels sit next to my bed, all incompletely consumed. On my mobile device, I'm partway through 36 listening titles, which seems small alongside the forty-six ebooks I've set aside on my e-reader. That does not count the expanding collection of advance editions beside my living room table, competing for praises, now that I work as a professional writer in my own right.

Beginning with Determined Completion to Deliberate Abandonment

At first glance, these figures might seem to confirm contemporary comments about modern concentration. A writer commented recently how easy it is to break a person's concentration when it is scattered by social media and the news cycle. They suggested: “It could be as people's focus periods change the fiction will have to change with them.” However as an individual who previously would doggedly get through every novel I began, I now consider it a individual choice to stop reading a book that I'm not in the mood for.

The Short Time and the Wealth of Possibilities

I wouldn't think that this tendency is caused by a brief focus – instead it relates to the awareness of life passing quickly. I've often been impressed by the spiritual teaching: “Place the end daily in view.” Another idea that we each have a only limited time on this Earth was as sobering to me as to everyone. But at what previous time in our past have we ever had such direct entry to so many amazing works of art, whenever we want? A surplus of riches greets me in any bookshop and within every device, and I aim to be intentional about where I direct my attention. Is it possible “DNF-ing” a novel (abbreviation in the book world for Did Not Finish) be not just a mark of a poor focus, but a thoughtful one?

Choosing for Understanding and Reflection

Notably at a era when publishing (and therefore, acquisition) is still led by a specific social class and its concerns. Although exploring about individuals distinct from ourselves can help to build the muscle for compassion, we furthermore read to think about our own experiences and role in the society. Unless the works on the displays better depict the identities, stories and issues of prospective individuals, it might be quite challenging to maintain their focus.

Current Storytelling and Consumer Attention

Certainly, some authors are actually successfully writing for the “today's focus”: the short writing of some recent works, the focused sections of different authors, and the brief sections of several recent titles are all a wonderful example for a briefer approach and style. Furthermore there is an abundance of craft advice aimed at securing a consumer: perfect that initial phrase, polish that beginning section, increase the drama (more! further!) and, if writing thriller, place a dead body on the first page. That advice is all sound – a prospective agent, publisher or buyer will use only a few limited seconds determining whether or not to continue. There is little reason in being obstinate, like the writer on a writing course I attended who, when questioned about the storyline of their manuscript, announced that “everything makes sense about three-quarters of the way through”. Not a single novelist should put their reader through a series of difficult tasks in order to be grasped.

Creating to Be Understood and Granting Space

Yet I certainly compose to be comprehended, as to the extent as that is possible. Sometimes that needs holding the reader's attention, directing them through the plot beat by succinct beat. Occasionally, I've realised, understanding takes time – and I must allow myself (and other writers) the freedom of meandering, of building, of digressing, until I discover something authentic. A particular author makes the case for the fiction developing innovative patterns and that, rather than the traditional plot structure, “other structures might assist us conceive innovative ways to craft our stories alive and real, continue creating our books fresh”.

Transformation of the Novel and Current Formats

From that perspective, both opinions align – the novel may have to adapt to accommodate the today's audience, as it has continually achieved since it began in the 1700s (as we know it now). Maybe, like previous writers, future creators will go back to releasing in parts their novels in newspapers. The next such authors may even now be releasing their writing, chapter by chapter, on web-based services including those accessed by many of frequent readers. Art forms evolve with the times and we should allow them.

More Than Brief Concentration

However do not claim that any changes are completely because of limited concentration. If that was so, short story anthologies and very short stories would be regarded much more {commercial|profitable|marketable