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This is slightly uncomfortable to confess, but I'll say it. Five books sit next to my bed, every one partially consumed. On my smartphone, I'm partway through thirty-six listening titles, which seems small compared to the nearly fifty Kindle titles I've abandoned on my Kindle. The situation does not account for the increasing stack of early versions near my coffee table, competing for blurbs, now that I have become a published writer myself.

Starting with Persistent Reading to Purposeful Abandonment

Initially, these numbers might appear to confirm contemporary opinions about current focus. An author noted not long back how effortless it is to lose a reader's focus when it is scattered by digital platforms and the 24-hour news. He suggested: “It could be as individuals' concentration change the writing will have to adjust with them.” However as a person who previously would doggedly complete any book I started, I now consider it a human right to stop reading a novel that I'm not connecting with.

Life's Short Duration and the Glut of Choices

I don't feel that this practice is due to a limited concentration – more accurately it stems from the awareness of existence moving swiftly. I've often been impressed by the Benedictine maxim: “Keep mortality each day before your eyes.” A different reminder that we each have a just limited time on this world was as horrifying to me as to anyone else. However at what previous point in human history have we ever had such immediate availability to so many amazing creative works, anytime we desire? A surplus of treasures meets me in any bookstore and behind each digital platform, and I want to be deliberate about where I focus my attention. Is it possible “not finishing” a book (term in the literary community for Incomplete) be not just a indication of a weak intellect, but a discerning one?

Selecting for Empathy and Reflection

Notably at a time when the industry (and therefore, selection) is still led by a specific social class and its issues. Although engaging with about people distinct from ourselves can help to build the muscle for empathy, we additionally choose books to reflect on our individual journeys and position in the world. Before the titles on the displays better reflect the identities, realities and issues of possible individuals, it might be extremely hard to hold their interest.

Contemporary Authorship and Audience Interest

Of course, some authors are indeed skillfully writing for the “today's interest”: the concise prose of some current books, the focused sections of different authors, and the brief chapters of numerous modern books are all a impressive example for a briefer form and method. Furthermore there is plenty of craft advice aimed at capturing a consumer: perfect that initial phrase, enhance that start, increase the tension (more! more!) and, if creating crime, place a dead body on the opening. Such advice is completely sound – a possible publisher, house or audience will devote only a few precious seconds choosing whether or not to proceed. It is no benefit in being difficult, like the individual on a class I attended who, when questioned about the narrative of their manuscript, announced that “it all becomes clear about 75% of the through the book”. No author should subject their reader through a sequence of 12 labours in order to be grasped.

Writing to Be Understood and Granting Patience

Yet I do write to be understood, as to the extent as that is possible. At times that demands leading the audience's interest, guiding them through the story step by efficient point. Occasionally, I've realised, understanding takes patience – and I must allow myself (as well as other authors) the grace of exploring, of building, of digressing, until I discover something true. An influential thinker makes the case for the story finding innovative patterns and that, as opposed to the conventional plot structure, “alternative patterns might help us envision new methods to craft our stories dynamic and authentic, persist in producing our novels fresh”.

Evolution of the Novel and Modern Formats

Accordingly, the two perspectives converge – the story may have to adapt to fit the contemporary consumer, as it has continually accomplished since it began in the 1700s (in the form currently). Perhaps, like earlier writers, future authors will go back to serialising their novels in publications. The upcoming those writers may currently be publishing their content, part by part, on web-based services like those visited by countless of monthly readers. Art forms change with the period and we should permit them.

Not Just Brief Focus

But let us not say that every evolutions are completely because of reduced focus. If that was so, short story compilations and flash fiction would be considered far more {commercial|profitable|marketable