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This is somewhat embarrassing to reveal, but here goes. A handful of novels sit next to my bed, all partially read. On my smartphone, I'm partway through thirty-six listening titles, which seems small alongside the nearly fifty digital books I've abandoned on my Kindle. The situation does not include the growing stack of advance editions beside my living room table, competing for blurbs, now that I have become a professional author in my own right.

Starting with Determined Finishing to Deliberate Abandonment

At first glance, these numbers might seem to confirm recent thoughts about today's focus. A writer commented a short while ago how effortless it is to lose a person's attention when it is fragmented by digital platforms and the constant updates. He suggested: “It could be as readers' attention spans change the literature will have to adjust with them.” But as someone who once would stubbornly complete any book I started, I now view it a individual choice to stop reading a story that I'm not in the mood for.

Life's Short Duration and the Abundance of Choices

I wouldn't feel that this practice is due to a brief focus – instead it relates to the awareness of existence passing quickly. I've always been affected by the monastic principle: “Place the end every day in mind.” A different point that we each have a mere finite period on this planet was as sobering to me as to others. However at what different moment in our past have we ever had such immediate availability to so many mind-blowing masterpieces, at any moment we want? A wealth of options awaits me in any library and behind every device, and I strive to be deliberate about where I direct my attention. Could “DNF-ing” a story (shorthand in the publishing industry for Unfinished) be not just a indication of a poor mind, but a discerning one?

Reading for Empathy and Reflection

Especially at a period when the industry (consequently, selection) is still controlled by a specific demographic and its concerns. Even though reading about individuals distinct from us can help to build the ability for understanding, we also select stories to consider our individual journeys and position in the universe. Unless the titles on the displays more accurately represent the identities, realities and concerns of possible audiences, it might be quite difficult to maintain their interest.

Contemporary Storytelling and Audience Engagement

Certainly, some writers are actually successfully creating for the “contemporary focus”: the tweet-length prose of certain current novels, the focused sections of different authors, and the short parts of numerous modern books are all a excellent showcase for a more concise approach and style. Additionally there is plenty of author guidance aimed at securing a audience: hone that initial phrase, polish that opening chapter, elevate the drama (higher! higher!) and, if writing crime, place a victim on the beginning. Such advice is entirely sound – a possible publisher, publisher or buyer will spend only a a handful of precious minutes determining whether or not to continue. There is no point in being obstinate, like the person on a writing course I participated in who, when confronted about the plot of their novel, announced that “everything makes sense about three-fourths of the through the book”. Not a single novelist should subject their audience through a set of difficult tasks in order to be comprehended.

Creating to Be Accessible and Giving Space

But I absolutely write to be understood, as far as that is achievable. At times that demands leading the consumer's hand, guiding them through the story point by succinct beat. Occasionally, I've discovered, insight requires time – and I must give my own self (as well as other creators) the grace of wandering, of building, of straying, until I find something authentic. One author contends for the novel finding fresh structures and that, rather than the conventional dramatic arc, “alternative patterns might assist us conceive innovative approaches to make our narratives vital and true, persist in producing our novels original”.

Change of the Novel and Current Platforms

In that sense, the two opinions align – the story may have to adapt to fit the contemporary audience, as it has repeatedly achieved since it first emerged in the 18th century (as we know it now). It could be, like earlier novelists, tomorrow's authors will return to publishing incrementally their works in publications. The upcoming those writers may even now be publishing their writing, part by part, on web-based platforms such as those accessed by many of regular readers. Genres shift with the era and we should permit them.

Not Just Brief Concentration

However let us not say that all changes are entirely because of reduced concentration. If that were the case, brief fiction anthologies and micro tales would be viewed considerably more {commercial|profitable|marketable