Books I Haven't Finished Reading Are Stacking by My Bed. Is It Possible That's a Positive Sign?
It's a bit uncomfortable to admit, but I'll say it. A handful of titles rest next to my bed, each only partly finished. Within my mobile device, I'm partway through over three dozen audiobooks, which looks minor compared to the 46 ebooks I've left unfinished on my e-reader. This does not include the increasing stack of early versions next to my coffee table, vying for praises, now that I work as a established author in my own right.
Beginning with Determined Finishing to Intentional Setting Aside
On the surface, these stats might seem to support recently expressed opinions about current focus. One novelist commented recently how effortless it is to break a individual's concentration when it is divided by social media and the news cycle. He suggested: “Maybe as people's focus periods evolve the writing will have to adapt with them.” Yet as an individual who previously would doggedly get through whatever title I began, I now regard it a personal freedom to set aside a novel that I'm not connecting with.
The Limited Duration and the Abundance of Possibilities
I wouldn't think that this habit is due to a limited focus – instead it comes from the awareness of time passing quickly. I've consistently been impressed by the spiritual teaching: “Place the end each day before your eyes.” Another reminder that we each have a just 4,000 weeks on this Earth was as horrifying to me as to others. But at what different point in our past have we ever had such instant entry to so many amazing creative works, at any moment we desire? A glut of treasures greets me in any bookshop and on each digital platform, and I want to be intentional about where I direct my attention. Might “DNF-ing” a book (abbreviation in the literary community for Did Not Finish) be not a mark of a limited mind, but a discerning one?
Reading for Understanding and Self-awareness
Particularly at a time when book production (consequently, selection) is still dominated by a certain group and its concerns. Although reading about individuals unlike our own lives can help to build the capacity for understanding, we furthermore read to consider our individual journeys and role in the universe. Before the titles on the displays more fully reflect the experiences, realities and concerns of potential audiences, it might be quite challenging to maintain their attention.
Current Authorship and Audience Attention
Certainly, some novelists are skillfully writing for the “modern attention span”: the short style of some current books, the tight fragments of different authors, and the quick sections of various contemporary books are all a impressive example for a shorter form and style. Furthermore there is no shortage of writing guidance aimed at grabbing a consumer: refine that first sentence, polish that start, raise the tension (further! higher!) and, if crafting mystery, introduce a dead body on the first page. This advice is completely good – a possible agent, publisher or buyer will use only a several limited seconds determining whether or not to continue. There's no benefit in being obstinate, like the person on a workshop I participated in who, when questioned about the narrative of their manuscript, stated that “everything makes sense about three-quarters of the way through”. No writer should subject their reader through a set of 12 labours in order to be comprehended.
Writing to Be Clear and Giving Patience
Yet I do create to be understood, as far as that is feasible. Sometimes that needs leading the reader's hand, steering them through the narrative step by economical step. At other times, I've realised, comprehension takes perseverance – and I must give myself (as well as other creators) the freedom of meandering, of adding depth, of straying, until I find something true. A particular writer contends for the fiction developing innovative patterns and that, instead of the traditional plot structure, “other patterns might assist us envision new ways to make our stories vital and real, persist in making our novels fresh”.
Change of the Story and Contemporary Mediums
From that perspective, the two perspectives align – the novel may have to adapt to accommodate the contemporary audience, as it has constantly done since it began in the 1700s (in the form now). It could be, like previous writers, tomorrow's creators will return to serialising their books in newspapers. The future those authors may even now be publishing their work, chapter by chapter, on digital platforms such as those used by many of regular users. Creative mediums evolve with the era and we should let them.
Beyond Limited Concentration
However we should not say that every shifts are all because of shorter attention spans. If that was so, short story anthologies and micro tales would be considered far more {commercial|profitable|marketable
