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It's a bit awkward to confess, but I'll say it. Five titles sit next to my bed, each incompletely finished. On my smartphone, I'm some distance through 36 audio novels, which looks minor next to the forty-six Kindle titles I've abandoned on my Kindle. The situation does not count the growing pile of pre-release versions beside my living room table, striving for endorsements, now that I have become a published writer in my own right.

Starting with Determined Reading to Purposeful Abandonment

Initially, these stats might look to confirm recently expressed comments about current concentration. An author observed not long back how easy it is to break a individual's concentration when it is divided by social media and the news cycle. They remarked: “Perhaps as people's concentration change the literature will have to adjust with them.” However as someone who used to doggedly finish every book I began, I now regard it a personal freedom to set aside a novel that I'm not connecting with.

Our Short Duration and the Abundance of Possibilities

I do not think that this practice is a result of a brief concentration – rather more it stems from the sense of time moving swiftly. I've consistently been struck by the Benedictine maxim: “Place death every day in view.” One reminder that we each have a mere finite period on this world was as shocking to me as to anyone else. But at what different time in human history have we ever had such immediate entry to so many mind-blowing works of art, whenever we choose? A wealth of options meets me in any bookstore and behind each digital platform, and I aim to be purposeful about where I direct my attention. Could “not finishing” a story (shorthand in the publishing industry for Incomplete) be not just a mark of a limited intellect, but a discerning one?

Reading for Connection and Reflection

Notably at a period when publishing (and therefore, selection) is still led by a certain social class and its concerns. Although reading about characters different from ourselves can help to develop the ability for understanding, we additionally select stories to consider our personal journeys and role in the world. Before the books on the racks more fully reflect the backgrounds, realities and concerns of prospective audiences, it might be very challenging to hold their focus.

Current Authorship and Audience Interest

Certainly, some authors are effectively writing for the “contemporary interest”: the short prose of selected current novels, the focused pieces of others, and the short parts of several modern titles are all a impressive example for a briefer form and technique. Additionally there is an abundance of writing tips designed for capturing a audience: refine that initial phrase, improve that beginning section, elevate the stakes (more! further!) and, if creating thriller, introduce a dead body on the first page. This advice is all sound – a prospective representative, editor or buyer will use only a few precious seconds determining whether or not to forge ahead. There's no point in being obstinate, like the writer on a writing course I joined who, when questioned about the plot of their manuscript, declared that “everything makes sense about 75% of the into the story”. No novelist should force their reader through a set of challenges in order to be understood.

Creating to Be Accessible and Granting Time

And I absolutely write to be clear, as much as that is achievable. Sometimes that demands leading the audience's interest, steering them through the story beat by succinct step. At other times, I've understood, understanding requires time – and I must grant me (along with other authors) the grace of wandering, of layering, of straying, until I discover something meaningful. One writer makes the case for the fiction discovering innovative patterns and that, as opposed to the traditional dramatic arc, “other patterns might assist us conceive new ways to make our narratives alive and real, continue producing our works fresh”.

Transformation of the Story and Modern Mediums

Accordingly, both opinions align – the story may have to adapt to suit the today's consumer, as it has continually accomplished since it first emerged in the 18th century (as we know it now). Perhaps, like earlier authors, future writers will return to publishing incrementally their books in publications. The next those writers may already be releasing their content, part by part, on web-based sites such as those accessed by countless of monthly users. Creative mediums change with the era and we should let them.

More Than Limited Focus

However we should not say that any shifts are all because of limited focus. If that was so, concise narrative collections and flash fiction would be viewed far more {commercial|profitable|marketable