Works I Abandoned Exploring Are Accumulating by My Bedside. Could It Be That's a Good Thing?
This is a bit awkward to confess, but I'll say it. A handful of titles sit beside my bed, all partially consumed. Inside my mobile device, I'm partway through 36 listening titles, which pales next to the 46 ebooks I've set aside on my e-reader. This does not account for the growing collection of pre-release copies near my coffee table, competing for blurbs, now that I work as a professional writer myself.
From Dogged Completion to Deliberate Letting Go
Initially, these numbers might look to corroborate recently expressed thoughts about today's concentration. An author commented not long back how easy it is to break a person's focus when it is scattered by social media and the constant updates. The author suggested: “It could be as individuals' attention spans change the literature will have to adjust with them.” Yet as someone who previously would doggedly finish whatever novel I started, I now regard it a human right to set aside a story that I'm not in the mood for.
Life's Limited Span and the Abundance of Possibilities
I don't believe that this practice is caused by a brief attention span – rather more it stems from the sense of existence passing quickly. I've consistently been impressed by the Benedictine maxim: “Hold death each day in mind.” Another idea that we each have a mere finite period on this Earth was as shocking to me as to everyone. And yet at what previous point in our past have we ever had such direct availability to so many mind-blowing creative works, anytime we choose? A wealth of options awaits me in each library and on every device, and I want to be intentional about where I direct my attention. Is it possible “DNF-ing” a novel (abbreviation in the literary community for Incomplete) be not just a indication of a poor focus, but a selective one?
Selecting for Connection and Self-awareness
Particularly at a time when the industry (and therefore, selection) is still led by a certain social class and its issues. Although reading about individuals different from ourselves can help to strengthen the capacity for understanding, we also choose books to reflect on our own journeys and role in the world. Before the works on the shelves more accurately represent the identities, stories and interests of potential audiences, it might be extremely hard to hold their focus.
Modern Storytelling and Audience Engagement
Certainly, some writers are effectively creating for the “today's focus”: the short style of some modern novels, the tight sections of different authors, and the brief sections of numerous contemporary books are all a excellent example for a shorter approach and technique. And there is plenty of craft guidance geared toward grabbing a consumer: hone that opening line, improve that start, increase the stakes (further! further!) and, if writing thriller, put a victim on the first page. This advice is completely sound – a prospective agent, publisher or audience will devote only a several precious seconds choosing whether or not to forge ahead. It is no benefit in being contrary, like the individual on a writing course I attended who, when questioned about the plot of their manuscript, declared that “the meaning emerges about three-quarters of the through the book”. Not a single novelist should force their reader through a sequence of difficult tasks in order to be understood.
Crafting to Be Understood and Granting Time
Yet I do write to be clear, as far as that is possible. At times that requires leading the reader's hand, steering them through the story step by succinct step. Occasionally, I've discovered, insight takes perseverance – and I must give me (along with other writers) the grace of wandering, of building, of straying, until I discover something authentic. A particular writer argues for the fiction developing new forms and that, rather than the traditional dramatic arc, “other forms might help us envision new approaches to make our stories dynamic and true, persist in making our works novel”.
Transformation of the Book and Current Mediums
From that perspective, the two opinions converge – the story may have to evolve to accommodate the today's consumer, as it has continually accomplished since it began in the historical period (as we know it today). It could be, like earlier authors, future writers will return to serialising their books in newspapers. The future those authors may even now be publishing their writing, part by part, on web-based services like those accessed by many of frequent users. Art forms evolve with the era and we should allow them.
Beyond Limited Attention Spans
However let us not claim that every changes are all because of limited concentration. If that was so, short story collections and micro tales would be viewed much more {commercial|profitable|marketable
