Novels I Didn't Complete Reading Are Accumulating by My Nightstand. Is It Possible That's a Good Thing?

This is slightly awkward to admit, but I'll say it. Five books wait beside my bed, each only partly finished. On my phone, I'm partway through 36 audio novels, which looks minor compared to the forty-six digital books I've left unfinished on my digital device. The situation doesn't include the increasing stack of advance editions next to my living room table, striving for blurbs, now that I work as a published novelist myself.

Beginning with Persistent Reading to Purposeful Abandonment

At first glance, these stats might look to support contemporary opinions about current attention spans. An author observed a short while ago how simple it is to break a individual's concentration when it is scattered by social media and the news cycle. They suggested: “Maybe as readers' focus periods change the fiction will have to change with them.” But as someone who previously would persistently finish any title I picked up, I now view it a human right to stop reading a book that I'm not in the mood for.

The Limited Duration and the Abundance of Possibilities

I do not think that this habit is caused by a brief focus – instead it relates to the feeling of existence moving swiftly. I've often been affected by the monastic maxim: “Place the end every day in view.” Another reminder that we each have a just finite period on this Earth was as sobering to me as to everyone. And yet at what other point in human history have we ever had such instant access to so many amazing masterpieces, at any moment we want? A glut of options greets me in every bookstore and behind each device, and I strive to be intentional about where I focus my attention. Could “not finishing” a book (abbreviation in the publishing industry for Incomplete) be not a mark of a weak focus, but a thoughtful one?

Choosing for Understanding and Self-awareness

Especially at a period when the industry (consequently, commissioning) is still controlled by a specific demographic and its issues. While reading about people different from our own lives can help to build the muscle for understanding, we also read to consider our own journeys and position in the universe. Unless the books on the racks better represent the identities, lives and concerns of potential audiences, it might be very challenging to keep their attention.

Modern Writing and Consumer Interest

Naturally, some novelists are actually skillfully creating for the “modern interest”: the short style of some modern books, the focused pieces of additional writers, and the brief sections of several recent books are all a excellent demonstration for a more concise form and technique. And there is plenty of writing advice designed for capturing a reader: hone that first sentence, improve that start, raise the tension (more! higher!) and, if crafting mystery, put a mystery on the opening. That guidance is entirely solid – a prospective publisher, editor or reader will spend only a a handful of precious minutes determining whether or not to continue. There's little reason in being difficult, like the individual on a writing course I attended who, when questioned about the narrative of their novel, declared that “the meaning emerges about three-quarters of the way through”. Not a single author should put their follower through a series of challenges in order to be comprehended.

Crafting to Be Accessible and Giving Patience

And I do compose to be comprehended, as to the extent as that is feasible. On occasion that needs leading the audience's interest, directing them through the story step by economical point. Occasionally, I've understood, comprehension demands time – and I must give myself (as well as other creators) the permission of exploring, of adding depth, of digressing, until I discover something true. One author argues for the novel discovering new forms and that, rather than the standard plot structure, “alternative patterns might help us envision novel ways to make our tales dynamic and true, persist in making our books fresh”.

Evolution of the Novel and Modern Formats

In that sense, the two opinions converge – the novel may have to evolve to accommodate the modern reader, as it has constantly accomplished since it first emerged in the 18th century (in the form now). Maybe, like earlier novelists, future writers will go back to publishing incrementally their novels in newspapers. The future such authors may currently be releasing their work, section by section, on web-based services like those used by countless of regular visitors. Genres evolve with the times and we should permit them.

Beyond Short Concentration

Yet let us not claim that all evolutions are entirely because of shorter focus. If that was so, short story anthologies and flash fiction would be viewed much more {commercial|profitable|marketable