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This is a bit embarrassing to admit, but I'll say it. A handful of titles rest by my bed, every one incompletely finished. Within my phone, I'm midway through thirty-six audio novels, which pales alongside the 46 ebooks I've set aside on my Kindle. That doesn't account for the growing pile of advance copies beside my coffee table, striving for blurbs, now that I work as a published author myself.

From Persistent Finishing to Deliberate Abandonment

Initially, these figures might seem to support contemporary thoughts about today's attention spans. A writer observed recently how simple it is to lose a reader's attention when it is divided by digital platforms and the constant updates. The author remarked: “It could be as individuals' focus periods evolve the literature will have to adapt with them.” However as an individual who once would doggedly finish every title I picked up, I now regard it a individual choice to stop reading a story that I'm not connecting with.

Life's Limited Time and the Abundance of Choices

I do not think that this tendency is caused by a limited focus – more accurately it relates to the awareness of time slipping through my fingers. I've consistently been impressed by the Benedictine principle: “Hold death each day in mind.” Another point that we each have a only limited time on this world was as sobering to me as to anyone else. And yet at what previous moment in history have we ever had such direct access to so many incredible creative works, whenever we desire? A glut of options awaits me in each bookstore and behind each device, and I aim to be intentional about where I focus my time. Is it possible “not finishing” a story (term in the publishing industry for Did Not Finish) be not a sign of a weak intellect, but a selective one?

Choosing for Empathy and Insight

Particularly at a period when publishing (and thus, commissioning) is still dominated by a certain demographic and its concerns. While reading about characters different from our own lives can help to develop the ability for empathy, we also read to think about our own lives and place in the society. Until the works on the racks more fully represent the identities, lives and concerns of potential audiences, it might be extremely challenging to maintain their focus.

Modern Storytelling and Audience Interest

Certainly, some authors are indeed effectively crafting for the “contemporary attention span”: the concise prose of selected recent works, the focused sections of additional writers, and the short parts of various recent stories are all a wonderful example for a shorter form and style. And there is plenty of author guidance designed for securing a reader: perfect that first sentence, enhance that beginning section, increase the drama (further! more!) and, if crafting crime, introduce a dead body on the opening. This advice is all solid – a prospective representative, house or buyer will spend only a few precious minutes determining whether or not to forge ahead. There is no point in being contrary, like the individual on a class I attended who, when questioned about the plot of their novel, announced that “it all becomes clear about three-quarters of the through the book”. No author should force their reader through a set of 12 labours in order to be comprehended.

Writing to Be Understood and Granting Time

Yet I absolutely create to be comprehended, as far as that is achievable. At times that demands holding the audience's hand, directing them through the story step by economical step. Occasionally, I've understood, comprehension takes patience – and I must grant myself (along with other authors) the permission of wandering, of layering, of straying, until I hit upon something meaningful. An influential thinker makes the case for the fiction finding fresh structures and that, as opposed to the conventional dramatic arc, “different structures might assist us imagine new approaches to make our narratives alive and authentic, keep producing our works original”.

Change of the Story and Current Platforms

Accordingly, both opinions converge – the story may have to change to accommodate the today's reader, as it has repeatedly done since it began in the 1700s (in its current incarnation currently). It could be, like past writers, tomorrow's writers will revert to releasing in parts their novels in periodicals. The next such writers may even now be sharing their content, part by part, on online sites like those accessed by many of frequent visitors. Creative mediums change with the times and we should allow them.

More Than Limited Concentration

However we should not claim that all evolutions are entirely because of reduced attention spans. If that was so, brief fiction anthologies and flash fiction would be considered considerably more {commercial|profitable|marketable