I don't understand the psychology of this. I'm assuming it affects most readers. I've noticed some modern thrillers (let's say the trend started in the late 90s and has gotten progressively worse) are published with a slightly larger font, noticeable spacing between each line, every chapter begins halfway down the page to make sure the chapter number has room to breathe, and the chapter ends not three or four pages later. I've also noticed there is effort on the publishers part to make the spine thicknesses relatively similar—so shorter books have more "air" in them or even thicker pages. While not a scientific study, I've gone to my library and specifically appreciated this phenomena.
I recently decided to re-read a few of my favorite Alistair MacLean novels—the original 1970s paperbacks—and the man was dubious with his intermissions. There are often only 15 chapters, as opposed to 40+ in the modern thriller, and they (the chapters) only exist to have them? Each chapter can have lengthy page-long paragraphs, and the font in those days was minuscule and the page number and book size are proportionally shorter. (Our family has cabinets of books from this era, of every genre, and they're all similar to this.)
I have no doubt I could make the same case for almost any genre or decade comparison of books. What happened that created such a change in marketing? Is there a sense of accomplishment for every page turned that the modern reader gets? Did publishers decide quantity of flipping is an actual necessity in reading? Have any current authors discussed the conversations they have with publishers about stuff like this?
What is the psychology behind feeling like reading is work, so let's make it as easy for the reader as possible?
by mysteryofthefieryeye
6 Comments
Dare I say, there are a lot of modern readers who care more about buying and owning books than anything and just view the reading itself as a justifying activity for their spending habits. Like yeah, there are a bunch of people who get a bigger kick out of the perceived accomplishment of having finished a chapter/book than the content of the text itself.
shorter attention spans. People have less “time to give”, so texts are chopped up an every “chapter finished” feels an accomplishment (cue dopamine rush). See also modern movies (how many shots hold longer than a few seconds nowadays before a cut?) and television.
On our way down the sinkhole we are, as a culture.
I don’t have a well researched answer but on a personal level, having more breaks makes it easier for me to keep track of where I am on a page but that’s neither really here or there.
Another possibility might be something similar to film. Back in the day, movie scenes were much longer where entire conversations or action sequences would have only a couple of cuts. Now days movies have many more cuts which not only helps to hold interest, it can also help add more detail or background into a scene by showing more angles or what’s happening around the actors or in the background.
It could be that books are following that trend. More cuts, more angles, less dragging out. Especially in today’s world of video shorts and instant gratification, it could be that people want those quicker/shorter chapters to hold their interest.
Just a theory so don’t quote me or take it too seriously lol.
I’ve struggled with this my entire life. I finally just said that if I have to stop a take a breath during a long paragraph or chapter, so be it. I never could have gotten through Melville in college without changing my reading habits.
Looks like the popular answer is “kids these days” but I’m 60 years old and have been reading my whole life and it’s always been true that really long paragraphs/chapters make me feel antsy, like I’m waiting for them to end. Not all olde timee writers did those big blocks of unbroken text. Austen and Dickens both knew how to break up a paragraph. Conversely, there are authors who go too far in the other direction. If every sentence is a paragraph and every page is a chapter, I don’t feel like I ever settle into the book. So I think the answer is that there’s a comfortable rhythm (which might vary from reader to reader) and more is tedious while less is choppy.
People talk about “white space” on the page, and how it increases ease of reading. It sounds silly, but consider this. A lot of 19th century literature has not just super long paragraphs, but sometimes a single sentence goes on for close to a page. God forbid you get interrupted halfway through. As silly as it sounds, it is pretty annoying.