Many readers are fans of books known as “long reads”. They like books that are 300 pages and more, with long complicated stories and interesting characters. Don’t get me wrong; every now and then, I like to read a long read myself. Some of my favorites include Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk (419 pages), and NOS4A2 by Joe Hill (692 pages). If you find me reading a book with more than 300 pages, it’s because the book is extremely interesting to me. It would have to be, in order for so many pages to hold my attention. I’m finding now, I’m growing older and my attention span is growing shorter. And I’m not just talking about reading: conversations (get to your point, please), movies (thank goodness for the ‘fast forward’ option on streaming services) and TV shows (if the plot is available on Wikipedia, I’m going to read it instead). If I need to get across the street, I don’t think it’s necessary to go three blocks down, turn a few corners and then cross the street. Let’s just cross the street at the very beginning.

There’s a basic formula to storytelling: beginning, middle, end, and the stuff that happens in between. Maybe a lot of things happen in between, maybe only a few things. Either way, the events in the story need to be interesting, in order to hold a reader’s attention. The same can be said of nonfiction books. Some will be off to a great start, then drag on and on unnecessarily.

Someone once told me the enjoyed reading my first book, Fortune’s Wing, but they thought it was too short. “I wish it was longer!” they said. Well, it’s short for two reasons. Reason one: it’s the first book in a series of three. Reason two: I said everything I needed to say for the first book, in the first book. Sure, I could have dragged the story out, but why? I knew what each book needed to accomplish, and it worked out.

In 2015, I published Our Lady of Righteous Rage, with a surprising 316 pages. A few months later, I released the extended version, with 380 pages. While I didn’t sit down and plan to write over 300 pages, I knew I wanted the story to follow the characters from childhood to adulthood. After editing and trimming the margins, the final manuscript stretched from roughly 220-240 pages, to 316—a happy accident. So yes, it’s long, but the story and characters are enough to keep a reader focused.

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When I find myself skimming a book instead of reading it, I know I have a problem on my hands. And I don’t ever want someone to pick up something I wrote with 400 pages and start skimming instead of reading. When I find myself at a good stopping point with the story I’m working on, I stop.

We’ve all read at least one book, where you reached the midpoint of the story and thought, this probably didn’t need to be so long. There’s a few things the writer could have done without. I suppose I’m writing based on my own attention span. One of these days, when I come up with an idea for a story that demands 400 pages, I’m sure I’ll crank it out. Until then, I’ll just keep things short and simple.