Technology in Stories

[mildlyaroused]

I have never written a text message into a story, and I don't think I ever will. I've never included a mobile phone (except once on this site), or social media, or a 42-inch 4k TV. The few times I've seen TikTok mentioned in something I'm reading, my hairs have stood on end like I'm an angry cat. There's something about modern day technology that I personally don't gel with in fiction.

It feels weirdly clumsy to me. I know it shouldn't - social media, Google, and streaming services are all large parts of our world now, so why does it feel so strange to read about them?

Technology can reduce tension. Instant communication and global connectivity are hard to write about, since there can be no tragic misunderstandings when an iMessage can be sent at anytime from anywhere to anyone. Opening a letter is tactile and sensory in a way that opening a text is not. Similarly, someone sitting on their couch and messaging their friend is physically detached in a way that an in-person conversation is not. The digital realm just doesn't translate well to evocative writing.

But I think it extends beyond the difficulty of writing technology. Even reading, it just feels awkward. The jargon of downloads, App Stores and text slang is clumsy. Maybe it's the fact that I read/write to escape the world, and I sure as fuck don't want to read or write about Instagram models or pinned YouTube comments. Maybe it's my fear that technology is replacing books, subconsciously coming through.

I don't really know, but I know I don't like it. All of my stories take place in vague worlds that are slightly more whimsical than ours, their tech usually akin to the 70s or 80s. I'm not saying it can't work - the right author can make anything work. But for me there is some sort of buffer to enjoying tech in books.

What do others think about the modern day conundrum?

 

[SimonDoom]

I'm in my 50s, not particularly tech-savvy, and certainly not an "early adopter," but I don't see it the same way. I think social media, texting, smart phones, and other media have made erotic interactions more interesting and created interesting opportunities for story ideas. Many of my stories touch on these concepts, and I don't think you have to be especially techno-adept to incorporate them.

 

[mildlyaroused]

created interesting opportunities for story ideas

I think they absolutely have too. It's a purely personal thing, I'm 100% onboard with others finding joy in such stories

 

[bestkeptsecret678]

I think a text exchange, a google search, or other routine use of the technological advances that are already part of everyday life, can add realism to a story, provided that’s what you’re shooting for. It’s what we do, so our characters should be able to do it to.

I had a couple of text segments in my last story and learned the hard way there formatting approaches to avoid. As a side note, Lit should publish guidelines for writers (or did I miss that…)

 

[Djmac1031]

Middle aged male here. Not only doesn't it bother me, but I've incorporated it into my stories regularly.

Let's face it. Modern young people are using this stuff, these apps. It would be silly of me as a writer to write a collage age student not using texts or Snapchat or Tik Tok.

Hell one of my more popular stories involves a secretary accidentally texting her boss her nude pictures. Something that would never happen if all we still had was land lines or snail mail.

 

[alohadave]

I've been thinking about this, and I'm wondering who we are trying to write for. Are we writing for people our own age and what we are familiar with, and how do different age brackets read that?

Just to pull an example, I know that @EmilyMiller is quite a bit younger than I am. When I describe tech like texting, or email, or other type of communication, as a younger person, is she reading it as old-people shouting at the clouds because people in her age bracket do it differently? Is there less suspension of disbelief, does it sound silly?

For me, I don't think of everyone having cell phones glued to their hands, even though I never leave the house without mine, and I use it a lot. But then, I'm not chatting, or texting, or telegramming, or whatever is popular today. So that kind of thing doesn't enter into into my stories, except for a few isolated cases where it's taking the place of face-to-face dialog.

To get back to my point, does the tech we include or not include mark us as a certain age? And if so, what happens in 10-15 years when younger people find these stories, what will their reactions be? I feel like I can read things from 20-25 years ago and still connect with it because I grew up through that time, but I don't know how that will translate for the future.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Just to pull an example, I know that @EmilyMiller is quite a bit younger than I am. When I describe tech like texting, or email, or other type of communication, as a younger person, is she reading it as old-people shouting at the clouds because people in her age bracket do it differently? Is there less suspension of disbelief, does it sound silly?

Not really. It does remind me of my Dad a bit (Mom refuses to do anything remotely technical). But I don’t find it jarring. No more than I find Conan-Doyle jarring.

I’m kinda in between. I had a friend here from continental Europe (sadly since left) who was four years younger. She couldn’t write more than three words without a stream of …

I use modern technology a lot, but I’m just as likely to be reading Steinbeck on my Kindle. As people may have noticed, I love words. So much that I use lots of them, and nice long ones. To an extent, this personal preference leans against the tendency towards brevity in many people my age.

But I kinda feel I’m fluent in different forms of communications and calibrate my style according to whom I am talking with.

I probably am less brief here than messaging a colleague or friend around my own age.

Emily

 

[lovecraft68]

I employ new fangled technology all the time. Just last week I wrote a story featuring a pager!

 

[mildlyaroused]

I'll add that I am younger than the (perceived) majority of you wise sages and sagettes. Maybe because this sort of tech has been more central to my life and growing up, I am more keen to escape it in fiction.

And if so, what happens in 10-15 years when younger people find these stories, what will their reactions be?

It is a really interesting point. Maybe in 20+ years people will look back on text threads and TikTok with the same novelty with which we might look back on technology that came before our time.

On the topic of sounding silly to younger folks, I'd say it's more likely to happen by overdoing it than underdoing it. That is, an overuse of slang and colloquialisms is more dangerous than standard, boring English. Of course this has always been true. It's riskier to write dialects than it is to write more conservative dialogue, but if done well it can work wonders.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Technology in Stories​

I have WhatsApp (and similar) and older school SMS in many of my stories. It would feel weird not to. Especially as a lot of my protagonists are twenty something or thirty something. Even my angels and demons have iPhones (the devil hates Android).

I disagree that it removes confusion and misunderstanding. Have you ever seen a teenager’s message? It’s like code. I find it can often add to stories.

People have conversations that they might not face to face. For example, this from Teaching Eden:

—

[The messages are in kbd in the story, but it doesn’t render here, so I’ve used italics]

Eden fell asleep some time after three in the morning. She woke feeling anxious, as if a cold void had opened in her very being. She was desperate to talk to Michele, to try to fix things. She realized that the coach probably needed time. But she had to say something. Reaching out, she turned over her 'phone, half hoping for a message from Michele. There was none.

Her fingers worked rapidly. Then she deleted her work and started again. Trying to be honest. Trying to make it OK.

I screwed up. Big time. You are right to be angry. I'm so sorry. When you are OK to talk, message me. I meant what I said about loving you. Please forgive me. Eden

She deleted 'Eden' and wrote 'Sums' before sending.

And then she waited. Cross-legged in bed. Cradling her 'phone in both hands. Hope and terror fighting in her heart. She jumped when the 'phone beeped.

Can you leave me alone? I need time. I don't want to see you right now.

Eden felt the tears returning as she typed a simple, unadorned 'OK.' She had no idea how she was going to get through the weekend. Let alone school next week. And Luke. Seeing Luke.

Eden rapidly typed a new message.

It's not Luke's fault. It's mine. He's dealing with some shit. Don't take it out on him, please.

She waited.

Just fuck off, won't you!

Eden buried her head in a pillow and cried as if she would never stop.

—

 

[EmilyMiller]

Or - again to move the story along, this taken from Your Love’s Whore (which has a lot of messaging):

—

Megan's hips stared to gyrate, her back began to arch away from the sheets. She bit her bottom lip. Yes, this was what she needed. Fuck, this was good...

** beep **

Shit! That could be him.

Megan grabbed for her 'phone on the bedside table. She sent it clattering to the floor. Thank fuck for OtterBox!

Retrieving it, facial recognition didn't work, and Megan feverishly tapped in her passcode. She got it right the second time. One new message.

Your $18.94 Available Balance is less than your Low Cash Mode threshold.

Fuck! Where did the money go? Right, the present for Matt. The one that she couldn't really afford. Megan threw her 'phone onto the bed. Then it started chiming again.

Teams meeting in fifteen minutes. No time to shower, she would just have to do her best to not look too sweaty and flushed.

Megan grabbed some clothes from her dresser and closet, pulled a brush ineffectively through her tangled brown hair, and flipped open her laptop.

Matt! Fucking Matt! Why was he not replying to her messages? Was he ghosting her?

Megan's colleagues began to appear in little boxes. None of them looked like they were mid-masturbation. She tried to pull herself together, to focus on work.

 

[Djmac1031]

But I kinda feel I’m fluent in different forms of communications

I'm sorry. Couldn't help it.

https://imgur.com/a/uf9wzuS

 

[Djmac1031]

People have conversations that they might not face to face

I did a whole chapter of my Jenna series where she sends Tom Snapchat photos and later, live stream sexting.

Jenna is 19. Tom in his late 40s. She had to explain the app to him and show him how it worked.

And she chose that particular app because, while she liked him, she wasn't quite ready to trust him with picture he might be able to save and post online. Using Snapchat insured he couldn’t save any of her risqué pictures.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I'm sorry. Couldn't help it.

https://imgur.com/a/uf9wzuS

How did you hack my IG?

Emily

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Technology is just part of the setting and makes it authentic. If you have a 1950s science lab setting, you're just going to have to have the crazy professor whip out a slide rule at some point, and if you don't know how they're used you might just need to type 'slide rule' into youtuibe for a quick tutorial. It's no different than doing a little research of 18th century ships and how to set and reef sails to write an authentic pirate story. So if you're writing a modern day slice of life hookup and at breakfast the morning after neither character pulls out a cell phone and asks for a number then it's just not authentic - or both characters are just off the richter on the slut scale. And if they are supposed to be off the richter slutty then they probably met on tinder - which requires phones.

In 1985 her date stood her up. She's stands there hurt wondering where he is. It's legit.

In 2015 her date stood her up. She's on her phone, "Where the fuck you at??" If she's not doing this, we just don't believe this character.

 

[SimonDoom]

 

[EmilyMiller]

View attachment 2321011

https://imgur.com/a/qwCd1tA

 

[Voboy]

I don't like technology.

But I am not my characters. They are younger, raised in a different time than I was. So they like technology. It strikes me as unrealistic, in stories set during the 21st century, that they wouldn't text each other or use social media.

 

[XerXesXu]

I’ve a friend who still uses XP SP2 because he likes to use the DOS prompt programmes he’s used to.

I’m used to a 40-inch HD screen with a Mini-PC mounted on the back to make it portable within the house. I bought a smartphone about a month ago (necessary for biometric verification), I told him I was struggling because the 6-inch screen was so small I couldn’t read it. Like a good friend, he went to the local branch of the RNIB and bought the gadgets they suggested, a small LED flashlight, a magnifying glass and a speak-the-time thingy. I don’t have the heart to tell him the smartphone has apps that do all these things, I need to buy new spectacles.

I use the latest technology in stories; I enthusiastically follow all the contemporary developments, though I'll never use them my characters will.

 

[KeithD]

I keep waiting for the Chicago Manual of Style to tell us how best to render email and text content, etc., in writing, but so far it doesn't seem to have stepped up to this. It's no longer a new issue, though.

On another note, artificial intelligence, one of a April Fools' Day contest stories will include hanky-panky of AI in porn movies.

 

[MrPixel]

I write present-day, and my characters are a mix of GenX, Millennials, and some GenZ. And I've been a technologist (computer engineer) my entire adult life. So of course there's going to be technology just scattered about as a matter of everyday life. Texting is assumed, and the protagonists' home - a swingers' nest - has big flat-screen TVs in all the playrooms. MMC1 and FMC2 just went out and bought an electric car, and blew a circuit breaker when they plugged it in in the garage. MMC1 has his work cut out for him.

It's all good.

 

[MrPixel]

I’m kinda in between. I had a friend here from continental Europe (sadly since left) who was four years younger. She couldn’t write more than three words without a stream of …

I personally find overuse of emojis - including my own! - a bit of an affectation, not a generational thing. I think it's endearing most of the time. And I'm a Boomer.

 

[Djmac1031]

I personally find overuse of emojis - including my own! - a bit of an affectation, not a generational thing. I think it's endearing most of the time. And I'm a Boomer.

I had someone point out my 19 year old character Jenna didn't really speak or behave like a modern 19 year old.

And they had a point.

I don't use emojis a lot, but I wound up writing a scene where she was having a conversation with the MMC, so of course I made sure she sent emojis in her texts.

I've done it in a few others where appropriate but I try not to over use them either.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I have never written a text message into a story, and I don't think I ever will. I've never included a mobile phone (except once on this site), or social media, or a 42-inch 4k TV. The few times I've seen TikTok mentioned in something I'm reading, my hairs have stood on end like I'm an angry cat. There's something about modern day technology that I personally don't gel with in fiction.

It feels weirdly clumsy to me. I know it shouldn't - social media, Google, and streaming services are all large parts of our world now, so why does it feel so strange to read about them?

Technology can reduce tension. Instant communication and global connectivity are hard to write about, since there can be no tragic misunderstandings when an iMessage can be sent at anytime from anywhere to anyone. Opening a letter is tactile and sensory in a way that opening a text is not. Similarly, someone sitting on their couch and messaging their friend is physically detached in a way that an in-person conversation is not. The digital realm just doesn't translate well to evocative writing.

But I think it extends beyond the difficulty of writing technology. Even reading, it just feels awkward. The jargon of downloads, App Stores and text slang is clumsy. Maybe it's the fact that I read/write to escape the world, and I sure as fuck don't want to read or write about Instagram models or pinned YouTube comments. Maybe it's my fear that technology is replacing books, subconsciously coming through.

I don't really know, but I know I don't like it. All of my stories take place in vague worlds that are slightly more whimsical than ours, their tech usually akin to the 70s or 80s. I'm not saying it can't work - the right author can make anything work. But for me there is some sort of buffer to enjoying tech in books.

What do others think about the modern day conundrum?

I finally submitted a story last spring that is in the 21st Century (2017 to be exact). In the first part, the female main character complains about her Tinder and Bumble dates, but she also has problems with "real life" dates. (Yes, it was Geek Pride.) It wasn't necessary to describe anything technical beyond the "swiping" technique. In a prequel (or was it a sequel?), she and her friend are looking at an Internet site, probably on a laptop. Again, no tech info was necessary.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Technology is just part of the setting and makes it authentic. If you have a 1950s science lab setting, you're just going to have to have the crazy professor whip out a slide rule at some point, and if you don't know how they're used you might just need to type 'slide rule' into youtuibe for a quick tutorial. It's no different than doing a little research of 18th century ships and how to set and reef sails to write an authentic pirate story. So if you're writing a modern day slice of life hookup and at breakfast the morning after neither character pulls out a cell phone and asks for a number then it's just not authentic - or both characters are just off the richter on the slut scale. And if they are supposed to be off the richter slutty then they probably met on tinder - which requires phones.

In 1985 her date stood her up. She's stands there hurt wondering where he is. It's legit.

In 2015 her date stood her up. She's on her phone, "Where the fuck you at??" If she's not doing this, we just don't believe this character.

I have both a land line and a cell phone now. When you think of it, before cell phones, unless you told people where you were going, you just "disappeared" when you walked out the door. No one could contact you and you could only contact them via a pay phone.

My maternal grandfather had no phone at all in his house until about 1950. One night, coming home from work, he fell asleep on the subway and wound up miles from his home. His wife (my grandmother) had no idea where the hell he was.