The demise of the letter as a plot device (writerly thread)

[oggbashan]

I have noticed that several classic novels and some operas use a letter as a plot device.

The letter can be misunderstood, delivered to the wrong person, or read by someone other than the addressee. All those events and others can add complications to the plot.

Is that complexity possible with email and texts?

We can still use letters in stories set in historic periods but what do we use for contemporary stories?

Any ideas?

Og

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I have noticed that several classic novels and some operas use a letter as a plot device.

The letter can be misunderstood, delivered to the wrong person, or read by someone other than the addressee. All those events and others can add complications to the plot.

Is that complexity possible with email and texts?

We can still use letters in stories set in historic periods but what do we use for contemporary stories?

Any ideas?

Og

Emails can easily be misunderstood since 70% of human communication (or so I've read) is non-verbal. While reduced in importance, letters can still be usedful in plots, I suspect.

 

[Liar]

The letter can be misunderstood, delivered to the wrong person, or read by someone other than the addressee. All those events and others can add complications to the plot.

Is that complexity possible with email and texts?

We can still use letters in stories set in historic periods but what do we use for contemporary stories?

Any ideas?

I think most old letter plot devices can be translated into new medias.

Text message to the wrong number. Chat room alias mix-up (although that's more like a masquearde ball thing, maybe?). Forgetting to log out from your Facebook. Love-emails unanswered because they got stuck in the SPAM filter...

What you can't have back, is the time delay factor. The "chase the letter cross country to stop it before it's delivered" plot.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

Cell phones are also making a lot of stories different, in suspense and other stories. In trouble? Make a call. A lot of older movies would be very different with the invention of cell phones.

 

[jomar]

Faxes too.

 

[Corylea]

Well, and there are some people who haven't embraced the new technology. My husband doesn't have a cell phone, and while he does do e-mail, he hates it.

The kicker? My husband is a Computer Science Professor.

If you still want to use a letter, making the character someone who's crotchety about new technology would work.

 

[Guest]

I have noticed that several classic novels and some operas use a letter as a plot device.

The letter can be misunderstood, delivered to the wrong person, or read by someone other than the addressee. All those events and others can add complications to the plot.

Is that complexity possible with email and texts?

We can still use letters in stories set in historic periods but what do we use for contemporary stories?

Any ideas?

Og

I think that you can still use letters because you can always use it from the point of view of a letter sent back years ago.... it changing the lives of everyone in the past.... and someone from now finding the letter and trying to fix things from that point of view

emails... another easy one, one wrong letter in the email addy and it goes to someone else

 

[oggbashan]

Emails can easily be misunderstood since 70% of human communication (or so I've read) is non-verbal. While reduced in importance, letters can still be usedful in plots, I suspect.

That leads to a corollary: Are most of us getting better at non-verbal communication because we use email and text so often?

There are still opportunities for misunderstandings but perhaps fewer than the less-instant letters.

Og

 

[Munachi]

well i suppose we make up written non-verbal things... i don't think a ":" and a ")" meant more than interpunctuation in the old letter-writing times. - people have varying literacy actually in those though - a friend once told me he reads ":" + "p" as the letter "p" - so if you write "that's silly " - he will read "that's silly pee".

on the other hand, i think misunderstandings actually get more likely, because people put less thought into what they write. i often get emails from not-so-literate friends where all i can think is wtf?! their communications skills aren't improving - or maybe it's just that mine aren't adapting...

but a bit off-topic - you said novels and opera - you forgot theatre - if you want to read a great piece about letter-confusion, read "o scrisoara pierduta" (a lost letter) by ion luca caragiale. though maybe to fully appreciate the humour you have to know a bit of romanian society and politics in the late 19th century...

 

[only_more_so]

That leads to a corollary: Are most of us getting better at non-verbal communication because we use email and text so often?

There are still opportunities for misunderstandings but perhaps fewer than the less-instant letters.

Og

Actually, I think people are just getting worse at verbal communication, so it merely seems people are getting better at non-verbal communication.

I think there are still plenty of ways to get your wires crossed in the modern age. Heck the phrase "wires crossed" is a perfect example of an idiom that came about because of modern communication.

Although, if you really want to throw a reader for a loop, have someone send a telegram.

 

[tickledkitty]

The last story I posted, Daisy Refined, is contemporary, and I used a letter in it. The heroine had refused to read it, and so it lingered there, at the edge of her consciousness throughout the story. Finally, close to the end, she read it. I thought it worked out well. It would be hard to do that with an e-mail. It's too easy to click on it or delete it.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

There's also the possibility of techno mess-up, like when you don't know too much about technology, and send a steamy love letter to a hottie, btu accidentally forward a copy to the whole company...

 

[voluptuary_manque]

There's also the possibility of techno mess-up, like when you don't know too much about technology, and send a steamy love letter to a hottie, btu accidentally forward a copy to the whole company...

And your spouse works in the same company . . .

And the hottie is the CEO's niece . . .

 

[Saucy_Sage]

I like the idea of a beautifully engraved invitation - perhaps to a ball or even a wedding - going awry.

"I thought it was a costume party."

 

[elfin_odalisque]

That leads to a corollary: Are most of us getting better at non-verbal communication because we use email and text so often?

There are still opportunities for misunderstandings but perhaps fewer than the less-instant letters.

Og

No, Og, we're getting worse.

The diferentiation between the written and the spoken word is not well understood. The spur of the moment, unrecorded, insensitive remark that formerly disappeared into the spoken or telephoned ether, now makes its way into computer log files as an email, an IM or an SMS.

Increasingly we don't understand the difference in permanence between speaking and writing.

D'Arcy's letter to Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice surely is a literary tour de force in creating distance to change a perception of character. The fact that the writer is not present as the heroine assimilates life-changing thoughts is still possible but only if you play with new media.

Today, we are left with social networking sites, Facebook, BeBo, MySpace, YouTube etc, to both communicate and do a pratfall.

Who writes personal letters nowadays?

 

[Penelope Street]

Fun thread with some clever ideas. Thank you.

That leads to a corollary: Are most of us getting better at non-verbal communication because we use email and text so often?

Interesting question. I don't think I'm getting any better! I'll have to ask my daughter; she texts faster than I can type. When she can text faster than I can talk, then maybe I'll understand the appeal.

I like the idea of a beautifully engraved invitation - perhaps to a ball or even a wedding - going awry.

"I thought it was a costume party."

Who else thought right away of Bridget Jones?

Cell phones are also making a lot of stories different, in suspense and other stories. In trouble? Make a call. A lot of older movies would be very different with the invention of cell phones.

True. My phone does give me a sense of security. When reading and writing, I imagine modern characters having mobile phones. If such a character searched her purse for coins and used a pay phone, I'd think it unusual.

Who writes personal letters nowadays?

Letters, no- cards, yes.

The last story I posted, 'Daisy Refined', is contemporary, and I used a letter in it. The heroine had refused to read it, and so it lingered there, at the edge of her consciousness throughout the story. Finally, close to the end, she read it. I thought it worked out well. It would be hard to do that with an e-mail. It's too easy to click on it or delete it.

True, there are some things you just can't do with an electronic; deleting an e-mail doesn't quite have the dramatic impact of burning a letter.

I think the new technology gives us more choices, not less. If we want to use a letter, or pay phone, we still don't need to set the story too far in the past to make it believable.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

The very fact that (nearly) everyone carries a cell these days, especially anyone under the Mature category, has to be taken into account in plots. The thought that someone would just go off and not be heard from for several days is completely unrealistic anymore. You can run but if you try to hide, your SO will be calling 911 within 24 hours!

 

[DeeZire]

With email, hitting 'reply all' instead of 'reply' can have interesting consequences.

 

[3113]

The L.A. Times just had an article about how cellphones have changed screenplays and such (here)--that is, how they have to be taken into account in plotting a story set in modern times. It's not just the letter that's fairly well dead as a plot device, it's also things like being lost in the woods with no phone in sight.

But as pointed out, e-mail and cellphones do create a lot of other useful plot devices. The big difference between letters and e-mail/texting, I think, and the reason they haven't taught us how to communicate better is because they're often so short and erasable. With no telephones and only letters to communicate over a distance, people took time and effort to write and write and write very carefully all their thoughts and feelings to others. And these often would be kept, giving those of us who read such letters great insight into personalities, lifestyles, as well as people's intimate stories. Imagine a sister caring for an ailing father back in "letter days": "Dearest brother, our beloved father's health is failing, yet he rallies daily to sit up and listen as I read his favorite passages from Ovid to him. I pray you can get here soon....." etc. Sister doesn't know if Brother will get this letter in time to be able to travel to visit them before dad dies. She gives him all the news in detail, and adds in her thoughts and feelings.

Now imagine the e-mail: "Bro, dad's not doing well. All he does is listen to books on the ipod. Get your ass out here." To which the brother can immediately reply: "Flying in tonight, 9pm" and then delete the sister's original e-mail.

It's all short and disposable--not just because the medium allows it to be, but because everything in our lifestyle allows it to be. In the days of letter you didn't usually send it out immediately. You wrote and re-wrote and built up a few days of thoughts and events. And you knew there'd be no immediate response to your letter, nor was the person likely to call you up and talk to you about what you wrote, nor could they probably get to you in person, at least not very fast.

E-mails, unlike letters which were the only form of communication outside of a verbal messenger for a very long time, don't have to communicate well. When you can respond to an e-mail: "LOL" you've got a very different form of communication, and a very imperfect one, from "I laughed for days, my darling, on reading about your mishaps in Paris...."

 

[AvoidingRealWork]

Cell phones are also making a lot of stories different, in suspense and other stories. In trouble? Make a call. A lot of older movies would be very different with the invention of cell phones.

ROMEY IM TAKIN A SLEEPNG DRG 2 FAK DEATH LOL CUM GET ME @ CAPLT CRYPT FR LARRY WIL SHO U WHERE

LUV JULZ

 

[voluptuary_manque]

The L.A. Times just had an article about how cellphones have changed screenplays and such (here)--that is, how they have to be taken into account in plotting a story set in modern times. It's not just the letter that's fairly well dead as a plot device, it's also things like being lost in the woods with no phone in sight.

But as pointed out, e-mail and cellphones do create a lot of other useful plot devices. The big difference between letters and e-mail/texting, I think, and the reason they haven't taught us how to communicate better is because they're often so short and erasable. With no telephones and only letters to communicate over a distance, people took time and effort to write and write and write very carefully all their thoughts and feelings to others. And these often would be kept, giving those of us who read such letters great insight into personalities, lifestyles, as well as people's intimate stories. Imagine a sister caring for an ailing father back in "letter days": "Dearest brother, our beloved father's health is failing, yet he rallies daily to sit up and listen as I read his favorite passages from Ovid to him. I pray you can get here soon....." etc. Sister doesn't know if Brother will get this letter in time to be able to travel to visit them before dad dies. She gives him all the news in detail, and adds in her thoughts and feelings.

Now imagine the e-mail: "Bro, dad's not doing well. All he does is listen to books on the ipod. Get your ass out here." To which the brother can immediately reply: "Flying in tonight, 9pm" and then delete the sister's original e-mail.

It's all short and disposable--not just because the medium allows it to be, but because everything in our lifestyle allows it to be. In the days of letter you didn't usually send it out immediately. You wrote and re-wrote and built up a few days of thoughts and events. And you knew there'd be no immediate response to your letter, nor was the person likely to call you up and talk to you about what you wrote, nor could they probably get to you in person, at least not very fast.

E-mails, unlike letters which were the only form of communication outside of a verbal messenger for a very long time, don't have to communicate well. When you can respond to an e-mail: "LOL" you've got a very different form of communication, and a very imperfect one, from "I laughed for days, my darling, on reading about your mishaps in Paris...."

Exquisitely put. We have so internalized the silly idea that Time is Money that we have forgotten how to properly spend either.

ROMEY IM TAKIN A SLEEPNG DRG 2 FAK DEATH LOL CUM GET ME @ CAPLT CRYPT FR LARRY WIL SHO U WHERE

LUV JULZ

Exactly the point 3113 made, only more tragicomically.

 

[only_more_so]

With email, hitting 'reply all' instead of 'reply' can have interesting consequences.

It can also shut-down a company's email.

Once someone accidently sent an email to the entire facility I worked in (like 8000 people). A couple dozen people replied all to say he mistakenly sent them an email (or called the guy stupid for sending to a list). A couple people even replied all to the people who replied all saying "don't reply all".

It took half the day for the email server to catch up.

 

[damppanties]

With email, hitting 'reply all' instead of 'reply' can have interesting consequences.

Or 'reply' instead of 'forward'.

 

[Stella_Omega]

ROMEY IM TAKIN A SLEEPNG DRG 2 FAK DEATH LOL CUM GET ME @ CAPLT CRYPT FR LARRY WIL SHO U WHERE

LUV JULZ

Perfect!

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Perfect!

Shakespeare would burst into tears but you have to admit, it's hysterical.