As an author of contemporary fiction, I'm having a heck of a time keeping up with technology. It's not that I don't know what's out there, or how to use it. (Well, okay, I admit I don't know how to use most of it.) The problem is in deciding how much of it my characters should be using.
I commented on another blog a couple weeks back that when I started writing ExtraNormal, my characters were flipping their phones open, which was accurate for the time. Just a couple years later only the geek kids flip their phones open (or so my kids tell me). But where does it stop? By the next book will they need to be face timing? Skyping on their phones? Or will that be blase and dated in a couple years? What about iPads, iPods, or iAnything? Should folks carry them around? Will it sound lame if they do, or if they don't?
It's details like that than can pull a reader of the story and make them think about the fact that the story isn't real. That someone was sitting at a desk trying to decide whether have their character's talk on a flip phone or face time on an iPod. It's also enough to make your head spin.
I'd love it if some other writers, or even readers, sounded in on how to make technology (or lack of technology) flow in a contemporary story.
I totally hear you on this. Only my problem is writing a sci fi story that takes place about 100 years in the future. How the heck do you make things sounds advanced enough, but still recognizable without a ginormous explanation of what the piece of technology is and how it works (*yawn*)? Tough stuff, especially since I don't really consider myself to be overly techy. :)
ReplyDeleteOh yes, that is hard. I had the same problem with describing technology on a different planet. It felt like I had to either bore my reader or confuse them. Sometimes both. =)
DeleteWith technology changing so much I can totally understand this problem. I can't say that I have the answer- but when I write and something seems like it will be outdated I try to use little description of that object (so the book won't sound dated). So maybe instead of taking out their cell phone, flipping it open, and calling so and so- I would say, she took out her cell and instantly called so and so (letting the reader imagine the exact details of making the call). Readers are so familiar with cell phones and computers that they usually don't need many details to create a mentail image. I think it is okay to have some details in our writing that involve technology, but it is hard to write without making things outdated. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful. Good luck! I look forward to seeing what other people have to say!
ReplyDelete~Jess
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