I'm not a talking-on-the-phone person. Ninety percent of the time, I would rather text than talk to someone for hours—or even ten minutes. But this may originate from the fact that I have certain people who "snag" me on the phone and won't let go. Even after saying, "Okay, I need to get going..." their stories begin anew. How do some people get out of conversations without being rude? Or sounding like a short-circuiting robot?
This could just be the introvert in me, but I would rather avoid certain calls. But, this is also an excellent "from tell to show" device for writers of all sorts.
When writing a character who gets a phone call, everything from the current setting to the people around them while they choose to answer or not can play into an author's hands.
Though I wasn't a huge fan of the third Jurassic Park movie, the scene with the mobile phone and the attacking dinosaur on the boat was a stellar example of contrast and rising tension.
On the caller side, several characters are fighting for their lives against a man-eating dinosaur that keeps knocking the phone away from them. The people have to lock themselves inside a cage to keep from getting eaten, all while trying to grab the phone as it slides along the boat—without getting their arms bitten off.
On the receiver side, a toddler hears a familiar voice shouting for him to "give the phone to Mommy." Mommy is outside talking to someone while the child is inside watching...dun dun dun...the deplorable purple dinosaur, Barney! The toddler starts jumping up and down, dancing to the suited doofus while real people are on an island about to be devoured by genetically engineered dinos.
Morbidly hilarious.
But not all phone calls have to be dire to build tension or give details about both the caller and receiver. In these cases, dialogue and body language are a writer's best friend. Every reaction and inflection bow to a writer's whims. All these devices can say, "I definitely do/don't want to talk to that person" without saying so directly.
Consider why a character might do the following when they see who's name shows up on their phone screen:
- Scream and throw the phone out the car window
- Lose all their confidence and turn into a blubbering puddle in front of all their military buddies
- Go eerily silent while they stare at the phone until it stops ringing
- Answer so fast, they forget they were in the middle of foreplay (and their lover's reaction would be a bonus!)
- Yell "No" into the phone and hang up immediately
- Miss the call because they started crying
The list can go on forever, and any of those scenarios could align with any genre of writing. Horror, satire, rom-com—you name it. The situation could include dinosaurs, giant insects, or a relative who supposedly died years ago. As always, real life provides excellent inspiration and launching points.
I was recently talking to someone close to me who told me they cringe every time a certain person calls. I didn't have to ask why since I also know that "certain person." Unfortunately, the caller in that situation only reached out when they needed something. Usually a messy something that required time and money to fix.
And for me, the most difficult part was knowing that most of the time, the "messy something" could have been avoided with a little foresight and propriety.
I often need to step back and remember that not everyone is efficient. Not everyone respects other people's time or property. Though I was taught to be mindful in all situations if possible, many people skate through life and leave mounting messes for others. I don't want to be like that. I especially don't want to be like that with the people I love.
When my name flashes on someone's phone screen, even just for a text, I hope it helps the receiver take a breath and feel calm. I hope they never feel like they have to cringe and hide from me. Usually, I'm just checking in to say hi after a while or offer some encouragement. Why else are we here?
And in the meantime, I'm happy to use all those feelings attributed to caller ID as story fuel.
Keep on smilin'!
Commenti