We have a few ongoing things going on here at 52 Weeks of Wordage, and before I continue with the exercise, I'm just going to alert anyone who might not have seen the posts.
- Introduce yourself and shamelessly plug your blog while visiting other 52 Weeks followers' blogs!
- Weekly contest, "Make It Up Monday!" Submit by Thursday at 5pm to be featured on my blog on Friday!
- Ask me anything you want to know about my writing, my life, my creative process, etc... The sky's the limit!
Now for the exercise...
Make up as and answer as many questions as you can about her telephone use. In your last 30 seconds, go back and notate the three most telling things.
I will be completing this exercise with the use of one of my characters from my current "Work In Progress" (WIP - see tab above for excerpts and character profiles), Natalie Hansley.
1,2,3, GO!!!
First things first, Natalie lives in the not quite near but also not quite distant future, and phones have become obsolete technology. Instead, they have what is called a portable VidScreen system. A small necklace that she wears works as a projector that displays either a written message or a video call. If one does not feel like he or she looks presentable for a VidScreen conversation, he or she has the option to "mute" his or her camera, thus rendering the caller blind. I haven't quite figured out all of the mechanics of this device, but that's the basic idea...
That being said, let's begin!
Natalie is all politeness on the phone. When not at her house (where her butler would answer it), she answers the phone formally. "Hello, this is Natalie Hansley. May I ask who is calling?" It's a trait that was passed down to her by her father. Her voice is calm and easy, not too loud, but also not quiet enough to be lost over the transmission or any sounds going on behind her.
Being that her VidScreen is always on her person, she doesn't really have to set up a vacation message, but her normal message, should she find herself unable to answer, is simple and brief: "You've reached Natalie Hansley's message unit. Please leave a message with your name and number, and I will call you back at my earliest convenience."
In general, Natalie is indifferent to her phone. She would find it slightly unsettling to be without it for a long period of time because of possible emergencies that might arise, but she's not overly attached to it like most people are.
Her ringtone is probably the most unexpected part of her phone. As a joke an old classmate of hers (she has since graduated) uploaded a contemporary piece of music comparable to something by Ludacris or Eminem, and, deciding that she actually liked the beat, she never changed it to a piece of music more "appropriate" for a girl of her high status. Needless to say, she gets quite a few odd looks thrown her way when she receives a call. She doesn't normally call people except for her family, but she is called on a regular basis by the few friends she has.
Natalie's father pays all of the bills, and she has been relying on his financial support all of her life even though she would be fine without his help. She most likely wouldn't choose to pay the amount of money that her father does for the family VidScreen account not because she couldn't afford it but because she would see it as ostentatious and unnecessary.
END
And that's that. What did you come up with?
Peace.
Stef.
P.S. I'm considering adding a bi-weekly or monthly vlog to 52 Weeks... Your thoughts? Best idea ever? Worst? It's a completely undeveloped idea as of right now, because I don't even have guidance as far as topic goes, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Ah, fledgling projects, how I love thee.
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| This is kind of what it'd look like, I think. |
That being said, let's begin!
Natalie is all politeness on the phone. When not at her house (where her butler would answer it), she answers the phone formally. "Hello, this is Natalie Hansley. May I ask who is calling?" It's a trait that was passed down to her by her father. Her voice is calm and easy, not too loud, but also not quiet enough to be lost over the transmission or any sounds going on behind her.
Being that her VidScreen is always on her person, she doesn't really have to set up a vacation message, but her normal message, should she find herself unable to answer, is simple and brief: "You've reached Natalie Hansley's message unit. Please leave a message with your name and number, and I will call you back at my earliest convenience."
In general, Natalie is indifferent to her phone. She would find it slightly unsettling to be without it for a long period of time because of possible emergencies that might arise, but she's not overly attached to it like most people are.
Her ringtone is probably the most unexpected part of her phone. As a joke an old classmate of hers (she has since graduated) uploaded a contemporary piece of music comparable to something by Ludacris or Eminem, and, deciding that she actually liked the beat, she never changed it to a piece of music more "appropriate" for a girl of her high status. Needless to say, she gets quite a few odd looks thrown her way when she receives a call. She doesn't normally call people except for her family, but she is called on a regular basis by the few friends she has.
Natalie's father pays all of the bills, and she has been relying on his financial support all of her life even though she would be fine without his help. She most likely wouldn't choose to pay the amount of money that her father does for the family VidScreen account not because she couldn't afford it but because she would see it as ostentatious and unnecessary.
END
And that's that. What did you come up with?
Peace.
Stef.
P.S. I'm considering adding a bi-weekly or monthly vlog to 52 Weeks... Your thoughts? Best idea ever? Worst? It's a completely undeveloped idea as of right now, because I don't even have guidance as far as topic goes, so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Ah, fledgling projects, how I love thee.
Comments
Okay here goes.
Yenny only owns one phone, a landline with an answering machine. It’s a cheap old dial-tone phone that matches everything else in her apartment. She screens all her calls since she doesn’t have caller ID. If the caller bothers leaving a message and it’s someone important, she’ll call them back 2 minutes later and pretend that she couldn’t answer the phone. If it’s someone from her family or a close friend, she’ll answer the phone, although she’ll take her time to do so. She will answer with a laid back “Hey, I’m here. What’s up?” Her answering machine message consists of a very simple: “Hey, you’ve reached Yenny. Leave a message after the tone.” When she’s talking on the phone, she has her arms crossed and holds the receiver to her ear with a lazy wrist. When she goes out of town, it doesn’t occur to her to change the message on her machine. Her ring tone is a classic high-pitched “ringgg- ringgg”. Her telephone bill is combined with her internet and together they come up to about 80$/month and she can afford it thanks to the tips from her week-end bartending job.
Phone lady:
Angie has a deep, husky voice, and is often incorrectly identified as a man when she speaks on the phone.
She has a ten-year-old cell phone with a basic 'Brr-Brr' ring tone. If she happens to hear it, she invariably has to scrabble for it in the bottom of her bag, so she hasn't got time to check caller ID.
'Hello' she says with a cautious lilt in her voice - rather like the one you'd use if some unidentifiable person was knocking on the door.
She hardly ever buys air time and never checks her messages, so when callers who know her well get the standard voice mail message, they send an email (or even a snail mail) instead.
She will live happily ever after with a bill of about five US dollars per month.
The end
** Any (.. er.. all) similarities between Angie and MM are wholly co-incidental.
And someday I'll actually try your exercises.
Del is down on her luck at the moment; her landline has been cut off. when her mobile broke a few months ago she couldn’t afford to replace it, so the only time she really uses the phone is when she is at work. She answers the phone with an aggressive ‘what?’ Clutching the phone under her chin whilst she scribbles down orders. During working hours the siren call of the old- fashioned handset triggers a battle of wills to see who can ignore the shrill ringing longest, Del is almost invariably the first to cave. When left alone to lock up, she racks up quite an extensive bill calling her boyfriend who is working overseas. Although she thankfully doesn’t foot the charges, she does worry about what her boss will do when he works out why his bill is so high.
as for the vlog or not to vlog question, I say go for it! everyone loves a bit of video goodness.
x
happy writing!
To answer your question about vlog, try it out if it works it works, if it doesn't, it looks like there's a lot to do in the world of 52 weeks...
Topics - you could start with a writing exercise? say exercise 180 can be a vlog?
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Second:
Evie snatched up her Blackberry, punched the button, and grunted into the receiver, "What?" Her normally pleasant voice, more a melodic whisper than anything, was harsh and angry, bordering on whiskey-grunge. The phone was propped onto her shoulder, with her neck at an unnatural and, frankly, frightening position.
She heard the beep of the call-waiting while waiting for her stunned sister on the other end to respond. She didn't bother to move the phone from her ear, her arms wrapped around bags and books threatening to drop, knowing that her generic voicemail message would pick up: "This is you know who. Do you know what. I'll return the favor."
Most of the time, Evie was enamored with her smart phone. Today, was not one of those days. Her dozen or so classical ringtones usually sang her into a smile, Bach and Wagner via ornamental, electronic tones. Today, she would like to throw the expensive and valued device into the river.
Don't you realize that the phone is just a tool?! Jasmine wanted to scream at the handsome man playing rosary with his crackberry. 'It's a tool, fool, and like all tools it has its place and purpose,' she muttered into her wine glass before emptying it. And this is neither its time or place, she thought, as she reached across the table for the bottle of French Pinot Noir. She emptied it into her glass in spite of her motherly inner voice's warning, because she was curious if her deliberately heavy handed clinking of glass against glass would register with her date. Her blind, thank you very much for nothing sister, Blackberry addicted blind un-date date. But he didn't seem to notice it, or if he did he gave no sign of having heard it. 'He?' What is his name, she thought. Alden? Allen? Elton? No matter.
Jasmine heard him speaking words, ostensibly for her edification as it was about his oh so important work. But she had stopped concentrating on what he was saying and the words weren't connecting to her meaningfully through the muted rumble of the busy restaurant noises.
After slowly half-emptying her glass, she decided to join the modern age of connected public impoliteness to spite him. She reached into her purse, pulled out the dated cell phone and turned it on. 'Oh,' she heard him say when the phone chimed cheerfully its state of being turned on, 'I see you have a call. If it's important, please take it. I won't mind.' Jasmine couldn't be quite sure, but it seemed to her that he had at best kind of lifted his head towards her when he'd said that, but his eyes had remained fixated on his phone's screen.
'Hello,' she said to the phone. 'No, my name is not 'Stulte.' Nor is it 'Asinus.' She stood, picked up her wine glass, and carefully poured it onto his phone before walking out. His squawking could be heard on the street, where she quickly dialed her sister. "Hey,' she said to Arden, 'you punked me, didn't you?! Bitch!' Arden's laughter brought a smile to Jasmine's face, as it always does.