As much as technology is great and has changed the world for the better (mostly), it can greatly alter a story if it isn’t checked. We don’t just have access to wall phones or television anymore. We have instant communication with each other and internet access that connects us, making it sometimes difficult to tell a good story with the proper amount of suspense to make it exciting for the reader. This post will find how current technology ruins fiction by hindering a story’s plot and how you can fix it.
How Does Technology Ruin Suspense?
The quick answer is: basically in every way possible. The moment an author mentions that a character has a cell phone, the entire threat of danger immediately goes out the door. What is stopping a person being chased by the villain from calling the cops or texting their friends to come to find them? What’s stopping authorities from tracking a character’s location on the phone’s GPS? All it takes is literally the press of a button and someone can find where that character is because he or she is so easily tracked by their phones.
But this does more than just stop the suspense in your book. It will destroy your plot. And it makes it very difficult to regain your traction when you eventually notice the lack of suspense. God help you if you get to the second act in your novel and you cannot find a logical way to build suspense or move the plot forward without ditching technology at certain points. That is a terrible feeling. I’ve been there and I know the amount of rewriting that will go on. It can make you want to stop writing your novel. At that point, stripping the technology from the story may look forced and unrealistic to the story. Therefore, make sure you have a plan about technology before you begin your story.
Social Media Technology
Sure, social media has its good points. Not many, though. Social media connects us too easily, too much, and too fast, and when a character has access to social media in a story, it goes even further than simply calling for help on a cell phone. It allows access to other users all around the world in an instant. That amazing ability doesn’t help the suspense or plot in your story.
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Live Video Streaming
This is just another way your suspense could fall apart in an instant. For example, let’s say that a character needs to diffuse a bomb, but he doesn’t have the slightest clue what he’s doing. He can go Live and talk with an expert in the bomb squad. In an instant, the bomb squad expert can see all the colored wired and specifics of the bomb. The character and the bomb guy can simply discuss which wires to pull to diffuse the bomb. Done. Over. Any suspense is gone.
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Virtual Assistant Tech
In real life, Artificial Intelligence enhances our lives. No doubt. However, it has the potential to kill your story if gone unchecked. Many homes have some type of virtual assistant hardware sitting on the shelf waiting for people to ask it a question (and likely also recording everything you say in the privacy of your own home). In a moment of suspense, what’s stopping it from recording a clue that will get used later on? It could and I am sure some author has already used that in their story. Also, virtual assistant AI has the immediate ability to contact emergency numbers, like 911. It makes it too easy to destroy tension in fiction.
Three Ways to Fix the Tech Problem
I’m not against using technology in fiction, although I must say it can get boring because it sours any character development. It takes the focus away from the characters and instead gives that focus to the plot. So, here are three methods to solve that problem when dealing with tech:
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Fully Embrace It
If you decide to use tech in your story, go all the way. Don’t half-ass it. There isn’t anything wrong with using a tech-heavy story as long as it is done correctly. By embracing the tech in a story, you would likely make every aspect of it present at every moment. Every character would have access to whatever tech is used. Therefore, the tech would be a normal way of life that is not unusual (just like present times).
Only, in this version, the tech would constantly be used as both positive and negative methods of character and plot inclusion. It sounds much easier than it is. By fully embracing tech, you must constantly use smartphones or Wi-Fi or computer viruses or A.I. as both problematic and as a resolution scenario for whatever the plot needs.
I suggest you do a heavy outline if you decide to go this route.
- Know the capabilities of each piece of technology in the novel
- Know how each piece of tech can help or harm the plot and character
- Decide when each tech will have its moment to shine
- The climax of the story could involve a mash-up of multiple technologies
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Embrace It, then Take it Away
One great way to use tech is to suddenly take it away when a character needs it the most. Build up the dependency on the tech so well that the character cannot live without it. And then take it away and watch how they handle an important situation. Your character will reach his or her arc stronger by taking away something (tech) they depend on.
- In the same way as above, develop a story heavy-dependent on tech
- In the third act, strip away the tech
- This will force the characters to engage in different ways to solve their problems
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Completely Disregard It
This way is much easier said than done because you are likely so infused with technology on a daily basis. Much research must be done. You will need to create a world where certain technology has never been introduced. The further you go into the past, the easier it gets. Or make a future world where communication through technology doesn’t exist. Or use the weather.
- Create a story about the past before technology has become so prominent
- Perhaps a storm or power outage destroyed all tech early in the story
- A small society refuses to embrace tech
- Set your story in a part of the world where tech is unusual
Related Questions
What are some ideas to get rid of tech in my story?
- I already have mentioned some above, but there are many other ways to rid technology. For example, maybe the character simply didn’t pay his or her bills on time. With all Wi-Fi and cable and cell phones, there is always a company you have to pay money to. That will never go away. So, what if a company just turned your character’s technology off? Now, you have a character who was likely dependent on tech and when they need it, they can’t have it.
Another method is to have it break. But the breaking must be deliberate by someone else. Simply having it fall off a desk when the wind blows is very lame. It will be better if the tech breaks on purpose because of a character’s willful actions. This will show that the character recognizes the tech as a problem to the situation and they dealt with it by destroying it.
The weather has been done to death, but it does work easily. It’s better to have the weather cut the power early in the story because it rids the tech fast. Otherwise, if you wait too long you could have the weather destroy the power at a cliché time. Experienced readers will pick up on this trope and may consider your writing skills weak. Don’t’ be a novice. You’re better than that.
If I write a story without technology, will readers even want to read it?
- Of course. There are thousands, if not millions, of readers out there who will read any story as long as it is interesting. Just because your story doesn’t have any technology in it doesn’t mean it isn’t interesting. It just means that you have to think a little bit more to develop a story without the characters or plot using technology. For example, historical fiction is a massive genre that does well.
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