Technology in Fiction

"It isn’t hard to make a case against including technology in fiction. First, technology can be awkward to write about. Also, to read about. The jargon is clumsy: download, reboot, global positioning device. It’s embarrassing, really. So I understand an author’s impulse to avoid littering pages of otherwise lyrical prose with the bleep-boop-beep of tech speak. For this reason, authors often forgo current technologies when they want their characters to communicate with one another, or to reveal important, plot-forwarding information. I get it. What could be less romantic than a text message?"

More in The Millions.

Allison K. Gibson's article in The Millions on the problems of writing about technology in fiction mentions the work of two notable visitors to the Writers Institute:  Jonathan Lethem (until recently, an editor at Writers Institute partner Fence magazine) and Jennifer Egan.

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Excessive Exclamation Points !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ben Yagoda writes about the use, misuse and meaning of the exclamation point in email in an op-ed piece in the New York Times:

"My 21-year-old daughter once criticized my habit of ending text-message sentences with a period. For a piece of information delivered without prejudice, she said, you don’t need any punctuation at the end (“Movie starts at 6”). An exclamation point is minimally acceptable enthusiasm (“See you there!”). But a period just comes off as sarcastic (“Good job on the dishes.”). "  More.

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