Right-o. So, day one of my attempt to write a story on my cellphone has taught me some things. First of all, though my cellphone will let me key in 1000 character message, it breaks it into 160 character messages to send. It just doesn’t necessarily send them in the correct order. I rewrote it to fit into three 160 character blocks, rather than rely on technology.
Second, specificity of word choice buys me a lot of room. You always hear that one specific word can replace a dozen vague ones, but until you are fighting for space you don’t realize exactly how much that gets you.
Third. SMS sucks for formatting dialogue.
Here is the first installment, sent in three texts, for those of you who are curious. You can also follow along on twitter, BUT twitter only allows 140 characters, so you have to click through to see the remaining 20. Deeply annoying, but what’s a girl to do?
Virginia leaned across the white tablecloth. “When I said the ninjas were no match for us, I meant it. Lou will have the White Phoenix Feather by dessert.”
She polished her fish knife. “Quit gaping and finish your soup.”
Parker stirred his habanero spinach bisque. “I don’t doubt your skills.”
“With our fees, we’d better be good.” A dark shape scuttled past the wall of tinted glass. “Crap,” she said. “More ninjas. Give me your soup.”
Rob, by the way, finds the whole experiment offensive because of its inefficiency. I can tell you now that I am unlikely to do this again, but I am interested in how function influences form. This will become quite telegraphic, I suspect.
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