Help on writing the alert sound, for text messaging

WHU

Hi all, hope this makes sense.
I've got an idea for something, where in which the mc will be hounded by a lot of text messages.
Now at first, they'll probably have a text tone and later put their phone onto silent. There is going to be alot of texts in this.

My problem how do I write this without being repetitive, there's no the phone said type of thing, I can't keep writing
"The phone text alert went off, the message read "**********""
every time and I have the same when it is put on silent,
"The phone vibrated again."

Has anyone writtten anything along these lines or has anyone got any suggestion, I would appreciate any help given.

pickarooney

If it's happening all the time, just use shorthand:
*vzzzz* "Bladibladibla"

Oryx

Id be thinking along the lines of how the character is dealing with it and use that to control how you describe the phone. Loud ping at first, which he muffles in a pocket for a while, has a shower and cant hear the phone, but gets x messages anyway, then silences it but the flashing screen bugs him in the dark... Id change the way he notices the incoming messages and refer to them based on his reaction. I dont write much so Im probably not good at advising, and it is a peculiar one to solve, but thats my take on it anyway.

pickarooney

Sorry, I read 'mc' as 'emcee' at some sort of event. Still, I'd use some sort of shorthand along the lines of above.

It might help if you posted a passage where this happens so we can see exactly what you're struggling with.

WHU

Thank you for the replies, it is a difficult one because my mc is going to be stalked by text.

Of course it also needs to another question, the use of grammer, I didn't want to use text talk ie: " I'll c u L8" type of thing, I was thinking of writing normally and maybe later, when editing, change the format to show it's text and not dialogue.
What do you think?

WHU

pickarooney wrote: »

It might help if you posted a passage where this happens so we can see exactly what you're struggling with.

Sorry, mc = main character.

I'm still only planning this and have not started writing yet. As the texting is a big part of the story I wanted to sort it all out before I began.

pickarooney

WHU wrote: »

Thank you for the replies, it is a difficult one because my mc is going to be stalked by text.

Of course it also needs to another question, the use of grammer, I didn't want to use text talk ie: " I'll c u L8" type of thing, I was thinking of writing normally and maybe later, when editing, change the format to show it's text and not dialogue.
What do you think?

Why double the work? Write the texts the way you think the character would write them.

This, and the use of a different font would negate the need to use any padding at all. When he receives a text, just write out the SMS in courier font of whatever and the reader will know what's going on, without you needing to laborious type out:

"The phone text alert went off, the message read "**********""

WHU

pickarooney wrote: »

Why double the work? Write the texts the way you think the character would write them.

This, and the use of a different font would negate the need to use any padding at all. When he receives a text, just write out the SMS in courier font of whatever and the reader will know what's going on, without you needing to laborious type out:

"The phone text alert went off, the message read "**********""

Good point maybe written in Italics, the reader will get the idea that it is text. I'm still not sure about the text grammer side of it, I think it'll get too confusing in the end.

Cheers for your input..

ToasterSparks

You could have a generic sound like 'beep beep'. After the texting becomes commonplace, you could stop saying that the text alert went off and just use that as the signal for a new message. Maybe even put it in italics as well. For example:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sandra grabbed her glass of red wine from the table and hit the play button on the remote control. No worries, no distractions, just her and the DVD.

Beep Beep.

Sandra's phone lit up on the coffee table. Not again, she thought, not another one.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Does that help at all?

WHU

Yes ToasterSparks thank you and then followed by the message in italics too.
Later on when the sound gets turned off I think I'll use *vzzzz* as pickarooney suggested for the vibrating only description.

Buddhapadge

I read a book once where text messages were printed in a different font from the rest of the text and put in the centre of the page, like how they look on the phone. I know it's probably not the most literary solution to the problem of dealing with texts and such, but I remember thinking it looked pretty good.