Writing Excuses Transcripts

Writing Excuses 6.13: World Building Communications Technology

From http://www.writingexcuses.com/2011/08/28/writing-excuses-6-13-world-building-communications-technology/

Key Points: Consider communications technology when you are planning your stories, as background, as part of the narrative structure, as a part of the conflicts. Don't ignore it, and don't assume that it will always be the way you think of it. Avoid lazy storytelling and idiot plotting. No matter what genre you are writing, speed and availability of communications affects plot. Consider disabling the technology to add complications. Mainly, consider communications, and how it affects your plot, don't just assume something. Oh, and remember Napoleon's giant semaphore robots.
( smoke signals, semaphores, and flags? )
[Howard] Okay. The fax machine. We're starting with a fax machine as the basis.
[Dan] The fax machine, by the way, was posited by Jules Vern [inaudible]
[Howard] That's awesome. So the principle behind the fax machine was we are sending a text message via cell phone networks. Take this communications technology, and instead of faxing things, you are now sending physical objects.
[Dan] Like 3-D printers?
[Howard] Yeah, like 3-D printers. The fax machine as a 3-D printer as a starting point for a short story.
[Brandon] All right. This has been Writing Excuses. You're out of excuses, now go write.