fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3475 ]

[ SECRET POST #3475 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3475 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

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05. http://i.imgur.com/iTxjwQv.png

A rule or writing fiction is to include dialogue that's interesting and essential, even if it's not as realistic. There's a lot more useless fluff and miscommunication and general boring filler in real life conversation. It's cut to make a more interesting read.

Is it really worth including the emergency service dispatcher's questions and the character's answer? Or is it better to just quickly signal to the audience that emergency services has been called?

Sometimes, if the theme the story is going for is gritty and realistic. It ramps up tension to have the dispatcher be asking questions and the caller being too worked up to answer or mid-panic and unable to ask for the help they need.

Yeah, I've seen it played that way too (more often than the style OP complained about, but maybe that's more common in older movies or something). If you're not going the "Oh fuck she's shaking so hard she's dropping the phone and he's coming up right behind her---!" panic style, or the "He's so destroyed by seeing his wife murdered that he can barely speak through his sobs" then the conversation probably won't add much.

There are reports and studies that show lots of people in real life call emergency services and hang up right away because they see it in fiction so much that they think that's what you're supposed to do. And the fact that a lot of them are too panicked to think about staying on the line is also a factor, so the first thing they subconsciously turn to is imitating the pattern they've seen the most, which for most people is fictional emergency calls.

Thissss. Every time I've done a first aid course, it's included instruction on how to call emergency services, the information that's needed, that you have to stay on the line until they say otherwise, etc, etc.
The number of people who've left themselves without help because they basically shouted 'help' down the line and hung up... doesn't bear thinking about.

I think it depends on a lot of things. What character(s) are we focusing on? How realistic is it supposed to be? Are we talking about seeing the whole thing just from the caller's end or also hearing the dispatcher's voice? How long is the scene supposed to be?

I find characters not being able to get through to Emergency Services more realistic. I can't watch those scenes in movies or shows without remembering a day that some of my old neighbors set a ravine on fire. Heavily wooded area, on hold for several minutes, while ten to fifteen foot high flames burned maybe twenty yards from my then-house. Or when an ambulance or fire truck can't find the place they've been sent to. I've witnessed those as well.

I worked as a dispatched for a year. We had a call for a car that had crashed off the highway. Our ambulance drivers were up and down that road 6-7 times trying to find it in a huge ditch.

Who's Hunky McChest in yr icon?

Matthew Daddario from Shadowhunters.

Edited 2016-07-09 21:08 (UTC)

(no subject)

(Anonymous) - 2016-07-09 23:24 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

kaijinscendre - 2016-07-09 23:29 (UTC) - Expand

/Obviously not who you asked, but

Alec Lightwood from Shadowhunters!

Well, that's just awful.

I mean, shit happens and it's understandable, but man.

Yeah, same goes for all those repeated disbelieving "Sir, did you say a bomb? Sir? Did you say a bomb?" questions on the other side. Annoys me to no end.

I've only called 911 personally once, and the conversation went thusly:
"911, what's your emergency?"
"Hi, I'm at [address], I have a kidney stone and I'm alone."
"Do you want us to drive you to the hospital?"
"That'd be great."
"Okay."

That said, I actually agree with you, and with the anon upthread who noted that a more realistic 911 call can ramp up tension--and I'd add that an unrealistic one can take me out of the moment and destroy the tension.

The key part is that you did manage to inform them of your address. I realistically expect any emergency call to need that being included.

Lol--did not fail step one! :P

Man, I remember the most intense time I called 911 (I was being actively threatened by a dude like ten feet away and coming towards me, who had already beaten someone else unconscious) I was in panic because I was on this hike-and-bike path that had no street name, AND I COULDN'T NAME IT. Because panic. (Actually, now that I think of it, I can't remember its name NOW.) So I was babbling "I'm on that trail thingy by X station and OH GOD PLEASE COME NOW HE'S COMING"

I have to give them credit, they were there in like five minutes. With a totally failtastic description like that, I expected them to need a lot of time, but I guess I got really lucky!

What movie is that cap from?

Yeah, if you wanted realistic, no one would call 911 when someone was being assaulted but there'd be dozens of phone calls over things that aren't actually emergencies.

Noise complaints. So many noise complaints.

... there is nothing wrong with (reasonable) noise complaints. Like, if your neighbours are blasting loud music in the middle of the night, and ignore you when you try to talk to them, what the hell else are you supposed to do? Just not sleep?

But you should not be calling 911 for noise complaints. Every police department has a non-emergency number so you don't have to tie up the 911 line.

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verusmayaii - 2016-07-11 21:04 (UTC) - Expand

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kaijinscendre - 2016-07-11 22:28 (UTC) - Expand

This.

I was a cleaner at an emergency dispatch center for about a year, and the dispatchers always complained that there were so many calls from elderly people who just wanted someone to talk to. They would give them mental health hotline numbers instead but one guy called so often he ended up in court, which was sad.

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