[ SECRET POST #3475 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3475 ⌋

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

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 52 secrets from Secret Submission Post #497.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[blitzwing]

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?

[(Anonymous)]

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.

[blitzwing]

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.

[(Anonymous)]

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.

[(Anonymous)]

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.

[diet_poison]

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?