Most of my characters do not have cell phones. Karen has one but no cell phones are mentioned in my other stories, either here or in most of my stories on my original site, www.nsfwauthor.info

Is it because I am lazy?

Not at all! It’s because I feel like a lot of great plot points of my youth are ruined by cell phones!

With the age of instant connectivity, it has become super simple to stay in touch with your loved ones but I still remember movies and series of the past where characters would have clearly different lives when apart!

For example, Amber and Ellie are on a date in chapters 43, 44, 46 and 47 while Richard is at work in chapter 45 and 48 and both of the “groups” are unaware of what is happening with the other and as a result, when they meet again, they get to learn about their respective information.

When I watch TV shows today, I am NOT turned off by the fact the character talk a lot with each other, instead, I am turned off by the fact that more often than not, those communications only serve the plot.

A character will suddenly have no reception just because it suits the story. A cell phone will be almost out of batteries just as the hero is about to say something by the phone dies out before the whole truth is out.

Instead of the cell phone being used to help the story, it becomes its own plot point!

So I decided with most of my stories to just make an abstraction of them. In many cases, I simply place them to occur in my youth, even they occur in a more modern social environment.

I know that for my younger readers, a world without cell phones might be hard to imagine, but I hope you are not turned off by that: in short, Richard had to call in the security office in chapter 45 because he doesn’t have a cell phone!