Do Smartphones Belong in Fiction?
This first appeared in Lit Hub’s Craft of Writing newsletter—sign up here. The novel has always been obsessed with technology. You can trace realist fiction’s evolution along advances in religion, banking, engines, and cities, because all of these technologies changed how we
The novel Blow Yourself Up explores the integration of smartphones into high school life and the emergence of platforms and influencers, culminating in the advent of artificial intelligence. The story centers on a love story, following a character named Payal on a date with a man from an app. Payal experiences the digital world enveloped within her real-world interactions, such as receiving a notification about her video being reposted by a high-profile account.
This narrative decision aims to depict the seamless blending of digital and real-life experiences to accurately portray the sensation of being enmeshed in both realms. By avoiding embellishments, the novel strives for an authentic representation of cognition in the digital age.
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