“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” –George Bernard Shaw
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I used to be born and raised in Georgia. When I graduated from faculty (additionally in Georgia), I had the great fortune to be employed by IBM to work as a software program developer on the National Air Traffic Control venture. I used to be solely twenty years outdated, nerdy, and very shy after I headed off alone into the unusual world of company America a whole lot of miles from dwelling. I’m wondering now the place I acquired the braveness.
The Air Traffic Control venture was being developed on the National Aviation Facilities Experimental Center (NAFEC) in New Jersey. New Jersey? I had hardly ever been out of the state of Georgia! I used to be vaguely conscious that my southern accent is perhaps an issue. Little did I do know.
Driving my father’s Dodge Dart that he had lent me till I may purchase a automotive of my very own, I crossed the state line into New Jersey and stopped to get gasoline. That was earlier than the times of self-service stations so an attendant got here out to assist.
“Fill ‘er up?” he requested.
I nodded. So far, so good.
When he had topped off the gas, he appeared once more at my window. “Anything else?”
In my most well mannered, Southern-laced voice, I requested, “Would you please check the awl?”
He checked out me like I used to be from one other planet. “Huh?”
I believed perhaps he was onerous of listening to, so I repeated myself, slower and louder. “Would You Please Check The Awl?”
He responded somewhat slower and louder. “H-U-H?”
Somehow we managed to bridge our communication hole. I can’t keep in mind – perhaps we used signal language – however he found out what I used to be saying. He checked the oil, gave me a thumbs-up, dropped the hood, and got here again to my aspect of the automotive.
“Anything else?” He regarded somewhat cautious.
Now, after I was rising up, my father owned {an electrical} contracting enterprise. The enterprise had a small fleet of vehicles that the workers used, and my father had all of the vehicles serviced and fueled at one explicit service station. We took our private automobiles there as effectively. The individuals who owned that service station had been very good and clearly needed to maintain Dad’s enterprise, so that they at all times checked every thing, whether or not you requested them or not. One service they supplied was vacuuming the ground of the automobiles, so I requested the NJ attendant, “Would you please vacuum my car?”
In my insulated youth, I didn’t notice different elements of the nation could not have the identical devotion to customer support that I had skilled. The man standing by my window responded with a phrase I’ve heard on just a few events since then, however that was the primary time.
“Lady,” he stated, “are you kidding me?”
I paid him for the gasoline and drove away from that first New Jersey encounter with a realization that understanding the world was going to be an entire lot tougher than I had imagined.
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A couple of years later, nonetheless in New Jersey and nonetheless very shy, I met the person who would grow to be my husband. Our first assembly was not an instance of affection at first sight. As a matter of reality, it might be a major illustration of miscommunication so complete that solely Providence may have overcome it to convey us collectively once more. (Well, that and the truth that I had simply purchased a Jaguar XKE convertible.)
If you ever meet Frank, ask him about that first assembly. He likes to relate the story, and he adorns it with new particulars on every re-telling in order that I hardly acknowledge who he’s speaking about anymore. But it’s such an amazing instance of two individuals so fully misunderstanding one another that I used a variation of it in my first novel, The Watch on the Fencepost.
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And that brings me to the purpose of this weblog put up. Miscommunication can add spice to a narrative. We usually discuss battle as a approach to hold a reader’s consideration, and misunderstanding between two individuals is a superb approach to introduce battle right into a story.
There are a semi-infinite variety of different methods miscommunication can improve a plot. A detective may misread a clue. Directions may very well be misconstrued. Characters could make assumptions about one another which can be merely fallacious. And then there’s the unreliable narrator or a personality who intentionally misleads others. Anything that creates confusion, misdirection, or battle could be nice story-telling components.
And in fact, miscommunication is a good supply for humor. Just ask Abbot and Costello.
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So TKZers: What methods have you ever skilled miscommunication in your life? Do you have got any humorous anecdotes you’d prefer to share? How have you ever used miscommunication in your novels?
Unfortunately, I’ll be touring on Monday and can solely have entry on-line periodically. I stay up for studying everybody’s feedback, and I’ll reply to all of them as quickly as I can.
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The Watch on the Fencepost – Can Kathryn and Phil overcome their misunderstandings to resolve the thriller behind her mother and father’ current deaths?
