2. On the other side of the coin, I sometimes have to rewrite because I forgot about modern technology. For instance, one character was hiding from another in a dark parking lot, and I suddenly remembered that everyone now carries a flashlight with them at all times.

3. Also, I now have to go to a parking lot at night to see how effective phone flashlights are.

2/

4. Other things I remembered mid-writing: You can reply to mysterious messages if they’re delivered via email. You can call 911 and be driven to a hospital at the same time. People around the age of 30 don’t all know what Usenet was, even if they’re tech-literate. Or what Usenet is; I guess it’s still technically around.

5. If I reference music or TV, I should probably do some research instead of making the characters fans of Pizzicato Five and Space Ghost Coast to Coast.

3/3

Just to throw another log on, I don’t forget that phone flashlights and e-mail replies exist in real life, just when writing. So I don’t think it’s that I’m out of touch with tech, I think it’s that growing up without the Internet, I saw tropes like “mysterious note from a stranger” and “manhunt in the dark” so many times in earlier incarnations that I use them without considering that I’m going to have to update them.

Come to think of it, have I ever seen someone use a phone flashlight on TV?