William Shakespeare in period clothing looking at cell phone with astonishment.

I love my cell phone.

In fact, like many people, I would be lost without it.

But, cell phones have made the task of a fiction writer a little more challenging.

Sometimes it can be head-banging to plot and write a story around the ever-present aspect of instant communication.

Sometimes we writers have to employ silly strategies to create situations wherein we can prolong our character’s agony and search for answers—his cell phone is dead, she forgot to charge it, he drove off without it, she can’t find good coverage, etc.

Literature didn’t always suffer from “cellphone-interruptis”:

• Dorothy simply would have phoned for a taxi to get out of Oz.

• As for Scarlett O’Hara…when a text message came in that Atlanta was burning, she’da said “Fiddledeedee, I’m outta here.”

• Atticus Finch would have called for police back-up to defend Tom Robison against that lynch mob.

I’m curious – How would your favorite classic story have been changed if the characters had possessed cell phones?