After reading peachalulu’s article Fire Up Your Vocabulary (https://www.writingforums.org/articles/fire-up-your-vocabulary/#post-1237697) (which was awesome!!), I think I broke my brain last night playing this scene over and over… In my story, written in first person singular, I have a hard time sleeping because I have adult children who text me constantly, especially the one away at college who is a blackout drunk and feels the need to text me at 2:30 in the morning to talk about her day. I am both eager and apprehensive to fall asleep because I know someone will text me and wake me up. I can’t turn the phone off because one of the kids might actually have an emergency. Anyway, I am asleep. And I get a text. My phone vibrates on the nightstand, which wakes me since I am a light sleeper. I want to describe the vibration of the phone waking me without saying “the vibration of the phone woke me”. I am trying to figure out a way to describe how I heard it or felt it. Buzz Buzz or the like is boring. I’m stuck. Any suggestions?
I was dreaming I had a bumble bee in a matchbox when I realized it was my phone vibrating and woke up
Thank you, Garball, for the jump start. Didn't think of dreaming and tying the two together. It's actually happened a few times, dreaming and then waking and the dream content bleeding into consciousness.
i agree that would be a good way to do it... play around with some dream scenarios that would mimic the sound of the phone and see if you find one you like...
