Retire This Cliche

One of the bigger problems writers face these days is the cell phone. Authors spend a LOT of time separating their characters from their phones in order to explain why a character in trouble doesn't just whip out a device and call for help. A protagonist's cell phone gets broken, lost, stolen, or depowered with alarming regularity, and large swaths of fictional worlds inconveniently have no bars. And then there's this trope: The bad guys are coming. They've broken into the house. Jenny has to hide, fast. She dives into a clever hiding spot. She can't call for help because the villains will hear her. The bad guys spread through the house, guns aiming with sinister intent. One of them passes close to Jenny. She holds her breath, frightened, but pretty sure he won't find her. Then ... Mom calls. Bzzzt bzzzt! Frantically, Jenny fumbles with her phone and ends the call, but it's too late. The bad guy heard the faint buzzing. He yanks open her hiding place and Jenny is captured. (In an alternative version, Jenny accidentally connects the call instead of hanging up, and Mom says in a loud, annoying voice, "Jenny? Why haven't you returned my calls? The florist is up in arms about the buttercups!" And the bad guy grabs her.) I mean, EVERY TIME.  It's gotten to the point where I expect it. Just today, I was watching a spy show, and the hapless Jenny character hid behind some boxes in the basement while the bad guys prowled around. I said, "Oh! Someone's going to call her and give her away." Two seconds later: Bzzzt bzzzt! And she was captured. Look, Hollywood, I know it's not easy to come up with new ways to get your characters into trouble, but when the audience spots it coming, you've created a cliche. Give this one up. 

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