Phone conversation in first person?

It would be just like any other dialogue, so what's the problem? Add tags, actions, etc. Also, since it's in 1st person, you can add internal thoughts, commentaries, etc.


I answered the phone. It was six in the morning so I was a bit irritated.
"Hey, it's me, Howard," he said, sounding exasperated.
"What's up?"
"Janice broke up with me last night."
"Oh man, I'm so sorry." I sipped my coffee and absently flipped through the newspaper. "What happened?"
He hesitated for a second. It wasn't the first time he broke up with someone, but this time he seemed really distraught. "I forgot to buy toilet paper."
"What?" I put down the cup and sat up. "Come again?"
"I forgot to buy toilet paper. And she broke up with me right then."
"Wait, wait. Back up a little. Did you guys have a fight before that?"
"Nope." His voice dropped a few hundred decibels. I thought I heard a pin drop. "At least I didn't notice."
"That sucks, man."

Since your POV character cannot see the person on the other end of the telephone line, the best you can do, is show hesitations and pauses through dialog from that character. Be liberal with actions from the POV character.

ETA: I cross posted with Maestro - his post shows what I told

Give your narrator something to do during the conversation, to break up the dialogue a little bit -- folding clothes, baking cookies, torturing a bad guy, whatever.

In my first-person cozy about a busdriver who solves mysteries by piecing together conversations that he overhears while driving I handled it this way:

As soon as we were back on the road I heard Robin’s voice: “Mister Justiniano?”. . . “My name is Robin Llewellyn, I worked with your wife.”. . . “She told you about me? Really?”. . . “Well I just wanted to say that I’m sorry. Mama was my best friend. If there is anything I can do to help.”. . . “There is?”. . . “No, I could never take her place as supervisor.”. . . “I’ve worked for her for like three years.”. . . “Yeah. But people are always asking her questions and stuff.”

Robin sat up, took a deep breath, and brushed a stray hair behind her ear. “A good leader does not have to know all the answers.”. . . “She only has to know who to ask.”. . .”Yes sir, I know what it means.”. . . “Well, I’ll try.”. . . “Yes sir, tonight at 8:00. Thank you.”

Robin clapped her phone shut and began to laugh. “That was Mama’s husband, he wants me to take over as supervisor.”

I will never forget the time I broke up with a boyfriend over the phone. Normally I wouldn't do such a thing, but it was a long-distance relationship, so it was appropriate. When I got to the part about how I wasn't going to see him anymore, I suddenly realized the sounds I heard in the background were those of dish-washing. He was so unconcerned with my news, he was washing his dishes while I dumped him.

Phone conversations can convey whole volumes of subtext and emotion, just based on what your POV character hears on the other end of the line.