Present tense in writing... - Writers Forum

Krim · 06-29-2006, 01:07 AM

Ah...problem solved. No point reading further unless you for some reason want an explanationf or this thread.

I was looking over the general opinion of others and decided even if it seemed more lively to me, it can be incredibly annoying. And since I was faced with the problem of a massive leap in time which simply is nearly impossible to execute, and the fact it was a prologue set a few good years before the actual story, it seems the negative far outweigh the positive.

bryce · 06-29-2006, 01:30 AM

I know what you mean Krim.

As for me...I feel more comfortable with the past. Just a personal thing, but I find it easier to write and read it that way. But I have read some very good present tense writing.

PS: Not in any way, shape or form a guru...but have always been a sucker for a damsel in distress.

Don't happen to live in a tall, inaccessible tower or have long tresses, do you, by any chance? (polishing rusty armour).

Bryce

mwd · 06-29-2006, 01:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Krim

Help me, writingforums.com gurus! - screams damsel in distress-style. -

I ain't no guru, but the novel I'm working on right now is entirely in present tense, alternating between first person and third person restricted each chapter (yeah I know doing weird stuff like that is probably a bad idea if I ever want it published, but it's not up to that quality anyway I don't think, and it's good practice and good fun in the meantime).

So, in my personal experience working on this, which is of course just my opinion:

Third person present can become awkward extremely quickly (if not instantly). First person present works a lot more smoothly, generally speaking. That said, third person present tense can work (William Gibson - Pattern Recognition is an example that comes to mind), but the voice/style you use has to be suited to it. I think the reason third person present doesn't work as well as first person present, is that when you're writing third person present oftentimes you'd write it just like third person past, and just change the verbs in your head. First person works better, I think, since you interject more thoughts with the narrative and break it up, instead of just actions and description.

As for being worried about changing times in your novel and using different tenses, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Just because something is narrated in present tense, doesn't mean it's actually happening right now. Think of how sometimes you'll be telling a story to your friend and you'll get so wrapped up in it that you slip to present tense: "So me and Bob are walking down the street and oh man you wouldn't believe it but this crazy guy is chasing a monkey, and I say to Bob ..." You get the idea.

(Finally, one last disclaimer: This is of course all just my opinion, which means it's probably at least partly nonsense. At the end of the day, you gotta try going with what works. Write the scene both ways, and see which you like better.)

Krim · 06-29-2006, 02:11 AM

Quote:

Don't happen to live in a tall, inaccessible tower or have long tresses, do you, by any chance? (polishing rusty armour).

I desperately hope that is not some kind of sexual allusion...

As for telling a story in real life, true, but there are a number of things in present tense:

1. It can be distracting because past tense is the default, so they'll pay more attention to the prose naturally.
2. Telling a story about your day to your friends is usually not a 180,000+ word novel with a diverse set of characters that require fleshing out along with a plot and other such things.

I did write the scene in both ways and honesty didn't see a difference --- it had seemed the paragraph was unapproachable until I wrote it in present tense and then switched it to past, don't know how that worked.

Problem dealt with, thanks for the assistance.

mwd · 06-29-2006, 02:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Krim

1. It can be distracting because past tense is the default, so they'll pay more attention to the prose naturally.
2. Telling a story about your day to your friends is usually not a 180,000+ word novel with a diverse set of characters that require fleshing out along with a plot and other such things.

You'll get no argument from me on either of these points. Present tense seems to work better for shorter novels which are focused on one character. At least, it seems that way to me.

Quote:

I did write the scene in both ways and honesty didn't see a difference --- it had seemed the paragraph was unapproachable until I wrote it in present tense and then switched it to past, don't know how that worked.

Glad to hear you got it worked out.

suzakugaiden · 06-29-2006, 03:40 AM

Present tense is in some ways the natural voice for speaking in first. However, it is not actually present tense, usually -- it is past tense relayed as present tense. It depends on how the characters talk and what time they're thinking in.

Krim · 06-29-2006, 01:55 PM

Well, it was in third person. I just thought I could pull off smoother transitions using it, but I wrote it in present tense and switched to past and it worked.

CZ · 06-29-2006, 08:33 PM

I've written a few magazine stories in present tense. I wouldn't write a novel in it though.

Arin · 06-30-2006, 02:38 PM

I personally think writing fiction in present tense should be avoided unless you have a specific reason for doing it. Like Krim said, it can be exceptionally distracting. But if you have a point, I think it'll be okay. For example, The Time Traveler's Wife was written in present tense because a motif of the book was that time doesn't pass, but just constantly exists all over the place. So yeah. Use it with discretion.