Johnna

I've been wokring on a piece all day that I'm trying to write in the present tense. I always write in past tense, it's pretty much a given for me, so writing in present tense is weird. Does anyone else write in present tense? Does it work for longer pieces?

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Ilasir Maroa

I often write in the present tense. It works well for long pieces, just as much as past does. It can be used to give a sense of quick motion, but it doesn't have to be used in any special way. Some stories work in present tense, some don't, and some can go either way. It's all about how you personally write it. If you find a way for it to work, then it will. If you find you can't do it, then don't. Sorry for the generic response, but it is just the way I see the answer to your question.

Johnna

Thanks for responding. I'm thinking I'll just write it in present tense and, if it doesn't work, go back and change it to past tense. I guess I just have to see if it works. I'm also getting annoyed because I keep lapsing into past tense; it's a habit. Like I said, present tense is... weird.

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Ilasir Maroa

Well, when I first delved into present tense, it was for writing an ff. I often found myself sliding back into the past tense, but eventually, I was able to switch cleanly between the two. It just takes a little practice. So give the present a try, and if it doesn't work out, use past.

lin

It's one of those thing like writing in second person that can be done...but why? It's very tough to pull off, especially without sounding dorky.

I just finished a novel that had the first chapter in present, then chapters catching back up to that point in past tense, then a final chapter in future.

I ended up keeping the future...a very itsy exercise in careful and tricky wording to keep from sound repetitive and stupid...but ditched the present tense bit.

It gives a sense of immediacy and all that, but over the course of a whole novel would be a pain in the ass. For shorter pieces, not so bad. It gets done sometimes.

Hobbes

I wrote a post, and accidentally pressed the green arrow by the address bar in Firefox, which apparently refreshes the page. Oh well. Quick recap: the present tense can work if you make it interesting. When I write pieces in the present, they're invariably in the first person, and employ the present progressive while peppered with flashbacks into the past, where, as you can imagine, the past tense is used. I wouldn't recommend writing a piece entirely in the present tense without dipping into the past, unless the piece were incredibly short.

Johnna

Hm. Well, seeing as I'm not sure how long this piece will be, I'll seriosuly consider changing it to past tense. It is in the first person, so maybe it will work. I'll probably finish in present tense, because I've already got quite a bit done, but I can always change it.

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Ilasir Maroa

Writing entirely in then present tense can work, but I personally use flashbacks and commentary in other tenses. It can give some variety.

Now, I have read some very good tsories in straight present, and it can be a great idea, but it really depends on the story. You could post some scenes, and it would be easier to give feedback.

boongee

As a reader I don't like present tense at all. Keep in mind that most people aren't used to present tense... whether that's a good or bad thing is up to you to decide!

Patrick Beverley

Present tense writing can be interesting, and off the top of my head there are two situations you could use it in, and it would be a good idea:

1) Where there is a first-person narrator who changes their mind about something during the course of the story.
This can be a really good one, much more immediate and engaging than 'Jackie thought they were lovely people' and later 'Jackie thought they were horrible people'. If you can have Jackie saying 'They're loveley people', and later 'I was wrong; they're horrible', it sounds better, I reckon, though not always.

2) Where you spend a lot of time in flashback (as Hobbes mentioned) and you don't want to go through the palaver of having to say 'Jackie had been a tennis player; she had won the tennis cup' (the past perfect tense, a very irritating one to have to keep writing in) all the bloody time.
Using present tense (again with first-person narration -- you can do it third-person, but I prefer to do first-person with present tense) you can say 'I am Jackie. I am forty-seven years old. When I was young, I was a tennis player; I won the tennis cup': that way, the bits set before the current narrative can be in past simple, a much nicer tense.


The thing about using present tense is that unless you are going to adopt a highly weird story-telling style, you will find yourself having to use a certain grammatical construction which doesn't occur anywhere else: the present simple to describe an action performed once. An example of this would be, 'I run downstairs and pick up the phone. At the other end, I hear my mother's voice'. 'I pick up the phone' is only used when you're saying something like 'I pick up the phone every five minutes': you would say 'I am picking up the phone' (present continuous) to describe what the above describes. But try writing a whole story in that tense: it comes out horrible, generally.

So it's up to you really.

Destroyer

I tried writing a book in present tense, but the computer wiped it, so it hasn't lasted long. As soon as I manage to retrieve it, I should be able to continue. Hopefully I can get it to last the entire book.

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HarryG

It´s more difficult to write that way, but quite a few authors do it. Dick Francis comes to mind.

blackthorn

It's a lot easier to write in past tense, since talking about stuff that has already happened is easy; we do it all the time, in common conversation. I think that that's why present tense is a lot trickier. It's a lot harder to describe something that is happening at that very moment.

I think you could pull off writing in the first tense for a long story, but I would probably go against it, since it's so difficult, and might make the story seem to be a little bit boring...

But that's just me!

almostfamous1286

I don't personally do it, and I also don't generally enjoy reading novels/stories in the present tense, but it has been done, and in some senses, it works well.

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lisajane

I just write in whatever tense that comes out on the page when I begin the story. If I try to change the tense, the story generally suffers.

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