Thread: First Person, Present Tense

I am thinking of writing something in present tense. I started on something, but came across a problem. The story is in 1st present tense. Am I allowed to shift narration and do something like,

...unknown to him, exc.

Changing a narration perspective, or no? This is a fiction.

I'm not exactly clear on what you mean. Try writing it as if you were speaking directly to someone. That is first person. 1st person, present tent would be something like. I'm walking down the street now. I see that he drops his wallet and I yell, "Hey mister!" - can't see where the tense would change. Maybe if the narrator begins talking about the past?

It's done all the time, with varying degrees of success. The best are usually something like two books in one, with parts being written in first-person from the hero's point of view, and the rest of the chapters written in third-person (but the hero is never present, and no 'unknown to him' is necessary). See any of Lee Child's 'Reacher' novels to see it done well.

Honestly I have never seen it work other than in short stories, and as a reader I wouldn't like reading more than 5000 words in 1st person present, but that's just an issue of personal taste. I've seen it work as dream segments at the start of every chapter, but the rest of the book was in some other style. Can't remember what book it was.

If you wish to change the narrative occasionally then have a good reason for doing it and stick to it. I've switched tense once mid-story to narrate a memory outside of the actual story. Breaking style like that shocks the reader sometimes so be careful when changing tense and perspective. At the very least it makes you react and notice the change. They'll be asking why and what changed, but you as a writer need to know why if it's going to have a desired effect on the reader.

You've really got to know what you're doing and understand the different techniques if you want it done properly. Writing this way could give you success or failure, it's really a solid line between the two. The biggest reason being, you don't want to confuse the reader. If done incorrectly the novel will be all over the place and chances are your readers won't want to finish. Not because of the story line, but because it's too difficult to read.

I agree with gagoots, if you want to write in first person you should write it as if you're telling someone the story. The best way to see if your sentence structures and dialogue are working correctly is to read it out loud. It sounds silly, but it really does work.

Good luck and happy writing!

You're "allowed" to do anything. If you're wondering whether it "will work" to shift things around, just remember the reader. If you drop out of first-person, make sure there's a reason and that the reader knows what's going on. If you just say "unknown to him" the reader is going to think "he" is somebody other than the main character/narrator. If you slip out of first-person or present-tense, there should be a clear reason (a frame story for example, your character relaying a story that he has heard.

I find first person and present tense are both a little tricky given the limits of perspective and how much the narrator can be expected to know, but if you don't step outside the perspective or narrator-experience then you'll be pretty safe.

My sister is writing a book in first person and I have to be honest, I don't like it. i feel like I'm trapped inside someone's head through 400+ pages. I like variety in POV. It sounds so simple to write in first person and it's not.

Best of luck.

Kite Runner is a good example of first-person done well. Also Midnight's Children. It is tricky though. Something you might consider is making the narrator an unimportant or less important character. So your story would be observed and relayed through the narrator, but the reader could still be expected to look past the narrator and connect to other characters.

The Hunger Games trilogy are good examples of this working.

Jonathanrs,

From what I understand, you are writing in the first-person, but want to know if you can do something like, as your example, "unbeknownst to him". If this is what you want to know, it definitely can NOT be done, not while writing in the first-person, at least. You must remain consistent with your points of view: the first-person is probably the most limiting point of view to write in (except maybe the third-person objective, but, even then...), so you really have to make use with what you can. Your character who is narrating can't possibly know what another character knows or thinks (just as you can't look at someone and know what they're thinking).

Since you're writing in the present tense, you might be able to do something similar if you're going into a flashback: ("This-or-that happened to my friend. My friend didn't know it at the time, but it really was going to screw him up, and there was nothing he could have done about it.") It could work in retrospect, I suppose, but otherwise, as I described above, it's not realistic, or sensible, for a first-person narrator to dive into the thoughts of others.

You don't necessarily need to change your point of view. You can work your way around it. Other people are saying you can write parts of the book as first-person in one character's perspective, and another part in another character's. Sure, you can do this, but you really need to know how to utilize voice well. The problem with writing in various first-person points of view is that the two characters' narrations can easily "blend together" so to speak, and the reader can have a hard time distinguishing who is speaking. Something I've always heard, and, quite frankly, agree with, is that you should not use the first-person unless you have a good reason to. If your story needs to be told in the first-person (or if your character's first-person voice can be manipulated to enhance the storytelling), then, go for it. In any other case, I usually find the third-person omniscient to be the most fun to write in, and the most flexible.

Hope I helped.

AEP

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest frequently switches from first person present to first person past tense and may be a good reference to solve your question. This however is the only example I can think of that uses this literary tool. I hope I have helped!

A good example of this style of writing is Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk.

First-person narratives can be very successful if done right. Writing in the present tense is very tricky though. You have to define why the narrator is telling his story. In order to narrate an event, that event must already have happened - even if it only happened 30 seconds ago - so technically it would be past tense.

I had similar problems when starting my first - and current - novel. I wanted to write a story that sounded as if it was happening as it was being narrated, but I kept slipping into past tense. You can create a compelling narrative if you write without hindsight, narrating events that have only just happened - like a time delay on live TV.

like anything, it can be done. but its risky. you could always write it out in first present and change it later, if you want.

You don't even have to say "meanwhile, unknown to him...." In fact, I would recommend against it. Just switch to third-person present and keep going. There's no problems at all with this method of going about it.

And to quote a good friend of mine, "The only absolute in writing is that there are no absolutes." Which is actually an absolute and thus violates itself....

Whatever. You get the point, right?