Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy Farman
So does it matter if 'was' is 'is' if the reader is happy?
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I'm not sure of the point of your question.
Does it matter if you don't use dovetail joints to assemble a chair, and only use glue instead? No, of course not; the chair still holds together ... as long as only skinny people sit on it.
Does it matter if some readers are thrown out of the story by parts of sentences that conflict with each other? No, I guess not, as long as some others just keep reading and never question it anyway. But is that what you really want in words you either read or write yourself?
I guess you can always put a disclaimer in the frontispiece, saying "Never mind if some of this doesn't actually make sense — I'm sure you know what I meant".