Writing in present tense

[Metal Mick]

Hi all,

it's interesting seeing how many here have used the term "immediacy", and it is one that I would use as well. Interesting too, that many have also written how they hate it.

After trying to write it, I find that it is a particularly difficult task, especially in third person. Perhaps because I read so much past tense, I tend to slip and have to check myself.

Others have quoted authors and I shall too: Richard Lunn. He is quite gifted, Australian, and writes predominantly in present tense. His novel Feast of all Souls is set in medieval Italy; his anthology of short stories Taxidermist's Dance features many shorts in present tense third person, but he delves into some second person too.

His writing is literary, with abundant similes and metaphors, but his vocabulary is huge and he wastes no words. If you can find his works, they will reward.

I'd like to see more present tense - whether in first or third person - in stories, for I like the way it carries the story forward.

Cheers,

Michael P

[Donnageddon]

The more I examine it, I come to the realization that present tense detaches me from the action in the novel, rather than the presumed intention of giving immediacy.

It's very odd, but there it is.

[MacEachaidh]

Stories in present tense often feel to me like being told a joke in the pub. I keep wondering when the punchline is going to come.

But mostly reading extended sections of present tense is like trying to pay attention to someone who's standing too close -- I find it a bit distracting and it makes me want to back away.

[Marioninyc]

Vanity searching for references to my book, Loisaida -- A New York Story, I came across Nomesque's reference above. Just to clarify -- Loisaida is not entirely in the present tense. There are multiple narrators and points of view guaranteed to annoy many readers. Some chapters are written in present while others are in past. There's a diary section, some third person and some first as well. Basically, something to frustrate any reader expecting a straight narrative.

It's interesting to read here that some are turned off immediately by the first person. The decision to write the first chapter in present was made late in the revision process. I wanted a sense of immediacy up front and to somehow establish the time frame as the present with most of the story taking place sometime before the opening chapter. In some of the later chapters I've used present to get inside the head of characters who pretty much live in the present and aren't very reflective. I always knew I would use different voices to tell the story. As a writer, I didn't think when I wrote it: "This will make it difficult for some readers to follow, so I should tell it more simply." I knew from the beginning that this was a story that was going to be told from different points of view and voices. As I revised and got reader feedback, I struggled to make it easier for readers by making the voices as distinct as I could. The people who enjoy the book, enjoy the voices and don't mind the shifts, but ultimately not every book is for every reader.

Like the OP writer, I also usually know early on whether or not a book is for me. For me the criteria probably has to do with that hard to define quality of "voice." It doesn't matter what tense or person or even genre. If there's a quality that signals to me that the writer is clear in his/her intent and I have confidence that he/she is going to have a good story to tell, I'm there.

[mjhudston]

I wrote my first short story in the present tense (quiet difficult to achieve as the story duration is over a week)

I found it really really difficult to continue to write in the present tense, and as a consequence, my follow up short story will be in the past tense.

I can't actually remember reading a book in the present tense, so if I have it can't have bothered me, because I would have remembered.

[lene1949]

I read a book recently - I think it was called The garden.. It had all the tenses you could probably want...

[nomesque]

Originally Posted by Marioninyc

Vanity searching for references to my book, Loisaida -- A New York Story, I came across Nomesque's reference above. Just to clarify -- Loisaida is not entirely in the present tense. There are multiple narrators and points of view guaranteed to annoy many readers. Some chapters are written in present while others are in past. There's a diary section, some third person and some first as well. Basically, something to frustrate any reader expecting a straight narrative.

Whoops - sorry for the misrepresentation! I remembered it as all present tense.