Forum: Author Hangout

Seeking advice on tense

PotomacBob 🚫

In a separate thread on this forum ("What Makes You Give Up on a Story after starting it,") there's a discussion about the use of present tense for things that happened in the past. I face that dilemma in a WIP, and would like advice. The main character in my story is in their mid-70s, narrating in 1st person, recalling decades of memories. Should I have the narrator ALWAYS use past tense under the theory that the present is always when the story was written. Or is it okay for some of it to be in present tense, with the narrator trying to recount what they and others said when it was said?

Replies: Dominions Son Switch Blayde AmigaClone REP Diamond Porter BlacKnight

Dominions Son 🚫

@PotomacBob

The main character in my story is in their mid-70s, narrating in 1st person, recalling decades of memories

Here's my $0.02:

Does the main character actually appear on stage in their mid-70s telling the story?

If the answer is yes, the narration should definitely be past tense.

IF the answer is no and that is just something you are using to control the voice of the narrator and don't present it to the reader as such, then I think it could work either way.

Switch Blayde 🚫

@PotomacBob

I didn't see the discussion in that thread because I gave up on it when the topic turned to the value of gold. But here's my opinion.

If the 1st person narrator is telling the story of something that happened in the past, the tense should be past tense throughout (except dialogue).

AmigaClone 🚫

@PotomacBob

Should I have the narrator ALWAYS use past tense under the theory that the present is always when the story was written. Or is it okay for some of it to be in present tense, with the narrator trying to recount what they and others said when it was said?

I could see the bulk of the story being written as an extended flashback, in which case the I would use the present tense.

Replies: solitude

solitude 🚫

@AmigaClone

I could see the bulk of the story being written as an extended flashback, in which case the I would use the present tense.

As a reader, the important thing is consistency: no flopping around between tenses.
If your are doing a lot as flashbacks, though, you could consider doing the flashbacks in past tense, and the present time in present case?

Replies: Switch Blayde

Switch Blayde 🚫

@solitude

As a reader, the important thing is consistency: no flopping around between tenses.

I agree 100%.

My novel "The Nymphomaniac" is written in 1st-person past tense. The narrator is telling her story starting in 1956 when she turned 16 and was saddled with hypersexuality, today's medical term for obsessive-compulsive disorder or addiction to sex. In the 1950s, it was simply called nymphomania.

The last chapter jumps 7 decades where she's on her deathbed telling the story to her priest. I was thinking of writing that chapter in present tense, especially because she closes her eyes and dies at the end of the chapter. Present tense for the last chapter made perfect sense. I thought it would even be literary. But then I thought about reader consistency. 69 chapters in past tense and then suddenly one chapter in present tense. So I stayed consistent with past tense to the end and had her telling the story from the grave.

REP 🚫
Updated:

@PotomacBob

It is about the timeline and where the narrator is on the timeline. If he is in the present and narrating the past, the narration should be past tense. However, when quoting a character's past statement the quote should be present tense. If he is in the present and the narration is to characters who are also in the present, present tense should be used.

Diamond Porter 🚫
Updated:

@PotomacBob

It is possible for a narrator to recount a historical scene in the present tense, but difficult to maintain for very long.

So there I am, trying to clean the mud off my glasses, when I hear this voice. I look up and I see this pink blur ...

If multiple characters are telling parts of the story, this can give one of them a distinct style, but I find it much too difficult to continue this for very long.

BlacKnight 🚫

@PotomacBob

It depends on your narrative voice. A lot of people will use present tense when informally recounting things that happened to them in the past. If the voice you're aiming for is, "Old man telling tales from his youth over a beer," first person present may provide the voice you're looking for. I suspect it works better for short anecdotes than for novel-length stories.

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Forum: Author Hangout

Seeking advice on tense

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