"The danger in limiting tenses, POVs, voices, and forms is mere competence, a story that everyone likes but nobody loves." That will stay with me. Thanks for sharing yours and Anthony Marra's thoughts and for the list!
Ryan Van Meter’s “If You Knew Then What I Know Now” is more interesting than many first person essays because of the way he employs it to shift time. It teaches really well, too.
Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall trilogy is written in the present tense! I almost always use it, lately; somehow it feels like it's allowing me to avoid the artifice of "once upon a time." (I do realize that all fiction is artifice.)
Love this. Very well explained. As far as examples go, I think Straight Man by Richard Russo is among the finest present tense novels ever written. I couldn’t put it down, and that at least in part due to the immediacy of the writing.
Thank you. This intrigued me, as when I re-draft, I often change tense from the past to the present, as it strips away the don’t-need-it parts. Working with present tense feels like handing watercolour paint before it dries, fun, not quite in control. But I hear you about rigid adherence to this-tense or that-one, so I wrote my most recent post in past tense, to play with that. Inspired by a tense discussion. Gratitude.
I have an irresistible attraction to the present tense. Sometimes if I try using the past tense it looks wrong and halfway through I change my mind and go back and change everything into present tense. I notice that I use present tense mode mostly to tell true stories of things that have happened very recently. Something about past tense feels too distant. Possibly this is because my main mode of writing has been journalling.
That’s so interesting. And yes! Controversial perhaps no more but once upon a time.
"The danger in limiting tenses, POVs, voices, and forms is mere competence, a story that everyone likes but nobody loves." That will stay with me. Thanks for sharing yours and Anthony Marra's thoughts and for the list!
I always enjoy what you share on writing.
Thanks so much Holly
Ryan Van Meter’s “If You Knew Then What I Know Now” is more interesting than many first person essays because of the way he employs it to shift time. It teaches really well, too.
Thanks for that recommendation.
Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall trilogy is written in the present tense! I almost always use it, lately; somehow it feels like it's allowing me to avoid the artifice of "once upon a time." (I do realize that all fiction is artifice.)
Great point. It’s almost never commented on as such either, as if it is invisible to readers.
Love this. Very well explained. As far as examples go, I think Straight Man by Richard Russo is among the finest present tense novels ever written. I couldn’t put it down, and that at least in part due to the immediacy of the writing.
Thank you. This intrigued me, as when I re-draft, I often change tense from the past to the present, as it strips away the don’t-need-it parts. Working with present tense feels like handing watercolour paint before it dries, fun, not quite in control. But I hear you about rigid adherence to this-tense or that-one, so I wrote my most recent post in past tense, to play with that. Inspired by a tense discussion. Gratitude.
Thanks and that is some very interesting self-observation, too. Thanks for that.
This made me realise why the novel I'm currently working on is in present tense, better than I'd yet been able to articulate to myself. Thank you.
That makes me happy to hear.
Wonderful, thank you.
Thank you, nice to hear from you!
I have an irresistible attraction to the present tense. Sometimes if I try using the past tense it looks wrong and halfway through I change my mind and go back and change everything into present tense. I notice that I use present tense mode mostly to tell true stories of things that have happened very recently. Something about past tense feels too distant. Possibly this is because my main mode of writing has been journalling.
I had no idea it was considered so naughty!