Comments on: Why I write in present tense http://autumnrain2110.com/blog/2008/10/25/why-i-write-in-present-tense/ Autumn Rain 2110 Wed, 07 Mar 2012 20:38:06 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.0.38 By: David Williams http://autumnrain2110.com/blog/2008/10/25/why-i-write-in-present-tense/comment-page-1/#comment-677 Tue, 28 Oct 2008 01:43:53 +0000 http://autumnrain2110.com/blog/?p=443#comment-677 It’s definitely the safer bet–I do think the burden of proof has to be on why one *wouldn’t* use present tense. Actually, I think some of the very early drafts of HEAVENS were in past tense; the fact that they were also totally incoherent had much more to do with me than any intrinsic problem with the tense. : )

]]> By: Joni http://autumnrain2110.com/blog/2008/10/25/why-i-write-in-present-tense/comment-page-1/#comment-675 Mon, 27 Oct 2008 07:49:38 +0000 http://autumnrain2110.com/blog/?p=443#comment-675 Whatever the reason, the pacing in Mirrored Heavens was excellent and really grabbed me so much that I really devoured the book.

Personally I have not given much thought to past/present tense in writing (when I read something) so I don’t have a preference. Still, while I have written something (game journals and a very short story) I found out that it worked out better for _me_ to write in past tense. Game journals are in past tense because as journals they are like diaries and tell what has happened. The short story was just a matter of how things went. Funnily enough I started it out in present tense but when the story begun to unfold I veered to past tense :P So I decided to change the whole story to past tense to keep it coherent enough.

]]> By: David Williams http://autumnrain2110.com/blog/2008/10/25/why-i-write-in-present-tense/comment-page-1/#comment-672 Sun, 26 Oct 2008 15:10:05 +0000 http://autumnrain2110.com/blog/?p=443#comment-672 hey Mike- -It wasn’t really a big issue for the reviews, to be honest. Reviewers generally tend to be pretty pragmatic–it’s all about execution, and if it works, they’re not going to raise problems.

That’s interesting with “in graphic novels I control the pacing in how fast I read”. I’d never thought about it that way before, but you’re obviously right.

It’s the contingency that one can achieve with the present tense that interests me the most. The Dening quote is critical for me, in that it’s too easy to look back on history and think, shit, it really was inevitable that events would end up culminating the current now. . . .

]]> By: Michael R Underwood http://autumnrain2110.com/blog/2008/10/25/why-i-write-in-present-tense/comment-page-1/#comment-670 Sat, 25 Oct 2008 16:32:17 +0000 http://autumnrain2110.com/blog/?p=443#comment-670 The present/past tense discussion is one I find very interesting, especially given that I’ve chosen to write in present tense in several cases, most notably the novel I’m working on right now.

My choice to use present tense was genre-based. When I read and think of superhero comics, they’re always in present tense. It’s not “Superman flew across the room and punched Darkseid,” its “Superman flies across the room, then he punches Darkseid.” The immediacy is tied in to the feeling of interacting with the medium, since in graphic novels I control the pacing in how fast I read, which gives more of a range in pacing than in prose narrative or in film. Taking that immediacy and bringing it into the novel form has the problems you mention, but when I started writing the novel in past tense, it didn’t feel right, even though I’ve written almost everything else in past tense.

I think present tense worked well for The Mirrored Heavens, and helps it stand out from the pack. The immediacy of present tense helps the reader burn through those pages, hurtling through scenes with kinetic action.

Have many of the reviews you’ve seen of the book commented on the choice of present tense, and if so, what do they have to say?

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