Using the present tense
Oct. 21st, 2009 11:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deborahjrossLiterary agent Jessica Faust offers some thoughtful answers to a question about the advisability of writing in the present tense.
Arguments against the present tense usually range from "it's pretentious" to "it's unusual, so it's one more hurdle for a reader to overcome to get into the story." But Faust put her finger on another reason, one that has been hovering at the edges of my thoughts for a long time:
I think the trouble writers have when writing in present tense or even first person is that it becomes a little too much about you telling a story, and the important pieces of storytelling (the showing) are actually left out. You forget the importance of other viewpoints, body language and description, for example. Of course writing present tense, just as writing first person, feels easier because it’s about you and this moment you’re in. However, when you really sit down to read it, it’s not easier to read. In fact, it’s more difficult. It doesn’t give the information that makes a story really sing for the reader or listener.
An an experienced, skillful writer can "get away" with present tense, first because she doesn't make the beginner's mistakes cited above, but more strongly, because she has chosen the right tool for the right job -- the tense itself plays a crucial role in how the story is put together.
My second novel, Northlight, was written in alternating sections of first and third person. Originally, the first person sections were in present tense. I thought I was increasing the emotional immediacy, a typical newbie misconception. My agent -- oh, so very tactfully -- suggested I reconsider. As an exercise, I tried rewriting those sections in past tense. Quickly, I discovered so many flaws in plot logic, in flow, in character development, in scene setting -- all disguised to the writer's eye (but not the reader's!) by the artifice of present tense. Needless to say, when the novel was sent on to my editor, all those sections were in past tense. I did not strike "present tense" from my list of possible style elements, but I did vow not to use it unless absolutely necessary. Almost 20 years later, I have not found a single instance which demands present tense.
Arguments against the present tense usually range from "it's pretentious" to "it's unusual, so it's one more hurdle for a reader to overcome to get into the story." But Faust put her finger on another reason, one that has been hovering at the edges of my thoughts for a long time:
I think the trouble writers have when writing in present tense or even first person is that it becomes a little too much about you telling a story, and the important pieces of storytelling (the showing) are actually left out. You forget the importance of other viewpoints, body language and description, for example. Of course writing present tense, just as writing first person, feels easier because it’s about you and this moment you’re in. However, when you really sit down to read it, it’s not easier to read. In fact, it’s more difficult. It doesn’t give the information that makes a story really sing for the reader or listener.
An an experienced, skillful writer can "get away" with present tense, first because she doesn't make the beginner's mistakes cited above, but more strongly, because she has chosen the right tool for the right job -- the tense itself plays a crucial role in how the story is put together.
My second novel, Northlight, was written in alternating sections of first and third person. Originally, the first person sections were in present tense. I thought I was increasing the emotional immediacy, a typical newbie misconception. My agent -- oh, so very tactfully -- suggested I reconsider. As an exercise, I tried rewriting those sections in past tense. Quickly, I discovered so many flaws in plot logic, in flow, in character development, in scene setting -- all disguised to the writer's eye (but not the reader's!) by the artifice of present tense. Needless to say, when the novel was sent on to my editor, all those sections were in past tense. I did not strike "present tense" from my list of possible style elements, but I did vow not to use it unless absolutely necessary. Almost 20 years later, I have not found a single instance which demands present tense.
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no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 06:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 10:11 pm (UTC)"Historical present" -- as in, all of history is still going on, like a past-imperfect verb? Sheesh.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 09:23 pm (UTC)I've never wanted to do this before. Never. None of my WIPs wanted it. But with this one? After one or two attempts at past tense for the project, I had to revert back to present tense.
That's the thing, though--recognizing when it does and doesn't work.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 10:08 pm (UTC)Any ideas on why this story works in present but not in past tense?
no subject
Date: 2009-10-21 11:37 pm (UTC)But yes, the whys are something I want to examine--why this story and not others.