Present-tense novel/ flashback help!

Jordygirl · Jun 9, 2007

I'm writing my novel in present-tense, but I have a flashback I need to write. Or, not even so much a flash back as a history of one of the character's past: should I do this in past tense? It makes sense to me, but when I did it before (a flashback, not the history) people said the tense-jumping confused them.

Opinions? Please?

Shady Lane · Jun 9, 2007

Pretend you're talking to a friend:

"I'm feeling really hungry right now. I could deal with some mozzerella sticks. Yesterday, I wasn't hungry at all. I told my parents, but they made me eat anyway."

Flashbacks go in past tense.

Penguin Queen · Jun 10, 2007

^ Ditto. The plot should make the jump in tenses clear. If it's not, you can add helpful things like "Back then" or "At that time" or "When all this happened, I was/lived/worked" etc.

thepainpasses · Jun 10, 2007

I would find a flashback in present tense FAR more confusing than tense jumping. It makes more sense in past tense because it IS in the the past. That's the whole point of the tense.

johnzakour · Jun 10, 2007

I'd have to read it before I could judge. But I am easily confused.

seun · Jun 11, 2007

This could make me the one who stands out and looks like a bit of a prat, but I can live with that.
My WIP is past tense. I've just written a flashback and done it in present because it's a emotional, painful scene and I want the reader to have the feeling it's happening now. I want them to not know how it's going to end for a particular character.

Whether that's right or wrong, I stand by it. So there.

Stijn Hommes · Jun 11, 2007

I wonder why you are writing your novel in present tense. The far majority of novels are in past tense and that is what people are used to. Do you have any particular reason? I would put a book down when I browse it in a book shop and note it's present tense on the first page I read.

seun · Jun 11, 2007

Stijn Hommes said:
I wonder why you are writing your novel in present tense. The far majority of novels are in past tense and that is what people are used to. Do you have any particular reason? I would put a book down when I browse it in a book shop and note it's present tense on the first page I read.

Just because 'the far majority of novels are in past tense and that is what people are used to' doesn't mean anything. Tense can help shape a story to great effect. Same as first, third or even second person POV.

Shady Lane · Jun 11, 2007

seun said:
This could make me the one who stands out and looks like a bit of a prat, but I can live with that.
My WIP is past tense. I've just written a flashback and done it in present because it's a emotional, painful scene and I want the reader to have the feeling it's happening now. I want them to not know how it's going to end for a particular character.

Whether that's right or wrong, I stand by it. So there.

No. That sounds really cool.

Shady Lane · Jun 11, 2007

Stijn Hommes said:
I wonder why you are writing your novel in present tense. The far majority of novels are in past tense and that is what people are used to. Do you have any particular reason? I would put a book down when I browse it in a book shop and note it's present tense on the first page I read.

I love present tense. And it's very popular in YA, which I believe is what Jordygirl writes.

Present tense is very, very powerful. My WIP is the first thing I've ever written NOT in present, actually.

Penguin Queen · Jun 11, 2007

seun said:
This could make me the one who stands out and looks like a bit of a prat, but I can live with that.
My WIP is past tense. I've just written a flashback and done it in present because it's a emotional, painful scene and I want the reader to have the feeling it's happening now. I want them to not know how it's going to end for a particular character.

Whether that's right or wrong, I stand by it. So there.

Actually, I do the exact same thing in my mystery novel.

It's dreams rather than actual flashbacks -- actualy, no, there are flashbaks too.
Jumping into present from past tense makes them very immediate, IMO, in the way a flashback is experienced: not as a memory, but as something you're in, right now.

I keep saying this, but I do believe that, in terms of rules - adhering to or breaking of - anything goes. It just has to be done well.

seun · Jun 11, 2007

Penguin Queen said:
I keep saying this, but I do believe that, in terms of rules - adhering to or breaking of - anything goes. It just has to be done well.

Can I get a hell yeah? Or an amen?

Dave.C.Robinson · Jun 11, 2007

Rules have to be broken well-- and on purpose.

Either form of tense switch could work in this case-- either present tense with a past tense flashback, or a past tense with a present tense "flashback." Just do it well enough.

Shady Lane · Jun 11, 2007

seun said:
Can I get a hell yeah? Or an amen?

hell yeah!

Soccer Mom · Jun 11, 2007

seun said:
Can I get a hell yeah? Or an amen?

Preach on, brother man!

FYI: I write YA/MG and I adore present tense.

Gillhoughly · Jun 11, 2007

Jordygirl said:
Opinions? Please?

You're getting a lot of back and forth here on the present tense issue, supporters and detractors. For every pro you'll find a con. There are many more con than for pro, though.

You'll find this one to be extremely hard, if not wholly impossible to sell to a print publisher.

You have to be really bloody fantastic as a first time writer or be solidly established as a money-making Name for a publisher to risk buying a present tense book.

This is not a new idea. I picked up a present-tense paperback called "Dog Star" written in the late 1950's. Couldn't get more than two pages into it, though the story was interesting. Had it been in past tense I'd have been able to get through it.

I'm in the industry and have had first hand experience with this issue. In one of my books I had several pages in present tense--the MC had been hit on the head, though--and I had to argue with my editor about leaving it as-is. That was about my 6th or 8th novel and I'd worked with this editor for years--and still she was not happy about it.

Just so you're aware of what you're up against.

Mud Dauber · Jun 11, 2007

Gillhoughly said:
You're getting a lot of back and forth here on the present tense issue, supporters and detractors. For every pro you'll find a con. There are many more con than for pro, though.

You'll find this one to be extremely hard, if not wholly impossible to sell to a print publisher.

You have to be really bloody fantastic as a first time writer or be solidly established as a money-making Name for a publisher to risk buying a present tense book.

That's a shame. I find that I don't even realize a novel is in present tense unless I'm specifically looking for the tense as I read. I don't know why so many writers can't stand it. In my limited discussions with friends and family--who are readers, but not writers--NO ONE pays any attention to the tense if the story is well-written. But as always with rules and preferences... to each his own.

To answer your question, I believe Shady Lane gave the right advice. :Thumbs:

Danger Jane · Jun 11, 2007

I'd say you can't just arbitrarily decide whether to use present or past for your flashback. It depends on the scene, how it affected the character. Like the character remembering the pancake breakfast in first grade might be better suited to past tense, whereas a character having a flashback to I don't know, a murder he committed--that might be better suited to present.

Honestly I think it has a lot to do with your voice and the style of the story. Lots of variables.

I don't really notice tense when I'm reading, but I prefer to write in present (first person) because of the immediacy of the story; it helps me get into the character's head more, too. When I was younger present really bugged me but one day I picked up a book that was present tense and didn't notice til about the fifth time I read it. So it just doesn't bug me anymore.

Cassidy · Jun 11, 2007

Gillhoughley wrote: "You have to be really bloody fantastic as a first time writer or be solidly established as a money-making Name for a publisher to risk buying a present tense book."

You know, I don't think this is true at all. My first book comes out this fall-- young adult novel in the present tense. I think there are actually quite a lot of present tense novels out there, YA included. I'd love to think I'm "really bloody fantastic"... but I think Shady Lane and others are right. Present tense is fine as long as it works.

Stijn Hommes · Jun 12, 2007

Cassidy said:
Gillhoughley wrote: "You have to be really bloody fantastic as a first time writer or be solidly established as a money-making Name for a publisher to risk buying a present tense book."

You know, I don't think this is true at all. My first book comes out this fall-- young adult novel in the present tense. I think there are actually quite a lot of present tense novels out there, YA included. I'd love to think I'm "really bloody fantastic"... but I think Shady Lane and others are right. Present tense is fine as long as it works.

That's just it. Far too often it doesn't work. I reserve the right to change my mind if it turns out I come across a novel in present tense that is wonderful.

seun · Jun 12, 2007

Gillhoughly said:
You'll find this one to be extremely hard, if not wholly impossible to sell to a print publisher.

You have to be really bloody fantastic as a first time writer or be solidly established as a money-making Name for a publisher to risk buying a present tense book.

Just so you're aware of what you're up against.

I like a challenge.

Shady Lane · Jun 12, 2007

My first book comes out this fall-- young adult novel in the present tense.

Me too!

Present-tense novel/ flashback help!

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