Violent Reactions to Present Tense?

MerryDay · Apr 9, 2008

Hey guys!

So, I just finished reading Wake by Lisa McMann (Fantastic book. Go buy it right now, I'll wait.) - which is written in 3rd person present. It took me over two-thirds of the book to even stop and realize it was in present instead of past. I was wondering why her writing had such a sense of immediacy...well, present will do that every time. I've fooled around with it myself, rewriting chapters here and there to see what it would turn out like and I'm not gonna lie - I love it. The only problem?

I used to HATE present tense. Seriously violent reaction to it. Before I started reading so much YA, I couldn't even get through books not written in past. And I know a lot of people who feel the same way. I know this is YA, so it's more prevalent, but in the rest of the fiction market it seems to be regarded as something for higher plane literary fiction only.

So, I'm just curious - does anyone here really, really hate present? Or even really, really love it?

Shady Lane · Apr 9, 2008

I really, really love it.

Only write in first person present because I'm just plain best at it. And my stories typically do very well with it.

Reading, I like past or present but always first person. Very rarely 3rd.

I LOVE 2nd person and can't wait til it's a valid choice. I'll so be ready.

bethany · Apr 9, 2008

I also LOVE present tense. It's hard for me to write any other way.

I pretty much agree with Shady all around, I prefer reading first person and don't notice (unless something is off) a preference between present and past.

bethany · Apr 9, 2008

oh, sometimes I do get really annoyed with past, when the author is trying really hard to create that immediacy and it's not as smooth as it would be with present, and I'm thinking just go with present, already! Makes me want to put the book down.

In my path to publication with Handcuffs (written in present) I never had an agent or editor question the tense.

Chicken Warrior · Apr 9, 2008

I'm another big present fan, although I've also read books that just can't get away with it. Books where big things are happening in too little space and you feel like an observer instead of a rememberer (word?) to a point where it almost seems passive.

bethany · Apr 9, 2008

I'm bumping you. I'm betting if you post this someplace else you'll get more of the people who hate present.

traininvain · Apr 9, 2008

I like both past and present tense, and I use them interchangeably. A lot of the recent stuff I had written was in present tense, but my current WIP is in past, which was kind of weird to get back into. If you're writing a story with flashbacks, present is definitely the way to go.

First person seems to be the predominant type in YA fiction, from what I've read. I think it's the easiest perspective from which to develop a character's voice.

Sage · Apr 9, 2008

I have trouble reading present. I won't say I HATE it, but it definitely takes me out of the story until I get used to it, which takes several chapters. And I have had trouble with the past talked about in a present tense book, b/c I'm so used to past tense that I'll get mixed up on whether the past tense is the story's present or past.

Most adult novels are written in past tense, but I'm seeing more of a present tense trend in YA.

mcnorth · Apr 9, 2008

I'm coming around. I find it really jarring for a few pages but then I'm fine. I want to use it for a future project but its not something that is natural for me.

althrasher · Apr 9, 2008

I really like present tense, but only in 1st person. 3rd present is really distracting to me.

Zoombie · Apr 9, 2008

I write in past tense. Present can work...and usually does.

caromora · Apr 9, 2008

I'm not a big fan of present, in first person or third. I don't actively dislike it, but a book has to be phenomenally good to keep my attention if it's written in present.

Chicken Warrior · Apr 9, 2008

I find two things really surprising here:

1. The number of people who just aren't quite comfortable with present. I say this because I only really started reading 'modern' YA recently and present always seemed like a natural development to the genre ('why did it take this long?').

2. The sense that third person present is less natural. In my mind all writing is storytelling. When people tell a (real, personal) story they usually use past tense, sometimes present. It really doesn't matter if they're in it or not. Most of us have heard people speak in both formats and similarly, in writing, I find it hard to imagine one being more 'jarring' than the other.

I'd be interested if someone with this preference could elaborate for me.

MerryDay · Apr 10, 2008

Wow - thanks for the opinions, everyone! I still don't know how I feel about changing over, but it's reassuring to know that most YA writer/readers seem to be okay with present...or, at least, won't just throw the book across the room if it's written in it.

Chicken, I actually just had a really interesting conversation with one of my betas, after giving her my first chapter redone in 3rd person present (instead of 3rd person past). She completely agreed with my feelings that it give the narration more immediacy, which is so important with most YA themes, but her complaint was that it felt too much like a play-by-play. She felt like there was greater distance between her and the characters - they seemed harder to relate to, as if they were just actors walking across a stage. That was my general worry about it as well - with first person present you get the intimacy of being in the characters head directly, so the distance issue is naturally resolved. With third, it seems easier for the reader to detach from the story and be jarred.

Julie Worth · Apr 10, 2008

I found an excerpt of this book online, and I confess I found it a difficult slog. Not so much for the present tense, but for the short sentences, and the excessive use of short paragraphs consisting of single short sentences, which makes for herky jerky reading.

Sage · Apr 10, 2008

Sometimes I find that present, if it's done poorly or depending on the character's/narrator's voice or even just the scene, can sound a little like a how-to guide. "I do this, this, this, then this happens, I feel this, and I do this." Obviously, "do" and "feel" aren't going to usually be there and it'll be more detailed and less mechanical (we hope), but just the way it reads--to me--seems less natural for storytelling.

Zoombie · Apr 10, 2008

Ha, I remember a narrative experement I tried where the narrative was one side of the converastion in a person's head. So, it was the voice in the MC's ear, but without the MC's responses, description, or anything else.

It was hard to write, but people said they liked it...sorta.

Danalynn · Apr 10, 2008

I don't mind reading present tense at all as long as it's done well.

I've never tried to write in it before, but I enjoy reading it.

Hollan · Apr 10, 2008

Wow, I'm really gonna go against the grain here. I usually hate present tense, 1st or 3rd. It's one of the things that make me put a book down, in most cases. However, I have read a few stories where it didn't bother me. I'm probably not gonna write any present tense stories though.

brainstrains · Apr 11, 2008

I also really, really love it. I seem to gravitate towards it for most of my books.

madeira · Apr 11, 2008

I don't have a problem with present tense, as long as it's written in third. Normally, the fact that it's in present tense will not even track my mind until after I've finished reading the book. Present tense in first, though -- that's a bit different. Perhaps I simply have not read a well written first present tense work, but I agree with Sage that it does tend to sound very mechanical.

Charlie Horse · Apr 11, 2008

Julie Worth said:
I found an excerpt of this book online, and I confess I found it a difficult slog. Not so much for the present tense, but for the short sentences, and the excessive use of short paragraphs consisting of single short sentences, which makes for herky jerky reading.

I like herky jerky. It fits in well with the 18 cups of coffee I drink every day.

As for present tense, past tense, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, person. All these choices make my head want to explode.

I can't even fathom 3rd present. Seems like mixing milk and orange juice. First present could work nicely though.

Chicken Warrior · Apr 11, 2008

Charlie Horse said:
I can't even fathom 3rd present. Seems like mixing milk and orange juice. First present could work nicely though.

Milk and orange juice ain't so bad

I've been thinking about this again and there is one kind of present tense I've never got to grips with: 2nd person. But I blame this entirely on Choose Your Own Adventure

bethany · Apr 11, 2008

Chicken Warrior said:
Milk and orange juice ain't so bad

I've been thinking about this again and there is one kind of present tense I've never got to grips with: 2nd person. But I blame this entirely on Choose Your Own Adventure

There's a Monster at the End of this book featuring Grover...

Aegwynn · Apr 12, 2008

Hollan said:
Wow, I'm really gonna go against the grain here. I usually hate present tense, 1st or 3rd. It's one of the things that make me put a book down, in most cases. However, I have read a few stories where it didn't bother me. I'm probably not gonna write any present tense stories though.

Me, too. I've sucked it up and made it through a handful of books written in the present, but it just irks me. It is definitely one of the things that makes me put a book down. I couldn't believe that people actually got published writing in a tense that was forbidden to me growing up - and I am still relatively young myself! It seems to be a more recent thing, this trend of writing in the present.

I personally would never use it.

Violent Reactions to Present Tense?

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