Writing in past tense, dealing with infinitive

Those are both correct (well, sort of; I don't know I'd say a state 'faces' anything, and it's also got a peninsula ...) but vaguely clunky. Neither sounds odd, just clunky. I'd just not word something like that, in general.

I drove my father's blue Olds to the holdup.

Bob went to Florida, to experience an Atlantic Ocean beach.

Or something.

perezbalen said:

Hi guys

I have a writing question, and I'm hoping this is the right forum.

I'm writing my story in the past tense, but I need to describe something that doesn't change with time, or that still is. For instance:

John went to Florida, a state that faces the Atlantic ocean.

or

I drove my father's car. It is blue. (because the car still exists and it is still blue).​

Saying Florida faced the Atlantic sounds weird to me, but saying The car was blue, doesn't.

Which one is the best practice for fiction writing?

Click to expand...

Neither of your examples uses an infinitive

What you're talking about is describing something that has a permanent state or condition, and when you do this in the past tense, as you've demonstrated, you can use present tense to suggest it is ongoing. There's nothing wrong with this, but as Corny points out, the phrasing can be inelegant. Just incorporating the adjective into the sentence better will remove the need to worry about tense.

Eternal Truths can be stated in present tense, but it's an option that a lot of editors and pseudo-editors (read writers' group members) object to.

This was something I had to think about with my current WIP. A large portion of the story involves martial arts - so before a character could perform kata, I had to explain what it is. Kata then is the same as kata now. So I used the present tense to explain what it is, then in the next paragraph used past tense for the MC's performance of it. Feels right, and seems to work.

ETA. A specific kata (Sanchin Kata) I was able to describe via dialogue (after the term kata was explained).

TellMeAStory said:

Eternal Truths can be stated in present tense, but it's an option that a lot of editors and pseudo-editors (read writers' group members) object to.

Click to expand...

I've never seen anybody object to the use of continuous present in a past tense narrative, and you'll have no trouble finding examples in the writing of many fine writers. It's a perfectly normal narrative technique.

caw

I've gotten negative feedback for stating 'eternal' things in the simple present in the opening of a past-tense narrative. Made me smh.

As blacbird says, "It's a perfectly normal narrative technique" and one which can be very effective. I use it a great deal, mainly to differentiate beween my first-person narrator telling the reader what happened in the past (the story) and aspects of the setting and society which, to all intents and purposes, from the narrator's point of view still exist at the "time of telling". Often, using the present tense in this way can give more immediacy to a narrative.