Novels in first person, present tense

Cyia · Jan 4, 2013

One of my very first posts on this board was decrying how loathsome and unreadable I found FFP. It was too much like going to a film and having someone do a play by play, said I. I couldn't stand it, said I. I hated it with a hate that burned like a thousand hateful suns on sunny hateful day in Hateland, said I.

My debut novel is FFP. :gaah

(the other novel is first past)

Reziac · Jan 4, 2013

Actually, I did make something up (I'd never heard of a vocoder, I contracted voice-recorder to get it), but now I'm told I have to make up something different! Well, something will come to me... <and whup me upside the haid>

Fantasmac · Jan 4, 2013

Jellicoe Road is one of the best contemp YA that I've ever read and it's in FPP. Taming the Beast by Emily Maguire is an adult contemporary in 3PP. It's funny that present tense bothers so many people because I often don't notice the tense when I'm reading a book.

Enesvy · Jan 5, 2013

Fantasmac, I feel exactly the same way. I don't even notice the tense as long as the story's good. I just wrote a short fanfiction for friend and I used FPP. It was fun.

James D. Macdonald · Jan 5, 2013

Brilliant first-person present-tense short story, recently published.

Jessica_312 · Jan 5, 2013

I love reading first person present, and I love writing it

BellaSignora · Jan 6, 2013

Well, thank you very much for your suggestions, the short story link and the cat thing :evil

.

rwm4768 · Jan 6, 2013

For the longest time, I was against first person present tense. Then I read The Hunger Games. It was such an exciting story that it just swept me away, and I completely forgot that it was written in present tense.

Sieglinde · Jan 20, 2013

I generally hate present tense, and first person automatically makes me unexcited since the narrator can't die.

It annoyed me in Hunger Games.

I love third person limited with a lot of different POVs best, ie. ASoIaF style.

Reziac · Jan 20, 2013

I've read a couple things where the first person narrator DID die at the end. Basically the end of a fight or whatever, and lights-out.

And I can see doing this: FP for part of the book, then switch to someone else in 3rd, and only later do we learn that the FP narrator is no longer with us. I've seen something similar done where one character was possessed.

But given a choice, I prefer 3rd/past for everything but gumshoes, which seem odd when not in 1st. (Wonder why that is?)

Wilde_at_heart · Jan 21, 2013

LJD said:
If you like women's fiction of the chick lit bent, then it is really, really easy to find. Probably around half of the chick lit books I've read are written in first person present tense. eg. Sophie Kinsella's books, as mentioned above. But I recommend I've Got Your Number and The Undomestic Goddess rather than Shopaholic.

I liked Undomestic Goddess but now can't for the life of me remember what tense it was written in! Which means if it's well done then it doesn't matter that much.

I suspect that when it provokes someone to re-shelve it immediately, that the writing had other severe flaws or personal peeves beyond just FPP.

There are even books I've picked up, read a few lines and gone "ugh, first person present!" and tossed aside, but there was probably something else in there at annoyed me as well, like bad descriptions, lame character names or cliched dialogue.

KateJJ · Jan 21, 2013

I don't like present tense, but I'm willing to read first or third, or to write in either. I prefer third but my WIP is in first; it was a story that really needed to be told that way.

I've never felt that the narrator is less likely to die in first person than in third. Third person narrators don't die much either. And I'm reminded of something I heard a guest (Pat Rothfuss, I think) on the "Writing Excuses" podcast say: basically, if dying is the worst thing that can happen to the character, the author has done something very wrong.

frankiebrown · Jan 21, 2013

Divergent. Whether or not it's done well is up to opinion, but no one can deny its success.

kuwisdelu · Jan 21, 2013

Wilde_at_heart said:
I liked Undomestic Goddess but now can't for the life of me remember what tense it was written in! Which means if it's well done then it doesn't matter that much.

I suspect that when it provokes someone to re-shelve it immediately, that the writing had other severe flaws or personal peeves beyond just FPP.

There are even books I've picked up, read a few lines and gone "ugh, first person present!" and tossed aside, but there was probably something else in there at annoyed me as well, like bad descriptions, lame character names or cliched dialogue.

I can't help but read "I don't mind present tense if it's done well" as "if it's in past tense, I don't care if it's written well." The flaws that generally jar people in present tense are also flaws in past tense, you just don't notice as readily, because you're more used to it. That doesn't make it better. It's like playing acoustic guitar versus playing an electric guitar and having distortion to hide your mistakes.

Wilde_at_heart · Jan 21, 2013

kuwisdelu said:
I can't help but read "I don't mind present tense if it's done well" as "if it's in past tense, I don't care if it's written well." The flaws that generally jar people in present tense are also flaws in past tense, you just don't notice as readily, because you're more used to it. That doesn't make it better. It's like playing acoustic guitar versus playing an electric guitar and having distortion to hide your mistakes.

I guess I meant that I DO have a bias against FPP, and when I dislike something for other reasons the tense really pops out in a way that doesn't with a badly-written book that is told from FP past tense. I'm even more tolerant if it's third person past...

And yes, I've seen far too many 'musicians' in my day use distortion to disguise lack of skill

dfwtinman · Jan 21, 2013

John Locke's Vegas Moon (A Donovan Creed Novel)
The guy sells books like McDonald's sells burgers.

Novels in first person, present tense

Cyia

Rewriting My Destiny

Reziac

Resident Alien

Fantasmac

chronically underwhelmed

Enesvy

James D. Macdonald

Your Genial Uncle

Jessica_312

BellaSignora

rwm4768

practical experience, FTW

Sieglinde

Wälsung

Reziac

Resident Alien

Wilde_at_heart

υπείκωphobe

KateJJ

coffee and pistols at dawn

frankiebrown

Simplify.

kuwisdelu

Revolutionize the World

Wilde_at_heart

υπείκωphobe

dfwtinman

"A poem is never finished, only abandoned" P.V.

Novels in first person, present tense

Rewriting My Destiny

Resident Alien

chronically underwhelmed

Your Genial Uncle

practical experience, FTW

Wälsung

Resident Alien

&#965;&#960;&#949;&#943;&#954;&#969;phobe

coffee and pistols at dawn

Simplify.

Revolutionize the World

&#965;&#960;&#949;&#943;&#954;&#969;phobe

"A poem is never finished, only abandoned" P.V.

υπείκωphobe

υπείκωphobe