Past or Present Tense?

Granted, I'm not an editor, but every historical novel I've ever read (and 99.9% of all novels, come think of it) has been written in the past tense.

I find present tense very jarring, no matter what genre it is, but it probably won't be a make-or-break thing. I think past is far more common. It probably boils down to personal taste. Whatever works for you and the story.

mara_jade3 said:

I had a question about whether it's better to write historical fiction in past tense since it's in the past, or if editors would prefer present?

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It's not better or worse, it's whatever is working for you personally with this particular piece of fiction. Anything can work if done properly and passionately, I think.

Me, I write in both past and present tense, like the former, but love the latter.

I'm another vote for past tense. But I think you'll find yourself using various tenses in writing historical, especially in dialogue. Puma

I don't really see a distinction between historical and any other kind of fiction, when it comes to tense. Otherwise, a lot of science fiction should be written in future tense, since it hasn't happened yet. And I don't even want to think about alternate-history fiction: "Had America not gotten involved in World War II, Hans Schmidt would have been sitting in his office in London in 2008, when a young woman would have walked in..."

As others have said, it comes down to personal taste or what will serve the story best. Most stories are set in their own past until the final page, since what occurred at the beginning happened before the ending, yet when one is reading them, there's an illustion that they're happening as one reads. So the choice of tense is just another narrative device, like the choice of viewpoint, to help achieve the writer's goal.

I think the rule is...

1st find your voice for the story,

2nd try it out by reading aloud,

3rd stop worrying about the editors and concentrate on telling the story in whatever voice and tense suits it.

There are two series of present tense historicals which are very popular, one is Victorian, the other, 13thC.

In my current WIP, I am using past and present tense. I tend to prefer writing and reading past tense though. I'd try writing a couple of key paragraphs in both ways, and see what you prefer.

I can't stand present tense. Puts me off every time.

Writers?

Lee Jackson's the Victorian series writer.

Am not at home and can't find my reviews of the other which was done in 2005.

Yeah, I'm v. wary of present tense. The only book I read in present tense that didn't deter me from reading was Shopgirl, by Steve Martin. And even that took some getting used to.

Hm, I love present tense. The 1st person present tense. It has a sense of urgency, makes everything sharper, as if you are an immediate participant of the events.
It is a pleasure to read and could be very enjoyable to write in. It's like a fevered dream.

Past tense is safe, but it is apt? You need to think about it more, most importantly – why are you doing this. I like weird POVs, 1st person unreliable, for instance. But am I being perverse? And why? What is my goal, my reason? Try different POVs and you will know immediately what speaks to you. You don’t write a novel for a reaction. You write it for very personal reasons.

Also...

I've just read 'Crooked Pieces' by Sarah Grazebrook. A very good historical in the present tense.