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Tenses and POV?

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alchemyst

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Fledgling writer here ... after reading just a few posts I've realized how rusty I am in some areas.

Can anyone point me to links or other info that will explain or compare all the different tenses, and points of view?

Thanks!
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dpaterso

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alchemyst

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Thanks Derek!
Foolishly, I never considered google. (Dumb, I know).

Thought maybe I'd overlooked an area here on the forum where the mechanics were covered.

Alchemyst
 

Siddow

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Hi, alchemyst! There's loads of information on this site, but one of my favorite things about it is that together, we have TONS of links. :D

Here's one to, IMHO, the best grammar site on the web. You can click whatever you want to learn about grammar-wise, and then even take a quiz to see if you really get it! http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/

For POV, I can't really recommend anything better than Orson Scott Card's "Characters and Viewpoint", try your library for it.
 

seun

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Can anyone point me to links or other info that will explain or compare all the different tenses, and points of view?

Just in case anyone here or elsewhere says otherwise, I'm going to get in first:

There's no right or wrong POV/tense. The end.
 

Siddow

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Seun's right. Some folks may tell you that you can't write in first-person, present-tense if the narrator dies at the end, but my first published short story had a FPPT narrator who died at the end.

Quick snapshot of POV:

First person: Very intimate, the "I" narrator.

Second person: Very quirky, the "You" narrator; think Create-Your-own-Adventure books.

Third person: Can be intimate or distant, the He/She narrator.
 

BlueLucario

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This might either be good advice or a big mistake. Think about the POV's you already know about, there's not much need to gain vast info about them. After you think about them, choose your POV based on instinct. What are your characters telling you? What is your instinct telling you?
 

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Danger Jane

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This might either be good advice or a big mistake. Think about the POV's you already know about, there's not much need to gain vast info about them. After you think about them, choose your POV based on instinct. What are your characters telling you? What is your instinct telling you?

It's certainly good advice to follow instinct, but certainly not good advice to be uninformed about your options when there are so many distinct advantages--and disadvantages--to each POV and each tense.
 

Linda Adams

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This might either be good advice or a big mistake. Think about the POV's you already know about, there's not much need to gain vast info about them.

I have a friend who is an actor. He's 80 years old and has been in the acting business for 50 years. He's been in virtually hundreds of roles, including stage, film, and TV.

He still goes to acting classes as a student.

Because there's always something new to learn.

For my WIP, I was on the fence about what viewpoint to use. I normally went on "instinct" towards third, but I was wavering on doing it in first because most of the books in the genre are in first. It turned out neither was right; omni was the best choice for the story itself. I need omni's distance for some aspects of the story and for humor. But if I hadn't taken the time to learn more about the viewpoints, I would never known that. I'd still be struggling with trying to make the story work and not understanding why.


Can anyone point me to links or other info that will explain or compare all the different tenses, and points of view?

Two books are available from the bookstore on the subject. One's by Nancy Cress and the other by Orson Scott Card. I also recommend looking at the Washington Post's First Chapters page because you can get samples (and perhaps books to read!) of various viewpoints from the first chapters posted.
 
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