Writing in present tense (should I...)

mewellsmfu · Mar 5, 2018

Sure, blackbird. Literary: Amaryllis in Blueberry by Christina Meldrum. I've read a number of these and didn't like a single one, but like I said, I don't care for literary fiction.

In the crime/suspense category, I see it mostly in psychological thrillers. S.J. Watson does it in his books (Before I Go To Sleep and Second Life) as does Mary Kubica (Pretty Baby, Don't You Cry, others). I haven't seen any police procedurals in present tense and I don't think it would lend itself successfully to that treatment.

I've read many more, but not by choice. I am paid to do it. And when I read for pleasure it never is in present tense.

tharris · Mar 6, 2018

I recently read The Woman in the Window and it was done very well.

That being said: its hard to do right. I would hate to get 3/4ths of the way through writing a novel and then realize that the tense isn’t working for certain scenes. I just wrote a flash fiction story in present tense and it was hard enough. Maybe that’s just me and my brain has a hard time thinking in present tense prose, but I would avoid it unless you’re confident you can do it well.

Murffy · Mar 6, 2018

A couple of years ago, if you asked me, I'd be down on present tense. But then I read "The North Water" by Ian McGuire. I didn't even notice until I was about half way through that it was written in present tense. But it was a great book, so now I'm more open to it. I doubt if I'd write in the present tense. I have enough issues with the past tense.

Harlequin · Mar 6, 2018

that was my experience as well. Against it until a good example of it converted me.

Sort of like, opening your book with a wake up scene and/or a character who has amnesia. Up until I read Amber, I'd have said it's always done badly, or else could be done differently.

Dave.C.Robinson · Mar 6, 2018

I'll read present tense if it's very good, but my standards are higher. There's just something about it that magnifies other flaws when I read it.

Harlequin · Mar 6, 2018

That's a good way to put it, and I think is possibly true. You're under more scrutiny if you write in first person present and it's 100% self imposed.

Zoe R · Mar 6, 2018

I wouldn't go through the slog of changing your whole novel without a really good reason. You'd have to adjust every single line!

I think what bugs me about present tense is that no one talks that way in real life, if you are talking about something literally just happened it's already past tense. Trying to enter some strange dimension where the story is taking place as I read it distracts me more than immerses me. But that's just me. lol

ecerberus · Mar 6, 2018

I thought I should come back and report on what I did.

So, I kept 90% of my book in past tense, and finally the past catches up to a point in the story where the final chapter and epilogue are in present tense. Two beta readers had no issue with it or didn't comment. Hopefully this will work because I really like the present-tense of my final chapter/epilogue.

Harlequin · Mar 6, 2018

sounds fine to me, OP. I think that's a good way of doing it.

As a quick aside - we *do* talk about things in present tense if in asides. Eg "Careful what you say to John, he's got kind of a temper". I know that seems very specific but for my own stuff at least, asides and deconstruction take up a lot of page space.

Dave.C.Robinson · Mar 7, 2018

ecerberus said:
I thought I should come back and report on what I did.

So, I kept 90% of my book in past tense, and finally the past catches up to a point in the story where the final chapter and epilogue are in present tense. Two beta readers had no issue with it or didn't comment. Hopefully this will work because I really like the present-tense of my final chapter/epilogue.

If it works, it works. Sounds good to me.

CJMatthewson · Mar 8, 2018

Writing in present tense is becoming more commonplace, I feel, especially in the YA market as spearheaded years ago by authors like Darren Shan. The one thing I'd be wary of is that once I started writing in present tense it became a habit, and I found it much more difficult to switch back from it than I ever did in switching to it and I kept dropping present-isms into all of my works, even those I was writing explicitly in past tense.

WriteMinded · Mar 11, 2018

Unfortunately, present tense seems to be quite popular these days, especially among YA authors. I loathe reading it, so I avoid it altogether.

Harlequin · Mar 11, 2018

Haha. The more people keep saying they hate it, the more I really want to make it work.

Same deal with the chosen one trope.

Probably this is why I am not published >.>

rusoluchka · Mar 11, 2018

I tried past and present, prefer present. It helps me get to the point and keep the writing clean.

Aggy B. · Mar 11, 2018

mewellsmfu said:
I do think that present tense is harder to sell because publishers (and agents) know what sells and and what doesn't. Readers who like both past and present tenses will read a book in present tense. But readers who don't like present tense will not. Basically there's no drawback to writing in past tense, but the portion of readers who dislike present tense won't buy it or read it. So present tense tends to lose audience based only on the tense, while it doesn't affect past tense. I hope that made sense.

Hmm. This would be news to my agent and my publishers.

I write about 50/50 past and present tense. And also about 50/50 1st and 3rd PoV. (Although I don't think I've done much that was 1st Past, but I have done some 3rd Present.) I've sold more in present tense, than in past. And slightly more in 1st than in 3rd.

While it's true that everyone has preferences about what they like to read, you have to be very careful about letting those preferences influence the advice you give about marketing. (I can tell you that if I had a dollar for every person who told me I shouldn't write in present tense because it would never sell I would have a nice little nest egg.)

mewellsmfu · Mar 11, 2018

Perhaps I expressed it poorly. Let me try again:

If you like chocolate and almonds, then it stands to reason that you will eat both. If you don't like almonds, then it stands to reason you will not eat almonds. If chocolate is past tense and almonds are present tense, then you will eat both chocolate and almonds. So, as a reader, you'll read present and past tense, no problem. But if you don't like almonds, and do like chocolate, then you'll read past tense, but not present. Does that make sense? Most readers I know will read a book written in the past tense, but some won't read a book in the present. It's just that simple.

I'm not saying you can't sell fiction written in the present tense—of course you can—and this is less about marketing than limiting your audience appeal. If you want to cook with almonds, then you should do just that. But you probably won't sell that cake to the almond-haters out there. Then again, you could change someone's mind about almonds because your cake is so delicious.

I can't tell if I am digging a deeper hole for myself or not.

Dave.C.Robinson · Mar 11, 2018

I have to admit that while I am not a fan of present tense at all, the last thing I would ever do is tell anyone else not to use it. One of the best things about writing is the fact that you can do anything so long as you do it well enough. If you can write present tense well enough, even people like myself who dislike present intensely may find themselves enjoying it.

Another thing to consider is that "the market" is huge and no one reader's tastes represent all of it. I'm absolutely fine with the idea that there are books out there that I can't stand for any of a hundred reasons including tense, theme, or subject matter. There are more books I like than I'll ever have time to read so what does it matter to me that someone wants to use a technique I dislike?

Writing in present may attract as many people who absolutely love it as it repels people who hate it. It's all about doing what's best for your understanding of the story you're telling.

Aggy B. · Mar 12, 2018

mewellsmfu said:
Most readers I know will read a book written in the past tense, but some won't read a book in the present. It's just that simple.

I'm not saying you can't sell fiction written in the present tense—of course you can—and this is less about marketing than limiting your audience appeal. If you want to cook with almonds, then you should do just that. But you probably won't sell that cake to the almond-haters out there. Then again, you could change someone's mind about almonds because your cake is so delicious.

I can't tell if I am digging a deeper hole for myself or not.

You did say specifically that it would be a harder sell because agents and editors know what sells. (Which implies that it doesn't sell, not just that it's not as popular.)

I've met folks who won't read books written by women or with female protagonists, but they aren't my audience. Just like when I write present tense, I'm not writing for the folks who *don't* like it, but the ones that do. And that is a choice that we make with many different factors and elements with every story. That's why I'm cautioning against telling folks that present tense is so hard to sell, because there's a ton of stuff that could be considered a hard sell but we're not going to tell the author "Don't do that," because we instantly recognize is as a story-telling choice.

As far as making an almond cake for the almond haters - yes, I've done that. As many folks who have told me not to write in present tense because it won't sell (or it's such a hard sell because so few people really like it), I've had nearly as many who have read excerpts of my work and said "I usually hate present tense, but you sucked me into the story so fast I didn't even notice/didn't care." *shrug* There are still folks who stop after the first couple of sentences because "Ew. Present tense." but the story isn't mean for the folks who don't like it (for whatever reason they don't like it).

Crowned in Fireflies · Mar 21, 2018

I'm actually kind of worried about this too. I finished an 86K SF, third-person manuscript a few days, and I'm currently waiting on feedback from my beta readers. The story is completely linear, no flashbacks, so I don't think it would benefit from past tense, but I did zero research into what the standards are for my genre and perspective, and I'm worried it might effect my chances of getting it published.

Harlequin · Mar 21, 2018

Third person is standard for sff.

I don't think there is any reason to switch unless you want to.

Elle. · Mar 21, 2018

I have never heard of a MS being turned down purely because it is written in the present tense. If a book is great but the agent is not keen on the present tense, what they will do is to ask for a rewrite in the past tense.

Dave.C.Robinson · Mar 21, 2018

Crowned in Fireflies said:
I'm actually kind of worried about this too. I finished an 86K SF, third-person manuscript a few days, and I'm currently waiting on feedback from my beta readers. The story is completely linear, no flashbacks, so I don't think it would benefit from past tense, but I did zero research into what the standards are for my genre and perspective, and I'm worried it might effect my chances of getting it published.

Every story can benefit from past tense; every story can benefit from present tense. The question is which set of benefits are best for your story and it's not one those of us here can answer.

If the book is good enough it will be fine in present tense; if it's not good enough it's unlikely that simply rewriting it in past tense would make the difference. There are lots of perfectly good SF books in third present; it's not something to worry about.

My rule for writing is that you can do anything so long as you can do it well enough. Don't worry about which tense you wrote in, worry about whether you used it well.

CAQuinn · Mar 23, 2018

Wow
incredible thread!

i write everything in the present tense.
but if an agent wanted me to write a book in past tense no problem

whats wrong with having a book in both past and present tense options

great forum here very glad i joined.

Aggie B... i like the way you think!

christoph

Harlequin · Mar 23, 2018

whats wrong with having a book in both past and present tense options

what do you mean?_?

There are books that switch between past and present/future timelines; they sometimes use different tenses.

Dave.C.Robinson · Mar 23, 2018

CAQuinn said:
Wow
incredible thread!

i write everything in the present tense.
but if an agent wanted me to write a book in past tense no problem

whats wrong with having a book in both past and present tense options

great forum here very glad i joined.

Aggie B... i like the way you think!

christoph

emphasis mine

In principle, there's nothing wrong with the idea, but I would question the practice. The problem I see is that each tense has its own strengths and a book written to take advantage of one wouldn't necessarily benefit from the other. Changing the tense you write in means changing your approach to the story; you can't simply rewrite each sentence in the other tense without affecting the quality of the book.

If you want to try out both tenses, write two books. The results will probably be much better.

Writing in present tense (should I...)

Eat books, not brains!

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Derailed

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Not as sweet as you think

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Not as sweet as you think

Eat books, not brains!

... with the High Command

Eat books, not brains!

... with the High Command