McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

Present tense

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LizW65:
I was wondering what you all felt about this.  Personally, I go with option 2 - trying to read a novel written in the present tense makes me nervous and jittery, as though I'm wired on too much caffeine.  Plus, there doesn't seem to be any concrete reason for it, except to be "different".
Well, OK, Damon Runyon could pull it off. :)

Matrix Refugee (formerly Morraeon):
Rumer Godden is a master of using different tenses for different threads of a narrative (In "China Court", a family history as well as a history of the house that family lived in, she used the present tense in flashbacks to the past, the past tense for the present and sometimes she'd shift to the future tense when she was describing rooms in the house and the events that took place in them, almost as if it were being described from the POV of the house observing the family activities), but I'll admit, it can take a little getting used to.

Zygoptera:
Interestingly enough, Hugh Laurie (yes, the guy who plays House) wrote a book a while back and used the present tense. I found it to be enjoyable, though slightly difficult to follow. I think that might have been because he had a huge assemble of characters, though.

pathele:
I have only attempted a couple of books that were written in present tense and I just couldn't do it. I found it too distracting and artificial. I have not read anything by the authors mentioned above, so I might change my mind.

-paul

eviladam:
Oh wow what's Laurie's book about? I have to get a copy of that.

I've read present tense stuff and liked it. I've also read novels that switched back and forth. There's a Star Trek novel, who's title escapes me, that prominentlly features Doctor McCoy, and it's set mostlly on a world with genetically enhanced assasins. When the novel switches to an assasin's pov it's present tense. I thought that really helped get you into the assasin's mind frame.

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