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Post by jackspicer on Jan 21, 2019 3:41:21 GMT
I recently read a present tense book for the first time (or, at least that I can remember). Although the present tense jarred me at first, I came to prefer it.
I now prefer the present tense so much that past tense books are almost unreadable due to my inability to feel any engagement from them.
I researched others' opinions about this, and it seems that past tense is still the preferred among most readers, to the point that many will throw a present tense book down in disgust and refuse to read it. Why?
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Post by No_Socks_Here on Jan 21, 2019 10:59:04 GMT
Are you talking about 1st person as opposed to 3rd person?
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Post by jackspicer on Jan 21, 2019 18:30:54 GMT
Are you talking about 1st person as opposed to 3rd person? Third person past tense vs. third person present tense. |
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Post by lunda2222 on Jan 22, 2019 0:10:10 GMT
I recently read a present tense book for the first time (or, at least that I can remember). Although the present tense jarred me at first, I came to prefer it. I now prefer the present tense so much that past tense books are unreadable due to my inability to feel any engagement from them. I researched others' opinions about this, and it seems that past tense is still the preferred among most readers, to the point that many will throw a present tense book down in disgust and refuse to read it. Why? I think writing a book in present tense poses much greater challenges. And that the toolbox of an author is much bigger when written in past tense. As such present tense books tend to be of poorer quality.
How do you, as an example, write a book from the perspective of multiple people in doing things at the same time in present tense without loosing the continuity in a book? An example here would be the A Song of Ice and Fire series.
Don't get me wrong, I can see advantages in a present tense novel too. Especially if you can switch from past tense to present tense. I can't think of a book I've read who does that, but you can see it in movies, such as Once Upon a Time in America (the good version) or tv-shows such as Lost. |
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Post by jackspicer on Jan 22, 2019 0:23:15 GMT
How do you, as an example, write a book from the perspective of multiple people in doing things at the same time in present tense without loosing the continuity in a book?
Just breaking it up into chapters, I would think. Must every book be perfectly linear? Bird Box is the book I am referencing, and it does in fact have multiple perspectives (most of the book follows Malorie, but Chapter 23 follows Tom and Jules, for instance). This is a book that pulled off different time periods, and tracked different characters, all in the present tense, and it made sense. To correct what I said earlier, I have read other present tense books (All Quiet on the Western Front, though that is first-person present). I don't understand the distaste I've read that others have for present tense books. It makes everything seem like it is happening in the moment, and it is much more thrilling than reading someone's recounting of events that have already been resolved. Though, I am reading LOTR right now (past third-person) and I don't hate it, I just think it could be better if the tense was changed. |
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