Should you write in the past or present tense? This question really comes down to preference. Most books are written in the past tense. I have found personally that I can't stand reading books in the present tense.. This is probably because I'm not used to it. It is also technically harder to write in the present tense, so that is something to think about.
Movies and TV Shows are of course in the present tense, but they are obviously much different than books. While writing a TV Episode blog recently, I kept finding myself creeping into the present tense. I didn't like the idea of referring to an episode I was reviewing in the past tense. After a while I settled on writing a recap in the past tense, and writing the majority of my review in the present tense. This seemed to work fairly well.. Of course after having an English teacher review it, I was forced to go one way or the other? (was it really that big of a deal? :)
In the English language it's actually technically incorrect to write fiction in the present tense, because the story has already happened. Present tense is more often used in playscripts, which are a set of instructions to be carried out in the future.
However, people will argue with these points. Some like to tell stories in the present tense to cause a more "immediate" effect ("So I'm going downtown in the police car, and they tell me to shut up or I'm going to be locked away!")
Have you ever written a story in the present tense? Or even read one? What did you think about it? I think a majority of people prefer stories in the past tense, and would write them similarly.
I think that the English language as a whole is really awkward to write sometimes, despite it being my first language, because there is no real authority that imposes the various rules of the language like the Académie française for French. I have written present tense stories--in French. Most simple fictional French stories are written in the present tense, but I write in the past tense in English.
ReplyDeleteI really do not like writing in the present tense in English, because progressive tense verbs become an issue. Like do I use the progressive or the indicative? In French, there is no progressive tense which simplifies a lot of things in writing.