24
votes
I thought I understood tenses
There's not an exact right or wrong here, it's a matter of stylistic choices. Your beta readers disagree with yours --that's part of why you have beta readers, but ultimately you're still the writer ...
- 56.5k
19
votes
Accepted
I thought I understood tenses
You do, you do understand tenses.
Direct thought follows the same rules as direct speech, except that it is italicized rather than quoted. The same Wikipedia article describes both. This means it is ...
- 10.8k
16
votes
Accepted
"Lack of [plural]": should accompanying verb be singular or plural?
I agree, it's not the answers (plural) that "cause" has to agree with, it's "the lack of answers...". You have A LACK OF something, so the singular verb form is correct.
It's not ...
- 1,313
15
votes
Accepted
Shifting tenses in the middle of narration
Yes, you're totally fine. If your tense shift happens between paragraphs — that is, the new tense starts a new paragraph — it should be clear what's happening. If this is a first-person narrative and ...
12
votes
Accepted
Past vs. present tense when referring to a fictional character
If the non-fiction work is an essay or similar analysis of the literary work, I would use present tense.
Tom Sawyer's friendship with Huckleberry Finn represents unity between middle and lower ...
- 2,468
10
votes
Past vs. present tense when referring to a fictional character
The book exists in the present, so the characters do as well.
The author, though, exists in the past, since he's no longer with us.
Mark Twain wrote about a boy, Tom Sawyer, who has adventures ...
- 32.4k
10
votes
Shifting tenses in the middle of narration
The actual switch in tense is fine. The context of one tense is simply different from the context of the other.
If the bulk of a story is in the past tense, but the narrator switches to the present ...
- 2,550
10
votes
"Lack of [plural]": should accompanying verb be singular or plural?
There's some ambiguity in the sentence, and this seems to be causing the grammar checker to misparse it.
The intended parse is
It’s not our (lack of (answers to these problems)) that causes us such ...
- 371
9
votes
Accepted
Writing dialogue, present or past tense "said"
It doesn't matter how much dialogue you have. If your story (the narration) is in present tense, then all the verbs have to be in present tense. All the dialogue tags, all the narration, everything. ...
9
votes
Can I switch from past tense to present tense in an epilogue?
This kind of thing is always Your Mileage May Vary, of course, but I think if you're doing it in an epilogue (clearly labeled as such), you can probably get away with it. The main story is done, and ...
8
votes
Use of 'Now' in past tense
The trick is to keep everything in past tense except the word now. This is how it's done in published books.
Ancestor by Scott Sigler:
On the screen, a man crawled across the floor, leaving behind ...
- 1,192
8
votes
Varying POV and tense
It's a bit dicey. You'd have to have a good reason for it.
If Preston's POV is in the present, but Paola's POV is in the past,
is the story happening in Preston's time? Is Paola relating things in
...
8
votes
Shifting tenses in the middle of narration
We use tenses to establish a temporal order between statements and from there derive chronology and causality between facts. If you mess that up, no one will be able to follow the stream of events in ...
- 10.6k
7
votes
How to write in third person present tense without making it sound awkward?
The biggest pitfall I find with third person present tense is that it can start to sound like a movie script. Like stage directions.
He goes to the fridge and opens it. It's empty. So he closes the ...
7
votes
Should character descriptions be written in past or present tense?
Generally speaking, you should not mix tenses. If the rest of your book is in past tense, your character descriptions should also be in past tense. The fact that your novel will be part of a series ...
- 10.7k
6
votes
Accepted
Past perfect in past tense narrative: When to use and when not to?
When I find myself typing had too many times I treat it as a symptom of either too much exposition, too much laboured logic, or too much effort invested in justifying the 'now'. At this point I've ...
- 1,747
6
votes
Accepted
Can I change tenses in my first person YA novel?
This sounds like a good and apt use of person and tense changes–they aren't arbitrary, and they indicate either a change in POV or a change of setting/state of mind. The typical rule against tense ...
- 56.5k
6
votes
Is it confusing for English speakers to see mixed tenses in narration?
While I whole-heartedly agree with @Double U, I'd like to add that on the few occasions where it's ok to mix tenses, there are very specific reasons behind it.
I looked at her in shock. I don't ...
5
votes
Present tense or Future tense (When writing articles or technical guides)
When writing a technical article, use the command voice in present tense and do not use ambiguous words like "very clean".
Use a plain non-serif font for your article. Anything else looks non-...
- 99.6k
5
votes
Accepted
First person plural for charisma?
In a related issue, I've had run-ins with members of this group where
they have criticized my communication as too abrupt, to the point they
were offended a woman would talk in the manner that I ...
5
votes
How to avoid slipping into the wrong tense?
Before you can avoid slipping into the wrong tense, ask yourself what the right tense is. Because it's not consistent for every story that is told.
Jokes use present tense. A man walks into a bar...
...
- 3,067
5
votes
Accepted
A question about Past Participle vs Simple Past in a novel
It's been mentioned on this board before, but rules which arbitrarily declare any part of a language off-limits are ridiculous. They may be meant to give guardrails to new writers, but all they end up ...
5
votes
Are there any rules to follow about the narrator mixing past and present tense in writing?
Using present tense for some parts of a story and not for others can be very effective - especially if the narrator is writing in a style that tells a story and adds asides reflecting the narrator's ...
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible