A TENSE Situation

So, I'm currently writing a series in the present tense. I'm not entirely sure why I decided that, because usually I write in the standard past.

Recently someone reviewed the first two chapters of this series, and one of the things they mentioned was that the use of present tense with 1st Person POV made things awkward/hard to relate to.

This suprised me because I had never thought of it. But thinking about it more, I realized I wrote short stories and my other series in past tense, and it was much more natural that way.

So, although I've written about seven chapters of this story, I think I am going to go back and write it in past. But before I did I wanted to ask y'all for you opinion.

• 1. What tense do you feel most natural writing with?
• 2. When reading something else, do you prefer past or present? (I'd include future, but I've only read one book like that and it was just weird.)
• 3: Do you think POV relates to how easy certain tenses are to read?

edited 20th Dec '10 9:33:25 AM by Latia

I usually go with past tense since I feel like a story teller. I have tried future tense once and it was...interesting.

Present tense. It feels much more natural for me, for some reason.

•1. What tense do you feel most natural writing with?
Present.

•2. When reading something else, do you prefer past or present? (I'd include future, but I've only read one book like that and it was just weird.)
Neither, though I run into past tense much more often as that seems to be the default.

•3: Do you think POV relates to how easy certain tenses are to read?
No. Certain tenses will be easy to read depending on how much effort the writer wants to expend making it that way.

edited 20th Dec '10 5:28:27 PM by Slan

Past tense. Present tense ONLY works with first-person, otherwise it will be extremely obnoxious and difficult to read.

1. Past.
2. Past again.
3. Past tense works with just about anything.  ^*
   ^{although I haven't seen someone use a kitchen sink as a main character, so I can't totally be sure}
   I agree with Mammalsauce in regards to present tense, although I would add poetry, songs, and second person Choose Your Own Adventure stories to the bit where present tense does work.  ^*
   ^{The original post never said "prose only"}
   I have never seen future tense works.

Also very punny title Latia.

edited 20th Dec '10 6:31:12 PM by EldritchBlueRose

I now have the urge to write a story in the future tense.

I prefer to read and write in past tense with the occasional exception for first person works and things written by QQQQ. I reccomend you switch to past tense.

1. Past

2. I don't prefer either, particularly, though present tense makes me pay more attention to the story. For what it's worth, according to my English book, there's a storytelling present which is used to make the writing more vivid.

3. Can't speak for anyone but myself here, but not exactly. Different tenses certainly make different tenses feel different. I feel present tense makes it more personal no matter what, so even if it's third-person omniscient, I feel more like the narrator is a person in present tense. Past tense is the default, and so a little more blank slate. Present tense is a choice.

If you have a reason for present tense, then I say keep it. If it was just an experiment, and you feel like you got the experimentation out of your system, then rewrite. Could you link to the story or give a passage?

And future tense makes perfect sense if your narrator is A)omniscient, B)outside time, C)a future-teller or D)weird. Just my two cents.

edited 20th Dec '10 8:27:08 PM by RedWren