Using Present Tense: A Survey/ Discussion

It seems that most people are only lukewarm at best about using present tense, so I'm starting this thread to get a better idea of what people like and don't like about it.

I use it almost exclusively. It keeps things clear in my current main work, which involves time travel and alternate timelines, and one of my narrators is simply more effective in first person because of the way he sees the world. However, I can't stand reading fiction in third person present tense. It's very jarring for some reason.

I don't like it (from any POV), for no other reason then that I personally find it rather irritating to read.

I prefer to use it as a tool for differentiation; usually I'll use it for dreams/flashback sequences, or scenes where the narrative is essentially reading out of a diary (which are usually also first-person, for obvious reasons). These are also usually written wholly in italics, so the delineation is clear.

I have no preference for reading present tense; sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

I can get equally immersed in reading past or present tense, but I've only ever written a few short paragraphs in present. I suppose I might try it sometime.

I've read little present tense and written less, so I do not feel I have a sufficient grasp of how it should work in prose to be using it.

edited 8th May '12 9:08:36 PM by Night

In terms of reading, present tense is usually a non-issue (which is pretty much required for a YA reader, 1st person, present tense is one of the more common combination these days). Every once in a while, I might notice it, but then it'll fade back into the text quickly, sort of like how I adapted to said bookisms. Perhaps because I read a little faster than average.

In terms of writing, I had done it a few times. I did it for a school project recently, and I also did it back in elementary school when I had no sense of tense, yet present was where I default. However, slightly uncomfortable writing past tense. It takes a little more effort for stay within it, but I think if I write in it a little more, I'll get use to it.

edited 8th May '12 9:13:22 PM by chihuahua0

Since they were brought up, I should note that I hate said bookisms (and many other things) far more then present tense. I don't like it, but it's not a game-breaker, and I will read books written that way.

edited 8th May '12 9:11:47 PM by nrjxll

I don't mind it at all in books I read, provided it's done well, obviously. I rarely use it myself, though. Not because I have anything against it, I just never seem to have a place for it.

Do I use present tense myself? No. I've only seen present tense used in two places- short stories and erotica. Short stories because it's a more experimental medium of literature, and erotica because, well, I'm pretty sure most of us understand that sex is very focused on what's happening right now.

I think part of the problem with present tense is the issues it presents with framing. There's a tacit understanding, particularly in third person narrations, that the story is being told from the perspective of some other person at some time after the story. The words were written in the past, so the actions they're describing can't be happening in the present.

Short stories because short stories generally cover a shorter period of time, so they mesh better with the present tense's implication that the events of the story are taking place right now.

I quite like first person present tense under certain circumstances. I don't like it in big dramatic stories, but in more simple, slower moving works, I don't mind it. I don't know why this is, it's just personal preference I suppose. I've written stories in this way before, and I find it very easy to write in, but whether it works or not is another matter.

I don't like third person present tense. I find it very offputting, and it just doesn't make any sense to me to have a story written this way. I will read books written in this way if I like the story, but I can't get into them very easily.

That's the same for first person present tense. If it's written in that way in a story where I don't think it fits, I will still read the story, but it makes it harder for me.

edited 9th May '12 1:22:15 PM by ArlaGrey