Siobhan Says: Picking A Tense Is More Torturous Than Picking A Bathingsuit
I've been toiling away on a new book idea for a couple of months now. And up until this weekend, I'd been writing it in first person past.
I thought this would be a nice change, as my first two books are first person present. I also hoped it would allow me more room to be reflective, to go off on tangents and descriptions, to dig a bit deeper with my main character. While in grad school, all my writing was first person past. I didn't think it would be that tough to make the switch.
How very wrong I was!
Writing is already a very awkward, uncomfortable endeavor for me...and this change in tense made things even worse. I had a really hard time getting into the story, feeling that I was right there with my main character. My sentences were all terribly awkward and clunky, like you could actually feel me trying to conjugate the verbs. Ugh. I can't tell you how many hours I wasted on trying to figure out a sentence like this...
But a little part of me is still troubled. Will I ever be able to write in past tense again? I'm curious to hear YOUR experiences. Do you write in mainly one tense? Or are you able to switch it up? What's your secret?
-=siobhan=-
I thought this would be a nice change, as my first two books are first person present. I also hoped it would allow me more room to be reflective, to go off on tangents and descriptions, to dig a bit deeper with my main character. While in grad school, all my writing was first person past. I didn't think it would be that tough to make the switch.
How very wrong I was!
Writing is already a very awkward, uncomfortable endeavor for me...and this change in tense made things even worse. I had a really hard time getting into the story, feeling that I was right there with my main character. My sentences were all terribly awkward and clunky, like you could actually feel me trying to conjugate the verbs. Ugh. I can't tell you how many hours I wasted on trying to figure out a sentence like this...
"Autumn was my best friend."
ME: "Was? I mean, Autumn STILL IS her best friend. But I can't use IS. But WAS makes it sound like they aren't friends anymore. Which is something I don't necessarily want to give away in Chapter Three. ARGH!" *bangs keyboard*So, I made the switch back this weekend. First person present all the way! It already feels so much more comfortable. I'm just writing now...not thinking so much. Also, I've made some plot decisions that lead me to believe this will truly be the best tense for the book. It's a mystery. She's very impulsive. Etc.
But a little part of me is still troubled. Will I ever be able to write in past tense again? I'm curious to hear YOUR experiences. Do you write in mainly one tense? Or are you able to switch it up? What's your secret?
-=siobhan=-
posted by siobhan vivian at 6:58 AM
10 Comments:
You left out the second most annoying part of first-person-past-tense (right after having to use past tense for things that are still true): you will get endless critiques of people asking, "but where is this person now? Whom is s/he telling the story to? Why?" Guys. It's a literary convention. Get over it.
I got so fed up with it, my current WIP is in third person.
P.S. I should note that none of the "where are they now?" critiques came from the Longstockings, except when they were quite-rightly calling me on my 15-year-old starting to sound 30 :-)
I wrote my first two books in first person present, and now my new WIP is in first person past and I too have had many problems with it. It feels clunky at times, but at other moments it's so FREEING to be in the past tense and be able to explore things more deeply.
I should note that I started both of my other books in past tense and eventually rewrote them in present...which made them A LOT BETTER!
My wip is in first person past (about a year in the past). I need the narrator to have the wisdom of hindsight for it to really work.
Sometimes when the tense is bugging me, I'll just write a scene in the present, or even in the third person, and then rewrite it once I've got it out of the brain.
In the case of was/is my best friend, a person could be both at the same time, no? They could have was'ed and then wasn'ted and then is'ed again, making it correct to use either was or is.
I have less problem with tense than with POV. The very first book I wrote was in third person. Which felt fine and natural. So I wrote the next one that way. The third was first person present, and then I wrote in first person for the next...seven years. Story of a Girl and Sweethearts - first person past. Now with current WIP I'm back to third person and it's killing me. I mean, I love the different things you can do with it and I WANT that distance from the narrator because she is distant from herself. But on a sentence level it can be torture.
I want, though, in my career, to be able to flow between using different tenses and POVs more easily, so I figure the only way that will one day happen is sticking with it and practicing all kinds of stuff.
I wish for this book I could pull off what Mary Pearson did with A Room on Lorelei Street - third person present - but it's not as easy as she made it look.
I usually write in 1st person past, but my current WIP is 3rd person past.
It's very hard and feels clunky, but the trick for me is reading it out loud as I go.
My tense depends on the context, though I naturally tend to the past tense.
Not that you were asking for advice, but the "arrgh" can be interpreted as a "show, don't tell" challenge. As in, what made Autumn the best friend? "Autumn became my best friend when..." and you're not giving the end of the friendship away, necessarily.
Just an idea.
I always maintain that I don't have much of a choice in these things. The book wants what it wants, and the characters just start talking in a certain way. I agree with the POV issue though - as much as I've always wanted to write in third, so far they've always been first.
it is so nice to read everyone's responses to my post. THANK YOU FOR SHARING!
my first two were third person past, but the YA series I'm currently working on is first person present. Something I'm doing for the first time. I've always had a problem with tenses, so I'm hoping this will be easier.
Post a Comment
<< Home