Which is fine to use in dialogue. I don't believe it's correct to use in narrative, but different people will feel differently about it.
When it comes down to it language is the most important part of writing no matter how we choose to use it. There are many styles and approaches that have become great literary contributions. You don't need to sound like a scholar. And you don't need to sound like a truck driver. But you can. And on the other hand there is some narration that is so smooth it almost becomes invisible. Although a lot of people suggest branching out, I say strengthen your strengths. Branch out when you want, but if you've found a style or tone or something that just clicks, play with it and see where it takes you. Good luck.
But surely you can see why a first-person narrative would use a more natural language; colloquialisms, slang, vulgarities etc? Why would a down-and-out, street-wise heroin addict telling his story speak like Landed Gentry? And before anyone accuses me of stereotyping, I'm not talking about such a person telling their story in a non-fiction autobiographical way. Maybe then they would use text-book English, but I'm talking about fiction where the narrator is as much a part of the cast as everyone else. In that case his language and style needs to reflect that, even in the exposition.
probably because in most cases when the narrator is part of the cast hes a character and people use first person... omni but with a talking head character telling the story complete with idioms etc suitable to his background is difficult bo pull off
Yeah, I mean that’s pretty much how all first person is written. I’m sure there are exceptions—trying to think of them.
A bit of a random post, but does anyone else HATE reading books that are written in the present tense. Something about present tense makes my skin crawl and as much as I try, I can never get into it. If I read present tense in a book, I immediately put it back on the bookshelf. I don't know if it's just because I'm just not used to it, but I could never bring myself to write in present tense. Past tense will always be the best
I hate present tense and nothing would tempt me to do it. As a reader, it would 100% put me off buying the book. Sorry. I don't mean to be harsh, but it is what it is.
Hates it so much you had to post twice! Wow, that's really intense hatred. Present tense is used in the majority for YA novels now, and is highly prevalent in adult fiction too, so those of you who can't get over it are missing a lot of good reads. It's like any literary device - if it's used well you'll probably get used to it within a few pages, if it's used badly it'll be a struggle. As a reader, I find both equally comfortable - horses for courses as they say. As a writer, I find it perfect for a younger voice so if my protaganist is young, it just flows easier. The urgency is different. The discovery of youth, coming of age - it just works. Not to say you can't write that stuff in past too. It also works great for reveals, because the narrator simply CANT know what's around the corner, meaning it's sometimes easier to immerse the reader in the unfolding story. Also, there's an intimacy which is another level, like reading someone's innermost secrets in their diary or something. I'm using Present for my current WIP about a band in early 90s Seattle. Here's a short extract. We finish our final tune up and a few bodies have appeared. It’ll do. I glare at Craig to stop him noodling—a disgraceful habit. Only silence creates tension, only tension creates power. The sound man gives us a nod and we launch into the scratchy wail of Some Kind Of Nothing. The on-stage sound isn’t great, and I can’t really hear my guitar, but it doesn’t matter. By the time we reach our final song, Chasm, the place is filling up nicely. While my muscle memory does its job, I scan the faces of the crowd and imagine what they’re thinking. People are getting into it, and I’d really like to play for longer. Instead, I digest the meagre scraps of energy like a bottom feeding fish and give far more in return as the song hits the last chorus. The repeating line this chasm between us descends into screaming before I jerk and thrash through three minutes of howling feedback and dirge, while Craig floats around a ‘D’ note, and Sonny, now free of mundane matters such as keeping time, goes bat shit. I crank my amp and twist the gain to ten. I push my pickup selector to the bridge and let my guitar scream clarified brutality. Craig stops first, followed by Sonny. With my pickup shoved against the speaker, I make noise until nobody wants it anymore, then a bit longer, before I leave the guitar on the floor and exit the stage to a modest ripple of appreciation. The same scene in past loses something for me. The narrator is no longer experiencing it at the same time as the reader. It's not a huge difference, but it's subtly less powerful, to me. We finished our final tune up and a few bodies had appeared. It was enough. I glared at Craig to stop him noodling—a disgraceful habit. Only silence creates tension, only tension creates power. The sound man gave us a nod and we launched into the scratchy wail of Some Kind Of Nothing. The on-stage sound wasn't great, and I couldn't really hear my guitar, but it didn't matter. By the time we reached our final song, Chasm, the place was filling up nicely. While my muscle memory did its job, I scanned the faces of the crowd and imagined what they were thinking. People were getting into it, and I’d really have liked to play for longer. Instead, I digested the meagre scraps of energy like a bottom feeding fish, giving far more in return as the song hit the last chorus. The repeating line this chasm between us descended into screaming before I jerked and thrashed through three minutes of howling feedback and dirge, while Craig floated around a ‘D’ note, and Sonny, now free of mundane matters such as keeping time, went bat shit. I cranked my amp and twisted the gain to ten. I pushed my pickup selector to the bridge and let my guitar scream clarified brutality. Craig stopped first, followed by Sonny. With my pickup shoved against the speaker, I made noise until nobody wanted it anymore, then a bit longer, before I left the guitar on the floor and exited the stage to a modest ripple of appreciation.
I had this conversation with a beta recently. For me, 1st, whether past or present, is almost entirely the narrator-MC's voice, 3rd Omni is almost entirely the narrator-writer's voice, and close 3rd is somewhere in the middle. There's no doubt 3rd close is the hardest to create a unique voice. I try to use a mix of free indirect discourse (i.e. direct thoughts in italics), with narator paraphrasing in more literay language. If you want to go deeper, you need to use the character's voice in the narration, but this might not make for the smoothest read. Im a long way from fully mastering 3rd close, but here's a sample. The entire passage is a summary of his thought process, but there's only one direct thought in the character's voice (filled, my ass). If the whole piece was summarised in a more common voice, it wouldn't be much fun to write, because he might not have the means to describe the feelings, and he certainly wouldn't use colourful metaphor and simile (which I enjoy to write), but it would provide a much closer POV. My opinion is, in that case you might as well use 1st. He glanced at his watch. Allison would be home from work soon, furious about something or other. At least she no longer bothered asking how the job hunts had gone. As usual, the day’s efforts had been an epic failure. Potential employers took one look at his criminal record and told him the position had been filled. Filled my ass. In a matter of weeks, they’d place him on compulsory work detail to keep their meagre state subsistence. It was too ironic. London’s work-age population had halved in fifteen years, so why weren’t there ample vacancies for men like him? They considered plenty of jobs too menial even for the machines, but there was no chance when the work placement scheme provided an army of unwilling volunteers. That familiar bile of impotent frustration gathered again, welling in his stomach and rising up his throat. He scratched at the palms of his hands with his fingernails, while an oppressive silence shrouded him, charged with electricity like the air preceding a thunderstorm. His thoughts were getting too bleak, too active; without distraction, they might start growing legs of their own.
The use of present tense in books took some time for me to get used to, yes, but now I can read it just as easily as past. Most of my recent writing has used present tense; it seems to flow easier. The words come without straining, which adds to the enjoyability of the experience, something I need in order to motivate myself to continue a project. The fact that words come easier also means that details that, admittedly, don't need to be there tend to stick themselves in. It's a little cluttered at times, I'm sure, although I can't be an accurate judge seeing as it's my own writing and my own criticisms clutter my thoughts. You are absolutely right when you say "an intimacy which is another level." Once I got past my hesitance to read in the present tense, I found it really pulled me into the story, I got comfortable, and I didn't want to leave it. It forms a connection between reader and character that is harder to achieve with past tense (not impossible, necessarily, but harder). The idea of a young protagonist using the present tense, however, I haven't heard before. And I must say, I love it. Now that I'm thinking about it, present tense has a quality that gifts it a youthful feel. Perhaps it's because the present tense focuses on, well, the present, and young children focus more attention on what's happening right now, and less on the scary and uncertain future.
I have recently written two stories in present tense because it was out of my comfort zone. It is different and sometimes difficult as I have to rethink how things will happen. That is my experience.
