Still, it is rather disturbing when all those eyes are in the same umm...head. Killian makes a good point. Beta readers, or even professional editors, can give poor advice, or advice that is just not right for you. For that reason, it's important to understand the reasoning behind the advice, so you can intelligently decide whether or not to take it. You can't even count on sheer numbers to help you make the choice. Sometimes you can only accumulate experience.
“El Padre, El Hijo y el Espíritu Santo….I promise not to laugh." He drew his fingers across his chest as if pledging to whatever deity may be passing overhead. Paul blessed himself in the same manner he has used when making a promise since he was a boy in Havana. The boy looked over both shoulders, his eyes shifting the street to confirm no one else was within earshot. " Xavier, sir, my name's Xavier, well- My name is, Francis Xavier Battle, but please don't call me Francis sir ." Although his ascent as a businessman had rendered his musical aspirations a low priority for the last three decades, Paul Concepion, still loved song. Did I mess up ?
Not in verb tenses, with the possible exception of: It's not absolutely wrong, but past perfect would be a better choice here than present perfect: This is not a critique thread, though, so other mistakes in the passage are very much off topic.
I can do the below without getting a fine from Miss Crabapple ? “Pardon me, by the tracks?” A confused Paul asked a fellow parishioner resembling Albert Einstein, the man's white hair electric. Expelling a stream of expletives, annoyance flaring from her widened nostrils, mahogany forearms covered in flour Angel Washington waddled out of the bakery.
I read somewhere on the Internet (I think it's a reliable and credible source) that, unless you are a seasoned and renowned writer, if you write in third person limited and want to be published, you have to stick to the past tense. How accurate is this claim?
It's a very fair advice to the new writers. Present tense writing certainly requires lot more skills. It can attract a lot more attention than the story itself, which is not good. The trick is to make the readers aware of the present tense yet not attract unduly attention to itself... if this is making any sense. So, yes, stick to past tense if you don't have that skill.
As already stated, it really depends on your level of skill and how well you pay attention to your writing as you go. It's easy to find yourself trying to write in present tense only to switch back to past tense at some point - and then switch again. Not only is this a huge no-no just in general, but it will make it a pain when it comes time to editing. If you'd like to practice writing in present tense then it's best not to start that practice in your novel or anything you plan to get published. Personally, I really enjoy writing in present tense but I've been writing for 10+ years and have took the time to sit down and write short stories that I had never planned on publishing in order to practice present tense writing.
the vast majority of readers prefer past tense, too... so it only makes sense to maximize your chances of being published instead of minimizing 'em...
Hi all! I am doing a creative writing piece for class, nothing formal My writing is in past tense. I was wondering if it is acceptable shift to present tense for the climax. It seams to give it a here-and-now type of urgency that is lost in past tense I have done well to transition the change in tense, it certainly does not jar the reader out of the story My question is this: Is there some fundamental rule of writing disallowing a change in tense the way I described? Thank you for the help
Anything done well is doable. That sounds really facile, I know, and is an answer I try to steer away from because it always leaves the dangling and unanswered bit of what does done well mean. I can only give examples as proof. In Michael Cunningham's A Home at the End of the World, the initial three core characters are introduced, each in their own chapter, in 3rd person present tense for a paragraph or two which then slides directly into the mind of the character as 1st person past tense for the rest of the story. One would normally be told no, no, that's terrible, don't do that, but as painfully sad as this book is, it is also profoundly beautiful, and "done well".
there is no ironclad rule against doing that... if the reason for doing so is to show that the pov character has been telling about what happened to him/her in the past and, at the end, reflects on what took place in 'real time,' i can see it making sense to do so... it's been done before... whether it works, is up to the quality of your writing...
I myself don't mind Present, but lately I seem to really like writing into the past, like having a character recount their journey so it gives a more reflective feel. What do you guys like?
I used to always write in present tense, for some reason... Lately though, I've come to like using past tense in all my writing. I personally find past tense to fit better with third person perspectives than first person (unless the first person story is written as a journal, after the events of the story).
I used to write all in the past tense, probably because most of what I read back then was in the past. I'm sort of testing out present tense right now, and I like it a lot. I wrote one book that was a mixture of the two. As far as picking which one to use, it can depend on the perspective (I'm more inclined to use present with first person) and the type of characters I want to use in the story.
I really like present tense but I find it difficult to write in, I usually slip up grammatically if I do that.
Whatever best fits my tone and story. I love past it's easy to work with. You don't have to over think it. It's my go-to tense for most stories. As for present I love it for whenever I want to present a dry characterization. It can be very immediate but it also has it's limits as it can show the inner story workings ( it can draw attention to itself ) a lot more than past. And it can also sound very script-y if you're not absolutely cautious with your wording.
I like pretense, but you have to be clever to pull it off, else the reader will see right through it. I like intense, but depending on the topic, we may need a safety word. I don't like hypertense. It's murder on the kidneys when not controlled and cutting salt out of one's diet is a bitch.
I prefer reading present tense but prefer writing past. I am however awful at keeping my writing all in the right tense.
