Hello all, I'm experimenting with writing in first-person, past tense and I ran into something that I'm not sure how to deal with. Specifically, I think it sounds fine when describing what I did or what I was feeling - "My stomach ached and I had a fever" or "I took a long, hot shower, then got dressed". However, when describing myself, it sounds off. If I say something like "I stood six-feet tall" or "I was in shape", it almost implies that I'm no longer six-feet tall or I'm no longer in shape. Maybe I'm dead? Or maybe I'm writing about something that happened long, long ago? I've played around with wording to try and get it to sound better ("My six-foot-tall frame carried my two-hundred pounds well.") but that sounds unnecessarily wordy. The flip side, of course, is that if I'm writing in past tense then I don't want to say "I stand six-feet tall" because then its present tense. Anyway, just wondering how this is generally handled? I can't find a many examples in the books I own. Thanks.
I think "I stood six feet tall" or "I stand six feet tall" are both fine. Neither would throw me off. In past-tense books, you'll occasionally come across bits in present tense for reasons like this. I consider it more a matter of stylistic choice than one being right or wrong. If the idea of using present tense for any of it bothers you, stick with past tense--it works just fine that way and most readers aren't going to be confused by the usage.
First of, self-description is going to be unnatural. You are who you are, and unless you're incredibly narcissistic, you would not normally assess your appearance comprehensively. Second, writing in past tense does not mean all your verbs are past tense. Narrative past tense simply means your viewpoint on teh story events is anywhere from millisiconds to eons ahead of the events you are currently recounting. My nephew Nathan was conspiring with his best friend to whip up a nasty surprise for his rival. Nathan stands about five foot eight, and his nemesis Carter Wolff towers over him at six one. I don't doubt that Nathan will hit his growth spurt soon and will no longer feel inferior, but last week he only dreamed of taking Carter down a notch or three. This is the distinction between narrative tense and grammatical tense, and it's an important concept for any writer to understand. Just because the main action occurs in the past, that doesn't mean every sentence will be thusly constrained.
Self-description can be natural if it's important to the story. I have a female character who is going through a chemically-delayed-then-chemically-accelerated puberty. At one point she's showering, and check her body out, noting that soon she'll be the kind of woman the (kindof shallow) man she might be interested in might be interested in. Ack, that was a terrible sentence. But because she has a story-related reason to check herself out, it works. So a young guy getting ready for his first date with a romantic interest, as an example, could check himself out, driving himself nuts over whether his date will like his looks, his clothing, and so on. I practice a grin. Good, no spinach between the teeth. Still, maybe I shouldn't show so much teeth, they're kind of crooked since Billy broke my jaw in third grade. Ah, stop worrying, she won't notice those teeth. As short as I am, my fat nose will block the view. More than just a physical description, I'm hoping this shows character as well.
Statements of fact appear in simple present tense even if the paragraph is in past tense. I went to New York. The rats there are the size of bread boxes. I caught one and trained it as a comfort animal. See? Past, present, past. The simple fact switches into present tense. This is similar to what you're doing. When you have a basic truth, it's okay to just state it. That's one of many reasons that tenses shift in a paragraph. (I can dig the rule up from a grammar book if you need it formally said. I forget where it's at, but I know it's there.) Edit: Someone's going to say it should be "were." I just know it. And yes, you could do that. The difference would be that this graph just says what is there, whereas as "were" says what was found after the fact. This graph is just meant as an easy example. Yeah. I agree with @Cogito. It's unusual for a person to describe himself so conveniently. Just flashback into it: Girls hadn't given me the time of day since summer camp in '98. Back then six-foot-one spoke for itself; these days it was more of a standard feature than an extra, especially with my padding around the middle. Something like that. You have to find a reason to say it. Yeah, it is trickier to describe the MC in first person. Don't fall for the mirror trick though.
