Hi everyone I'm a new writer (just finished a first draft of a novel) but I just wanted to ask some advice on tense in descriptions. My wip is written in past simple (narrative) tense from a 1st person POV. I'm now at the editing/rewrite stage and I've realised I occasionally slip into present tense in my descriptions. Eg when describing her home: My house IS a traditional terrace, built in the local stone. Instead of: My house WAS a traditional terrace, built in the local stone. Now the 2nd is past tense but to me, that makes it sound like her house no longer exists... or am I just going mad? Would using the word IS be wrong? Would it be switching tense? Thankyou! Elle x
"Was" is fine. Don't be tempted to use "is", even if it feels right. It isn't, unless you then want to start using present tense when you describe the house, which would put it at odds with the rest of the work. "Was" simply implies that the narrator no longer lives there, not necessarily that the house doesn't exist any more. If you want to make it clear that the house is still there, you can simply say that - slipping in to the present tense for that sentence would be fine. Using "is" would imply that the narrator still lives there. Now, you can do that if the narrator does indeed still live there, and is narrating the story in the present, but the story itself takes place in the past. HTH. Welcome to the forum.
*** Thanks! That's the thing though... she does live there when this description is mentioned, and she lives there right through the rest of the book? I'll give the quote context: 'I giggled at the scribbled smiley face at the bottom of her note, flicked on the coffee machine then went to find my slippers and start tidying up. My house is a traditional 2 bed terrace, built in local stone. It’s snug, so I kept the interior simple with a neutral colour scheme of white and grey, warmed up by lots of wood, plants and natural textures. I turned on the radio and sang along while faffing around for a few hours. Dusting, plumping up the velvet and linen cushions on my sofas and rearranging ornaments.' So do I still use the past tense 'was' ?
Hmm. How early in the story does this part appear? The question isn't whether she lives there at the time that the story takes place, or throughout the rest of the book, but whether she lives there *now* - i.e. when the story is being narrated. In other words, if the story is being told through flashback by someone who still lives in the house, then "is" is fine. But if there's no indication of that, then you should use past tense. Also note - in the next sentence, you use "kept". It should be "keep", if using present tense to describe the house, unless the interior is no longer simple. Overall, I would say past tense is the correct one to use.
Arrr ok. I think I'm getting it slowly! I'll stick the past tense then. This is from the 2nd chapter. The rest of the story in in past tense (including some flashbacks to a previous time) and in the last chapter we discover that it was all part of her journal. Thanks for your help!
I would use "was" there. There is present simple tense, and that's kind of what you're doing, sort of. You use it when you're stating something that is always true. It will mix present tense in a past tense paragraph. The problem, is your house isn't "eternal" enough to warrant it. It's meant for a grander scale. I met Jerry under the steel gird shadow of the Red Line and we made the exchange. No one saw us. Chicago hides kids like us. It tucks our kind under its diseased wing. The tracks rumbled overhead, and as their roar pealed away to the north, we were already heading our separate ways. I've got a few tenses there, but past is the baseline. It switches to present in the middle and gets away with it because it's making a statement that is timeless.
You’ll find both approaches in published first-person fiction. My view is that you choose the one that you feel works best for the story. If it is set up as a present narrator telling a story in past tense, for example, then the sentence with “is” makes sense.
Ah now - if the excerpt turns out to be part of her journal, and she was still living in the house at the time that the journal was written, then it would make more sense to use the present tense - she would naturally describe the house she's still living in with present tense!
I agree. I would use "is" simply because she still lives in the home. The place is her home and it wasn't sold off. She hasn't moved on. I wouldn't say I was living in my home I'm currently at, I would say this is my home.
