Hey all, I'm trying to use future tense, "will" in a narrative that's in past tense. I understand there are no inflected forms for the future, unlike verbs that need "-ed" or "s" at the end. But I've also read that you need to substitute "would" in place of "will" for past tense. It's all very confusing. Anyway, this is a sample I made up and wondering if it's just too awkward sounding (thanks!!!) -- He resumed loading his weapon, pushing in a shotgun shell. Two hours from now, after the massacre, people will ask him where he got the gun from. And he will refuse to answer.
I think what you have is fine. I'm no expert on these kinds of things, but if I read this in a novel or short story, I wouldn't think twice about it. What you have, now, works if you intend for the narrator to be existing between the massacre and when "people will ask him where he..." If you intend for your narrator to be retelling this event (whether character or non-character) AFTER both the massacre and questions, then you need would.
There is an essay I read (I'll have to find it) but it stated (again grammar is not my strongest point) if you write in past tense you have the option of using all 12 tenses (vs present tense where you only can use four of the 12.). Personally, this reads fine to me.
I'd personally say it depends on the timing of events. If the narrator is re-telling the event before people have asked him I would agree that it is correct. Hidden in a building, awaiting what is to come, or something of that sort. If it is being told from after he has been questioned I'd use would. "He resumed loading his weapon, pushing in a shotgun shell. Two hours from now, after the massacre, people will would ask him where he got the gun from. And he will would refuse to answer." This is more my personal preference than actually being an issue. I think it reads fine either way and I don't think the reader would be confused.
Like Arcadeus says, it depends on POV. If you are switching POV then you may have issues switching from would would and then saying will will and then would would again. I am not saying don't do this simply because I have no idea what your intentions are. And now I've had an idea!
I would use "would" here, not "will". I'm not saying that there's no occasion when you could use "will", but here I find it confusing.
I like 'will'. 'Would', to me, reads like something the POV character is expecting to happen as a result of his current actions. 'Will' is more detached, it's from a narrator outside of time who's saying that it definitely is going to happen, as a statement of fact.
It sounds extremely awkward to you. Having future and past tense in the same lines, paragraphs only really work when writing the intro to a book and having the narrator describe events with future tense being things like "in the days to come _____".
"Will" read awkwardly to me, but so did "now", and I know people use that pretty often in past tense narratives. But it's always jarring to me. I think it comes back to there being three different "now"s in a novel. The character's "now", the narration's "now", and the reader's "now". (It was kind of mindblowing for me when I stumbled across this idea, but nobody else seems too interested when I try to bring it up. I can't decide whether that's because it's so obvious everyone else already knew all about it or whether I'm describing it so poorly they have no idea what I'm talking about...) But for me, it's not clear which "now" you're referring to in that sentence. I think "would" would help ground it in the character's time, which seems to be what is meant. Alternatively, I'd take it out altogether, which makes the "will" stand out less, to my eyes. Two hours later, after the massacre, people will ask him where he got the gun from. And he will refuse to answer.
