Quick poll

[blamebrampton]

[Poll #1633332]In other news, HAPPY BIRTHDAY samena  and eanelinea77 ! May your days be excellent and filled with visits from the gift fairies and cake pixies!

And if anyone else out there is out of their tiny little minds with overwork: Agatha Christie, complex geometry, red lip gloss and slightly complicated knitting are all decent stopgaps until your brain has time to recover. One week, and I will be off having an adventure with no one expecting me to rescue anyone else's demented prose! If I am tremendously dilligent, I can even get a good lot of writing done and be a step closer to never editing again.

Well, never editing anything not written by friends or interesting fandom people, at any rate ...

Comments

[eanelinea77.livejournal.com]

Thank you, hon!

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

You don't look a day over 27!

[eanelinea77.livejournal.com]

Heh! I wish, but alas, I'm over 27. *sobs*

*hugs*

[complications-g.livejournal.com]

I feel conflicted because I really don't like present tense in fic, but if it's what you're comfortable and happy with, then you should totally do it. Is it for fic? Or something else? I find it far easier to read in non-fic situations, for some reason. Though, some people really don't care or notice much.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

For fic. And I tend not to like present-tense, though the whole Sins and Fathers sequence is in it for reasons that made sense at the time I started them. It's one of those things that is enormously easy to do for a bit, and then tends to fall apart in my hands. John Updike's are FAR more capable!

[rosathome.livejournal.com]

I rarely enjoy reading books written in present tense and I can think of very few indeed where the present tense has actually enhanced my experience of a book. It draws attention to itself in a way that past tense narrative, because it is so much more common, does not.

But far better write in present tense than not at all.

[rosathome.livejournal.com]

Also, I remember once reading a fic written in future tense which worked surprisingly well. It had a nice sort of day-dreamlike quality. But I think that would be extremely hard to pull off in a longer story.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I could see that being a beautiful thing for a story from, say, Luna's POV, but yes, very hard!

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I agree with all of this. Though I have read a few books and stories and suddenly realised that I had not realised they were in the present tense, which indicates the presence of an expert in the form. None, alas, were by me ;-) (I jest, but I did once pick up a book of short stories from my university days and find myself really enjoying one of them, eagerly looked up the writer, and was then torn between being appalled at my rampant egoism and appalled at my appalling memory ...)

[rosathome.livejournal.com]

Hahahaha!!!!

And I expect you're right about experts being able to pull it off without readers even noticing. I am not one of those.

[momebie.livejournal.com]

Present tense throws me off sometimes, but I get used to it soon enough. I fave difficulty writing it and sustaining it, but some stories just call for it, you know?

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

That is quite true. Alas, I cannot tell if this story is calling for it, or if I just think it will be a handy measure to help me write it quickly (ie, sheer mental laziness!)

[azurelunatic]

Write it in the now, then go back and make it into the then? At least you'll have got it writ.

[vaysh11.livejournal.com]

Great poll! :) My take on present tense is that you need a very good reason for using it in a long fic. And I don't mean some stylistic-experiment reason, but a reason that has to do with plot and characterisation.

My fave example for a long fanfic written in present tense that works is "Things That Change": even though the plot covers more than two decades, the focus is on intimate things like sex and the physical changes due to pregnancy, birth and illness. The present tense works here to sustain an intimacy and immediacy that I doubt would have come across quite as intensely if written in past tense.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Very true! I used it in Sins because it was from the POV of a five-year old at the start: I think I have had trouble finishing Fathers because it is not as natural coming from a fortysomething (which also explains the large number of explosions in that fic).

I think the basic problem is that my brain is broken, but deadlines are not!

[thenotoriousso4.livejournal.com]

I loathe stories written in present tense!

Though, to be fair, I'm sure it's a valid form of writing with a decent amount of people who love it, but it just takes me out of the story.

Lol, and if you're like me, Agatha Christie, cracked.com, and not so complicated cross-stitch leads to hours and hours of work not getting done. Which, er, is not good when you're sitting at your desk at work.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I always think I loathe it, but there have been several fics and more novels that I have really quite enjoyed, and in a number of those cases not even noticed the tense until afterwards.

Sadly, I think I loathe it because more often the faults of the form are obvious, as you say.

And we are alike in our hobbies, but not the timing: work has been a constant boil of rescuing other people from disaster of late, and long hours spent doing so, with the result that when I come home I can only manage Miss Marple, M. Poirot, and DPNs. Oh, and a walk, the cats and Mr B, with the odd baked pudding, but that is really it!

[thenotoriousso4.livejournal.com]

I have yet to read a present tense story that hasn't affected me, but who knows, maybe I'm reading the wrong stories. I've just gotten stuck in my ways as I've gotten older. Anymore it's very hard for me to give something new (in literature, anyway) a try.

Lol, I try to keep it until after work, but after days and days and fucking days of staring at this same excel spreadsheet I just couldn't take it anymore.

Excel is really the work of the devil. I have finally been convinced.

[potteresque_ire]

Oooh oooh oooh may I add another choice "Not something I'd notice?" :DDD

*Huggles*

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

That is because you are generous and supportive. But two of the many reasons I love you wildly.

[hollyxu.livejournal.com]

Present tense is up there with 2nd person POV in the range of DNW, which is to say, unacceptable unless done well.

So you really have nothing to worry about. :D

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

You are enormously encouraging. And were it not for the vast majority of a recalcitrant fic to be written by the end of the weekend at the same time as work being bananas, I would be enormously encouraged!

As things stand, I am considering a career reviewing lip glosses: at least I am certain of my ground there ;-)

[mizbean.livejournal.com]

I just finished a novel that was written partially in first person, present tense. That struck me as unusual in the beginning, but once I got into the meat of the story it was not at all cumbersome or bothersome. In fact, it really just faded into the background and seemed entirely appropriate a stylistic choice once I finished the book -- the protagonist was a 15-year-old boy and there were duel narratives (the other in plain old third person, past tense). So I'm going to side with it being perfectly valid, but the skill of the writer needs to make it work.

[thisgirl-is.livejournal.com]

Present tense can go horribly wrong, but I completely trust you to pull it off.

I wouldn't say it was (and therefore didn't tick) 'better suited to modern American voices' option, because I don't think it's to do with the writer per se. But of the three fandoms I play in (HP, Torchwood/Who and White Collar), I have noticed it working well most often in White Collar (which is modern and American), than the others which are British.

Also, I read Wemyss' Fan Fair fic today, so my periods may be becoming somewhat over-involved. Could be worse, though. I've also been watching Outrageous Fortune, so I could have said 'fuck' a lot.

[libby-drew.livejournal.com]

I'd like to add a few exclamation points after 'far better than not writing.' And then poke you with my virtual pen.

[brumeux77.livejournal.com]

I got called away before I could amend my poll with a comment. As a reader, I sometimes feel present tense distracting, though not always. As a writer I find it difficult and therefore useful for training my craftsmanship. But training I really don't need to go through often.

[norton-gale.livejournal.com]

Present tense is generally hard to pull off, but I have read a number of stories where the author has made it work. I am sure there are novels where it works too, but I cannot recall any of them. In unskilled hands it can come off as pretentious and distracting.

[schemingreader.livejournal.com]

I have enjoyed stories, and even a whole novel, in present tense. I don't recommend it as a way to write, though. When I first came to fandom, and hadn't written any fiction at all for 19 years, I thought I would try present tense. Ow ow ow. It's so hard! No character can have thoughts in the continuous past or everything explodes.

But it got me writing again to write that way, and if you need to do it the hard way in order to do it at all, I say, go for it!

[fourth_rose]

I really don't see what the big problem with present tense is. It's a stylistic choice, which may or may not work, but that's true for every other stylistic choice as well. It all really depends on the skill of the writer, not on the choice of a specific tense. I've written plenty of fics in present tense and plenty of fics in past tense, and I don't feel that either is "better", I just choose what feels right to me.

[arcanetrivia]

Present tense can get hard to read if it's in really long chunks (thousands and thousands of words), but I don't think there's any reason to avoid it on principle. It's good for more than action sequences, but I don't think everyone quite has the right ear for when else to use it. It definitely is "fresh and immediate", but I didn't check that box because I don't think that's necessarily a virtue in itself; does the scene or story really call for immediacy?

Often misused but I wouldn't go "augh, present tense, get me out of here!" just because.

[snegurochka_lee]

I agree with fourth_rose: as with any narrative or stylistic choice, if the author does it right, it should enhance the story, not weigh it down. I used to shun first-person POV, saying, "Ew, I don't like first-person!!" until I read some spectacular stories with it. Now I've amended it to, "Oh. It seems I simply don't like first-person done badly."

How to be sure one is doing these things well and not badly, however, I cannot say. :) I have no doubt that if you chose to write something in present tense, it would be done well.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I simply love present tense. It's breathless and heart-in-throat and feels like it carries the promise of fulfillment soon, like orgasm. Of course that means it feels like you want to give the reader that fulfillment before too long, which is why I think some people shy away from it in longer stories. But if I couldn't use present tense I couldn't have written a lot of things.

[why-am-i.livejournal.com]

It's only perfectly valid if it's done well, and I've seen enough evidence to lead me to immediate suspicion, even though I don't dismiss it outright because I've also seen it masterfully done. Same with first person: mostly awful, but sometimes amazing.

[theodoraleft.livejournal.com]

There is a lone passage in present tense in DH Lawrence's "The Rainbow" describing Lydia's wedding, which, we were all told at school and dutifully regurgitated in our A-levels, was to heighten the tension of the scene. Didn't work for me then, and I re-read it just now, and am still not impressed. I have a vague recollection of Agatha Christie using the device with more success in the opening passage of ABC murders(?) Instinctively, I would have said I disliked it, until reading some of Hollycomb's work, and also the beautifully atmospheric "Things that Change".

[mabonwitch.livejournal.com]

In theory, I am suspicious of present tense, like I am of first person. In practice, I usually don't have my nerd hat on when reading fic, and this don't notice.

[samena.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Yep, there were gifts and FAR too much cake. :D

As for tenses, I don't really mind either way, as long as authors stick to the tense they've chosen. On the whole present tense doesn't bother me. It's done so much these days that I hardly notice if something's written in present or past tense, to be honest.

[sorrel-forbes.livejournal.com]

Present tense is bad when it’s badly written (and worse when it’s inconsistently applied) but that is true of any stylistic choice. I really think you don’t have anything to worry about, because you write beautifully.

[jadzialove.livejournal.com]

Not a fan of present tense, but am a fan of your writing.

Also, does this mean I have the last of Fathers to look forward to? My beta goggles are charged and ready to go! (Which is to say, I'm desperate to read the rest -- I just re-read Sins and longed to just jump into the next...)

[grey-hunter.livejournal.com]

I think writing in present tense is easier. I always write my plot outlines in present tense - it just comes naturally. I haven't even noticed it until all those present-tense fics started eating up fandom. Or certain fandoms - mostly the new ones. However, reading a present tense fic is somehow harder. Perhaps because some of them just seem like plot outlines to me, rather than normal fics. Also, sometimes I just lose concentration and start thinking about unrelated things and don't notice it until I get to a conversation and realise that I have no clue what happened in the past few pages or paragraphs (if I'm lucky). And it is very hard to transition into writing in past tense after I've just finished reading something in present. So, yeah. Present tense for short fics is okay. For longer ones - I prefer the past tense. I have been known to stop reading a fic if it was written in present tense. Nowadays, I can't because the majority of them in the fandoms I'm reading is in present tense. Or perhaps I just got more used to it.