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Original poster

Present tense writing is driving me crazy!!!

41 replies

Theclearing · 25/05/2019 12:00

Is this just my own personal cross to bear? I hate hate hate the trend of writing in present tense. You know, like ‘she wants to say this to him, but she can’t quite do it. She crosses the room instead bla bla’

I just find it really hard to get into. Just reading Swan Song about Truman Capote which I want to love so much, but the present tense is driving me crazy.

Am I just really old fashioned?

OP posts:
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kesstrel · 28/05/2019 15:59

You get used to it if you read enough of them, IMO. I used to absolutely loathe present tense books, but the other day I was halfway through one and realised I hadn't even noticed.

StellarLunar · 28/05/2019 15:51

Having begun Evelyn Hardcastle I have to eat my words. The present tense works great - the narrator /protagonist has lost his memory so the present tense is all he has!

MsAmerica · 28/05/2019 00:26

I used to hate present-tense writing AND first-person writing.

I got over it - although it's still not my preference.

Pinkruler · 27/05/2019 00:17

Ooh agree about the 'you' thing. Second person present tense - utterly painful to read. I used to subscribe to mslexia and there was a trend for some very pretentious short stories of that ilk.

Lougle · 26/05/2019 22:21

Patricia Cornwell uses present tense for Dr Kay Scarpetta. I always think she does it well.

CarolinePooter · 26/05/2019 22:00

infinite curve I was put off reading Elly Griffiths for that reason, but once I actually read them I was hooked! I found I was reading them as if I were watching a play. I wonder if this is the intent? Her other books don't use this technique.

ChristmasFluff · 26/05/2019 15:31

This one really depends on the writer - some can do it well, and others don't pull it off - and Maggie O'Farrell def can.

My own huge bugbear is books written to 'you'. So 'you picked up your briefcase and walked out of the room Powerless, I watched you go.' Not in a 'letter' for a short while, but a whole damn novel.

NOOOOOOOO!!!! I didn't do that, and I can't be arsed with reading a whole damn novel of stuff I didn't do!

Halsall · 26/05/2019 10:04

I completely agree with you, OP, and I don't read a lot of contemporary fiction precisely because of this.

It can be done well - yes, Hilary Mantel leads the pack - but 90% of the time it's bad and lazy. Every aspiring author now thinks 'how hard can writing a book be? I'll just write in the present tense and it'll be really, like, immediate and involving! '

Newsflash: it almost always isn't.

InfiniteCurve · 26/05/2019 09:52

I think it depends on the writer,and prob the books.
I'd say I hate books written in the present tense,and 3rd person present - why?!?
But Elly Griffiths' Ruth Galloway series are written in 3rd Person present and I think they are brilliant,I didn't even notice how they were written til a long way through the first book,at which point I did think I'd been wrong about how could never read a book written like that!

Original poster
Theclearing · 26/05/2019 09:24

To contrast with a wonderful book, The Hand That First Held Mine is written like this. Maggie O’Farrell is an amazing writer, I’m def not dissing her.

I think a few years ago it was more of a ‘this is a way some writers like to write and you’re either on board with it or not as a reader’ but it seems now like it’s become much more common.

OP posts:
floraloctopus · 26/05/2019 09:13

I'm reading this thread and nodding in agreement.

EL2019 · 26/05/2019 09:12

EL James’ latest The Mister is written in third person present tense. It’s bad. Both in writing style and subject matter.

Jenny Trout does an excellent breakdown of why. She liked chapter one, then went off it in chapter two. She’s up to chapter eighteen at the moment and it’s not getting better.

jennytrout.com/?p=12554

Original poster
Theclearing · 26/05/2019 09:09

First person or third person, both irritate me. Though in your children’s book example, I agree it would work well.

OP posts:
thegreatcrestednewt · 26/05/2019 09:05

I haven’t seen many books written in present but third person - do you have any other examples?

Clawdy · 25/05/2019 22:54

But this thread isn't about writing in the first person, most people are fine with that. It's about writing in the present tense : "She wakes up. The room is dark. She sits up and reaches for her phone " etc. And that's what most people don't like.

SouthWestmom · 25/05/2019 22:51

I step back in shock, frightened by this stranger. What is she doing in my house? I look carefully and recognise the signs of friendliness - gin and a universal hatred of loo brushes.

thegreatcrestednewt · 25/05/2019 20:40

Why, not what!

thegreatcrestednewt · 25/05/2019 20:39

Compare

She was feeling very cross and sad.

With

Oh no, I could just cry. What am I so stupid?

The second example gets you right in the main character’s head, and avoids telling.

thegreatcrestednewt · 25/05/2019 20:37

But most YA and middle grade books are written in first person, present tense at the mo. It’s just the fashion. And it makes the reader connect more with the story and feel more involved...

I agree it’s hard to do well, though, but there’s no need to hate it just because. It has to be consistent, but then so does a story in past tense...

AnduinsGirl · 25/05/2019 20:30

Ohhhh god, as a teacher I fucking hate this!! I cannot tell you how many stories I have read from children that are written in the present tense, Hunger Games style. They can never sustain it and it leads to a great big literary mess!

3catsandcounting · 25/05/2019 20:26

Noeuf ...... 3cats enters the room. She hangs her head in shame. She's been gardening all day and desperately needs a gin. She pours, she enjoys. She looks out at her garden......

Original poster
Theclearing · 25/05/2019 19:40

100% honourable exception for Hilary Mantel. But she really uses it for a stylistic purpose rather than making it feel like a choose-your-own-ending novel.

OP posts:
SouthWestmom · 25/05/2019 18:24

3cats she accepts the correction gracefully, typing into the screen. What's that? She looks over at the door, a dark shadow falls across and ...

peachgreen · 25/05/2019 18:24

When done well it's marvellous. Gives a sense of place and immediacy in a way no other writing style can do. Mantel's Cromwell books, as mentioned by a PP, are the perfect example.

3catsandcounting · 25/05/2019 18:22

@noeuf you're quite right. I was just ranting in the moment. Third person speak drives me mad though. 😬

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