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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:
BlackToothpaste · 25/05/2019 16:52

I met the author of Swan Song once —Kelleigh Something-Double-barrelled? — and disliked her so much I’ve never read it. (Is it any good?)

I think present tense shows up weak writing, and it can work better for some types of story than others — something with a short timescale where a lot of the interest is focused on what is immediately in front of us, rather than the past — but it can be too unreflective, I think. Like the previous page never happened.

On the other hand, Hilary Mantel does it in the Cromwell books, and she is a divinity. Grin

StellarLunar · 25/05/2019 16:46

I was actually going to write the same op myself today. I picked up The Seven Deaths Of Evelyn Hardcastle from the library and a quick flick revealed it's in the present tense Sad I'll give it a go but I find it really off putting.
And I hate that American style of speech "so I'm standing there and I see a man, he's walking out..." no, you were standing there and you saw a man. It enrages me Angry

LassOfFyvie · 25/05/2019 16:41

I hate it. It's usually a load of pretentious guff with no plot.

Original poster
Theclearing · 25/05/2019 16:38

Also common in thrillers/women’s fiction/

OP posts:
Original poster
Theclearing · 25/05/2019 16:31

What’s Feedback?

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LarryGreysonsDoor · 25/05/2019 14:52

The whole present tense for historical stuff is called the historical present. It’s a thing.
Listen to Feedback, many people hate it.

SouthWestmom · 25/05/2019 14:50

She thinks she can't do it, she thinks she will fail but she doesn't and she's so proud of herself, surely?

3catsandcounting · 25/05/2019 12:36

Yes, I'm old and I hate this. I saw a FB post with someone saying (about herself)
"she thought she couldn't do it, she thought she'd fail, but she didn't and she's so proud of herself."
Attention-seeking guff.

Original poster
Theclearing · 25/05/2019 12:29

Hurrah for us! (She says, as she thinks about why writing this way is so impossibly frustrating for certain of her Luddite readers.) aargh even writing it as a joke is painful.

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redexpat · 25/05/2019 12:25

If youre old fashioned then so am I.

Original poster
Theclearing · 25/05/2019 12:24

Omfg how do they discuss hVIII on the radio in present tense! What like he’s just there between them with his festering leg going ‘well, Jim, I like them young and fresh meself’

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Choccyp1g · 25/05/2019 12:23

That would be Julius Caesar (I think)

Choccyp1g · 25/05/2019 12:19

People do do it in real life though. As in
"I'm standing there and I'm like WTF?"

HOwever I dislike it in most fiction and HATE HATE HATE it on Radio 4 when they are discussing Julious Caesar or Henry VIII.

It happenED a long time ago FGS.

Original poster
Theclearing · 25/05/2019 12:18

BUT SO MANY OF THEM ARE AT IT WHY WHY!!!

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HollowTalk · 25/05/2019 12:15

I agree with you. It must be incredibly hard to write, too, as when we tell someone about something that's happened, we always use the past tense. I can't think of a situation where we think or talk in the present tense for any period of time.

Trippedupagain · 25/05/2019 12:13

Totally agree with you. I can sort of see why some writers do it, but it gets really awkward at times as it's difficult to maintain especially if the novel is complicated and you sometimes wonder if you've really understood what is happening!