Howdy, all!
Another reader query this week about why, WHY IN THE NAME OF GOD, I wrote THE STORMCHASERS in the present tense. I’m always bemused as to why people pick up on my use of present in ‘CHASERS when I also wrote THOSE WHO SAVE US in present tense–and nobody ever asks about that! Maybe it’s because I diabolically eschewed quotation marks in THOSE WHO SAVE US to distract everyone. (Actually I left out the quotes in THOSE WHO SAVE US for other reasons, but that’s a different story.)
I wrote both THE STORMCHASERS and THOSE WHO SAVE US in present tense because, as one of my Grub Street novelists (I think it was you, Dr. Kathy Crowley!) once said, the present tense is “the tense tense.” The reader doesn’t have the security of retrospect. When you use/ read the past tense, the implication is that the character is relating the story from some safe place or point, having survived all the travails. With the present tense, that doesn’t hold true; the reader is strapped into the immediate experience with the character.
I wanted this to be true for both novels and especially for ‘CHASERS, so the reader would have the full experience of not knowing when the storms, both atmospheric and mental, would strike.
Sadistic, aren’t I.
That’s what being a writer is all about.
I love this – but what I love more is the link to “a different story.” Now I am convinced that I have to read THOSE WHO SAVE US again. My first read was a borrowed copy so I am heading to Barnes and Nobles today. You are amazing Ms. Blum…and I love the photo of you on the blog.
I love this post. I am writing a new section and was debating whether to put it in present or past tense. You just confused me. BTW thanks for attributing the “tense tense” to me but I don’t think I could have been that clevah.
Good point about the “safe place.” I never thought about it that way. I think I write better in the present tense, but have always felt some pressure (not sure from where) to write in past. Now I’m just all messed up.
Love the picture and the hat!
That is so cool. Thanks for sharing that bit of insight.
Well, that’s not cool that I confused you! I’m supposed to be the Candle In The Window On The Cold Dark Winter’s Night. You know I aspire to REO Speedwagon. How can I help? PS, you ARE that clevah. Don’t hide your Candle In The Window under a bushel. xoxo
Thank you so much, Ms. Johnson! You are ever-generous. xo
Ms. Nina, if you’re feeling pressure to write in the past tense, there is probably a reason. I used to lecture my poor, captive writing students: “Good writing is thought-out writing.” I can justify every authorial decisions I make, from tense choice to word choice to character trait choice. And a good thing, too, since readers often question those choices–to my face. (Or at least on Amazon.) It helps me to be able to explain why I wrote a certain thing a certain way–and hopefully it’s instructive to readers, too.
Write on! We love reading your stories and blogs!
xoxo