tense and tensability
I recently submitted a story to a couple of archives. I haven't heard back from one of them (my favorite archive which is currently has a VERY full queue). The other declined my submission at this time.
The reason my story wasn't validated was mostly due to tense issues. I had sent Hermione back in time to June, 1980. The story was told in the past tense, which is typically the story tense. My problem was that Hermione had to think both of the events as they were happening in June, 1980, and those events that had transpired to bring her to that time frame. So, there is the story tense (told in the past tense) combined with not only the present day (Hermione's recent past) but also with the past events that had led up to the present day circumstances, which are in her recent past, as the story is occurring "now" in the actual past.
Yeah, it's a little confusing.
So it seems that I had not delineated between the "pasts" clearly enough. There were suggestions made: possible tense shifts and use of italics for present-day past (i.e. things that had happened in Hermione's real time to lead up to the accident that sent her back to the past). I didn't do the italics, because these are not separate time frames for Hermione. She's not flashing back. We don't need to relive those experiences. The reader just needs to know what events transpired to bring her to this point.
But that's all beyond the point. They were right about the tenses being confusing, but since my beta and I understood what was happening in the story, we didn't catch it.
The real point is that it made me wonder... What is the best tense to use when telling a story? I'm curious about thoughts on this. So, if anyone has any ideas, please let me know.
The French have an entire tense dedicated to storytelling. I wonder if that says anything about our cultures. Something about us being too grounded in reality. Something about them being too interested in fantasy. Something about us equating fantasy and reality perhaps, something about trying to merge fantasy with our world because we need it. I don't know. Maybe... something... Maybe not.
For kicks, I think I'm going to try writing my next story in the historical tense (which is pretty much the present tense if I remember correctly). Then, at least the past will be clear.
And I suppose it will be a bit of a challenge.
The reason my story wasn't validated was mostly due to tense issues. I had sent Hermione back in time to June, 1980. The story was told in the past tense, which is typically the story tense. My problem was that Hermione had to think both of the events as they were happening in June, 1980, and those events that had transpired to bring her to that time frame. So, there is the story tense (told in the past tense) combined with not only the present day (Hermione's recent past) but also with the past events that had led up to the present day circumstances, which are in her recent past, as the story is occurring "now" in the actual past.
Yeah, it's a little confusing.
So it seems that I had not delineated between the "pasts" clearly enough. There were suggestions made: possible tense shifts and use of italics for present-day past (i.e. things that had happened in Hermione's real time to lead up to the accident that sent her back to the past). I didn't do the italics, because these are not separate time frames for Hermione. She's not flashing back. We don't need to relive those experiences. The reader just needs to know what events transpired to bring her to this point.
But that's all beyond the point. They were right about the tenses being confusing, but since my beta and I understood what was happening in the story, we didn't catch it.
The real point is that it made me wonder... What is the best tense to use when telling a story? I'm curious about thoughts on this. So, if anyone has any ideas, please let me know.
The French have an entire tense dedicated to storytelling. I wonder if that says anything about our cultures. Something about us being too grounded in reality. Something about them being too interested in fantasy. Something about us equating fantasy and reality perhaps, something about trying to merge fantasy with our world because we need it. I don't know. Maybe... something... Maybe not.
For kicks, I think I'm going to try writing my next story in the historical tense (which is pretty much the present tense if I remember correctly). Then, at least the past will be clear.
And I suppose it will be a bit of a challenge.