Tense opinions?
My apologies to those of you seeing this here, on FB and on Twitter!
I'm revising my WIP (slowly- ugh!) and one of the big changes I'm making is going from first person, past tense to first person, present tense.
A part of me likes this change, but a part of me really wants to go back to past tense- my natural inclination is to type "said" over "says" and I've noticed if I'm going fast, I slip up more often. Plus, I've read a few reviews lately of books written in present tense where people hated it so much they stopped reading. Eep!
So what do you think of present tense? My personal opinion is that I like it, as long as it's consistent, and it has to be pretty darn flawless. So I'm very picky when it comes to my present-tense reading, but I also think it can really add to the tension, because you don't know the person who's speaking to you will make it through the story unscathed.
But what do you all think? Do you like present tense? Does it bother you? Do you even notice?
I'm revising my WIP (slowly- ugh!) and one of the big changes I'm making is going from first person, past tense to first person, present tense.
A part of me likes this change, but a part of me really wants to go back to past tense- my natural inclination is to type "said" over "says" and I've noticed if I'm going fast, I slip up more often. Plus, I've read a few reviews lately of books written in present tense where people hated it so much they stopped reading. Eep!
So what do you think of present tense? My personal opinion is that I like it, as long as it's consistent, and it has to be pretty darn flawless. So I'm very picky when it comes to my present-tense reading, but I also think it can really add to the tension, because you don't know the person who's speaking to you will make it through the story unscathed.
But what do you all think? Do you like present tense? Does it bother you? Do you even notice?