Question

[kianspo]

Right. So first I got sick, and then I got sick on top of that. It makes sense, I promise, if not a pretty picture. I'm not being overly productive, sadly, but I've been thinking thoughts and we all know how dangerous it is for me. *shudders*

So. Distract me!

Poll

Comments

[janice_lester]

As a writer, I've found lately that present comes more easily for me. However, I tend to start certain types of crack fic in past, and somehow that seems to help make them funnier? It's difficult to articulate. It may be as simple as the association of past tense with formality--it's what we had to use for a zillion writing assignments in school--meaning that the use of past tense in a crack fic sets off the crazy informality of the crack situation better. Prose style as the straight man in the comedy duo?

As a reader, I find fics cast in present tense more intense, more immediate, but fics cast in past tense more real. This is because I can't imagine that real events would later be written down--as memoirs or histories--in the present tense, so something written in the present tense has an instant cast of artificiality to me for that reason (and first person present particularly so--has any diarist ever used present? "Dear Diary, Today I wake just after dawn and sense that the day is going to be a good one. It rains. Typical! But I soldier on..." I don't think so!). It sounds a bit bizarre to talk of fic as if it could be real, I suppose, but in a way I think I'm always looking for those special fics that could almost be canonical, you know? Such a story can't seem less 'real' than the canon it's written for.

In addition, I find that the use of present tense seems to bring out some awkward grammatical constructions even from top-notch writers, and a great frequency of more passive, distant descriptions than necessary (eg "X is standing" instead of "X stands", "Y is running" instead of "Y runs") where I believe the same writer using present tense would automatically use more simple, direct language. I'm not sure whether this is because most writers in English are considerably newer to writing in present tense than they are to past, or because most writers in English have considerably less exposure to quality fiction written in present tense than past (these factors, of course, are interrelated), but there it is. I'd like to think that my own writing is free of all common faults with present tense, but of course that's unlikely.

So, in all, I generally prefer present tense as a writer, past as a reader. But there are exceptions galore. :-)

I'd be interested to know what kind of tenses and voices people would actually backbutton away from. I generally won't read first- or second-person, and first person present is a huge no-no. I also won't read third person narratives with too much head-swapping, but that's usually something that takes a bit more reading to uncover.

[kianspo]

I find fics cast in present tense more intense, more immediate, but fics cast in past tense more real

There is that. I think for me, past tense in fics sounds more formal, present more relaxed, more about the immediate fun, if that makes sense.

I dunno. I don't think there's anything I won't read simply because of the tense or POV it's written in. But then again, I'm not a native speaker and my perception is different. I'm not a fan of 1st person, but it's not as jarring for me as it is for some. I think I might have dabbled a couple of times in 2nd person, mostly just trying it out. It was a long time ago. My beta wasn't happy with me. *g* Strangely enough, an important lesson was learned thorough that pertaining 3d person narration. Interesting how these things go.