Writing: Person and Tense

 A brief explanation of two writing constructs — person and tense.

When you tell a story, the first thing you have to decide is, Whose story is it?

Person goes to the viewpoint character(s): First-person, Second-person, third-person. These can be limited to a character, a camera-view, or omnipotent viewpoint, depending on whose head you want to get inside to hear their thoughts. Can be one, none, or all.

These viewpoints are, respectively, “I,” “you,” “he/she/they.” Mixing them up in a single work tends to confuse readers.

Tense, goes to time — past, present, and future. 

Combined, they give you a way to offer your tale.

Most commercial fiction is told in third-person, past-tense: Somebody did something, it’s a done deal, and the writer is telling readers about it.

“He traveled in another dimension.” This gives you options to switch viewpoint from him, to her, or them.

First-person:

“I traveled in another dimension.” Limits you to one person’s interior.

Second person:

“You traveled in another dimension.”

That’s with past-tense.

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Present tense, first-person:

“I am traveling in another dimension.”

 

Present tense, 2nd-person:

“You are traveling in another dimension.” Thank you, Rod Serling. Don’t see this one a lot, but it has its uses. Choose-Your-Own-Adventure or Time Machine YA books, for instance.

Present tense, third-person:

“He/she/they are traveling in another dimension.”

Present-tense can give you a sense of immediacy — things are happening now. 

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Then one gets into future-tense, and future-perfect tense which tend to be a can of worms:

First-person:

“I shall be traveling in another dimension.”

Yadda, yadda, yadda. 

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Now I told you all that so I can tell you this: 

I am not a fan of first-person, present-tense for a novel.

First-person, past-tense works really well for mystery stories, and a lot of the best ones use this. You solve the crime using only what your investigator knows. But first-person-present-tense? A lot of mainstream fiction uses this, and, to me, it always feels artsy and pretentious, trying to compel a reader to see the actions as deep and meaningful. It seems more about the writing, and less about the story. The first story I sold started out this way, got rejected several times, and when I redid it in third-person-past-tense, it found a buyer. 

Now, that said, I have read and enjoyed books done in this style, but the caveat is that — for me — they are few and far between. So if pick up a book and it is written this way, it has two-strikes against it, and if it doesn’t pull me in on the first page or two? I am likely to put that book down.