Emma, I've just spotted we are talking about different books - I, RELENTLESS, you, RESTLESS.
Interesting that we both liked the structure though...
HB x

We are, aren't we! How absurd.

But structure is endlessly fascinating to me. If writing a novel is a process of problem-finding, then structure is usually my solution...

Emma

I was going to ask, has anyone read Hari Kunzru's The Impressionist? This is an excellent novel, written mostly in the present tense and it works perfectly. (wow, that's a 3 year discussion now!)

Hiya,

Like some others posting in this thread, I too have experienced some negative responses to the use of present tense in my narratives.

There is no doubt in my mind that some narrative writing is set alight (in a good way) by the writer's use of present tense, where it is integral to the overall narrative style of the writer. Some writers that have a very distinctive stylistic voice in present tense would read as less stylish if they were to change nothing other than from present to past tense. The inverse is true - a lot of past tense writing merely converted from past to present (all else left unchanged) would end up clunky and compromised. I don't think that what makes a past tense narrative and what makes a present tense narrative shine or not is solely that attribute of past- or present-tenseness (to coin a phrase). It might sound like I'm sitting on the fence (present tense is good and bad and past tense is good and bad) but really I'm not - what I'm getting at is that the tense is just one of the ingredients of a narrator's narrative style; an important ingredient, and one that has to mix right with many other attributes of the narrative to work, but still just one ingredient. That's one of the reasons why there's writing where it works and writing where it doesn't.

It's kind of like the point someone earlier made about telling jokes. They are often in the present tense. And there *is* a huge difference between such a joke told well and one told not well, and we quite notably recognize the difference between a joke told well and not told well without falling back to any kind of prejudice about the tense it is told in. The timing, the turns of phrase, the mannerisms, the facial emotes, the tone of voice, our expectations, the audience, all these other factors contribute to whether a joke-teller's joke works or not (it's the way I tell 'em). There are plenty of us that can repeat a joke, even word for word as told by a popular comedian, but that doesn't mean we'll necessarily get the same laughs or salary from it. As with a stand-up show, a narrative style has a lot of ingredients in the mix and whether a specific ingredient (here, tense) works or not will be influenced by those other ingredients and the way the chap wearing the chef whites blends them.

Saying all that, there are some sentences that, as part of a narrative generally written in a particular tense, would appear somewhat jarring if they weren't put in a wholly different tense. For example, you're writing primarily in the past tense form (in a piece set in current times) when it becomes necessary to say something along the lines of "a heroin addiction tended to exert significant financial demands". That little statement you are wishing to convey, about the expense inherent in a drug habit, is one that you might necessarily feel the need to write in the present tense despite the fact that the majority of your narrative is in the past tense. This is simply because you are writing it now (and presuming it will be read around about now) when the statement about the cost of a drug addiction being high is still true. As a statement about drug habits and associated costs, the factuality of it isn't likely to change any time soon. It wasn't only true in the time you've set your narrative, but also continues to be true, so kind of cries out to be written as "a heroin addiction tends to exert significant financial demands" (present tense) even though most of the narrative around it is in the past tense. Otherwise it would read like you are either suggesting that it is no longer the case (which would for current readers make you incorrect and thus less authorative as a narrator), or it would appear you are writing your narrative from the future when heroin is apparently going to be dispensed freely (which might not at all be part of your narrative gameplan)... so you slot in that present tense factual statement in your past tense narrative and it jars a whole lot less than if you'd tried to force a past tense on it. You've roasted a potato rather than boiled it, simply because with the joint of meat you're cooking, it works better.

So in sum, there are plenty of ingredients of a narrative style that function both as individual components and as part of an overall recipe, and the tense used in writing is just one of them. The resultant flavour of the end product will be affected by that and other ingredients depending upon the other ingredients and the chef. It might, in one chef's hands, and served up with one set of accompanying ingredients, stink to high heaven. In another mix, it might have you asking for more. And sometimes some things just like to be written in a certain tense (whether present or past), and by going against the natural grain, you could find yourself trying to hammer a square peg through a round hole.

How's that for mixing my metaphors? Hope it don't taste too bad

I don't see why present tense is considered difficult; the last four pages of comments have all been in present tense! Sure it is much less common in long works, but is that just because we are not used to using it? Personally I prefer to use it only for first person narratives, and only for very specific purposes. Another thing about it that I really like is the fact that neither you nor the main character really know how the story will end. I always felt that since a book was written in past tense (this especially goes for 1st person narratives) that the main character must 'live to tell the tale'. I would love to write a book in 1st pers. pres. tense and end with the death of the main character, somewhat like the end of 'Till We Have Faces' by CS Lewis.

Just a teen's thoughts. :p

Anna