Writing Blog Number 2

20240309 Verb Tenses

Verb Tenses

Opening disclaimer: This is coming from a traditional publishing viewpoint.

Verb tenses. What are they? Well, verbs are action words and the tense indicates when it was done. Technically there are 26 tenses in English; however, some places (Grammarly, for example) recognise only 12 of them (another reason why Grammarly is a waste of money... even the free version), maybe 16.

However, the three main ones are past, present and future, all of which can be further subdivided.

This is getting needlessly technical, so...

The most common verb tense used in fiction is past tense. Standard – the writer is telling a story that has happened.

"He ran to the bus-stop." "I was waiting in the rain." "She was very tall." That's all past tense.

Non-fiction uses the past tense when talking about history, but present tense when discussing other things (e.g. science, critique, etc.). Poetry is up to the poet.

However, it is becoming increasingly common to write fiction in the present tense. The present tense indicates that a story is happening now, that we are reading things as they are happening. Suzanne Collins did it in The Hunger Games, and she did it well, because of the way she structured her story. No-one has even come close to her. Stephen King has even had present tense works published. However, nearly every story (and I include King's works here) do not use it properly. Present tense indicates an immediacy of action, we are going through the story at exactly the same time as the narrator. It reads especially awkwardly when a story takes place over a long period of time.

"He runs to the bus-stop." "I am waiting in the rain." "She is very tall." That's all present tense.

The majority of publishers I have worked with or submitted to have a “no stories in present tense” disclaimer on their submission page, especially with regards to longer works.

To put my cards on the table, I personally am not a fan of present tense in stories.

I am not saying every present tense story does not work. I have read a few where it does work and a few others where, after a while, the story is so good you forget (until jarred back). But the majority, to me, don’t work. I thought it might be just me, so a few years ago I asked three of the publishers I worked with most (and one of my novel publishers), and they were all dismissive of it.

Having said that, if you want to write in present tense, go for it. It is becoming more and more common, but just realise that, at the moment, traditional publishers are reluctant to accept it.

Oh, and future tense never works, and pluperfect tense is just awkward, and I've seen both used.

"He will run to the bus-stop." "I will wait in the rain." "She will be very tall." That's all future tense.

"He had run to the bus-stop." "I had waited in the rain." "She had been very tall." That's all pluperfect tense.

One final thing - once you have a tense, stick with it. One of the most common writing mistakes is switching from present to past to present and so on. Having said that, there are times when present tense might crop up in a past tense story: e.g. "We entered the Mercantile Plaza on Washington Blvd - it is not there anymore; they tore it down in 1999 - and went straight to the Cherry Lane Shop." In this case, present is putting some context on a historical setting. (I know that's clumsy, it is just making a point.) But it needs to suit the tone of the story.