Don't Get Me STARTED On Stream-Of-Consciousness

[bloodyrosemccoy]

Picked up another interesting-looking book from the library, sat down to be transported to a fantastic world, glanced at the first page, and AAAARGH THE DARN THING IS IN PRESENT TENSE.

So I closed the book, slammed it against my forehead a few times, then opened it and continued reading.

Dear Authors: Please knock it off. I know it's effective in many cases, but your standard fantasy or sci-fi adventure narrative is none of those cases. In adventures, it does not make the action feel more immediate. I don't know about you, but I process past tense faster, so present tense makes things feel less immediate while I stop to figure it out. And that's annoying as hell.

Anyway, Authors, I HOPE this is just a passing phase. Because if it gets worse, I'm going to have a serious bruise on my forehead.

Comments

[shadesofmauve]

Also it makes it feel weirdly slow, and like the really wanted to write a novel of urban ennui but somehow accidentally ended up in the genre of interesting books instead.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

EXACTLY. You have put into words something I was not quite managing to articulate.

And the slowness, in turn, makes it sound slighty pompous and affected. Not what I want from adventure time.

[allamistako.livejournal.com]

Depends, it can work if it#s the protagonist telling his story - but not all that often

[piccolo-pirate.livejournal.com]

Oh thank God. I regularly skim library books for present tense before borrowing. It's distracting and usually kills a book for me.

[fadethecat.livejournal.com]

Huh. Present tense doesn't really bug me, unless it's handled awkwardly. In which case it's usually the awkward writing that gets me rather than the tense.

That said, I remember as a child that I would be OUTRAGED at coming across a potentially interesting book that dared to use the first person, which I loathed beyond all reason. I considered it an offensively condescending approach that wanted me to believe that someone was telling me a story personally, when they were clearly FICTIONAL DAMMIT. So. Uh. I'm not really in any position to cast aspersions on anyone else's dealbreakers in how a story is communicated.

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

I used to autocorrect present tense to past without noticing at all. I'm a little better now, but it still makes me stumble if I notice it.

[gwalla.livejournal.com]

Go read Un Lun Dun or Kraken: An Anatomy (which I just finished, Mieville hasn't let me down yet) and wash it out of your system.

[baroncognito.livejournal.com]

What about the second person? I haven't seen that get used much outside of choose your own adventure books.

*still wants to play a second person shooter, wherein the player controls the person with the gun but from the perspective of the person being shot at*

[fadethecat.livejournal.com]

I've seen second person deployed well a few times by different authors--Charlie Stross and Elizabeth Bear spring to mind--but it's definitely a Professional Driver On Closed Course sort of technique to use in writing.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

I very much like your description there. Kids! This literary technique may look easy, but only because the author has worked to MAKE it look easy. Don't try it at home!