Present Tense, Past Tense and the Oral Tradition; OR “This Guy Walks Into a Bar…”

No, I’m not turning this into an adults-only blog.

Last night, I finished presenting Novel #2 to my very helpful writing group.  After the comments were finished, our grammar nazi and certified DFW (Damn Fine Writer), whose day job is being an editor, did one of those Ahems that often precede something heavy.

“Umm, why did you write it present tense?”

She continued, “You know, it being a thriller, editors are going to expect past tense.”  Across the table from me, another editor and DFW was nodding agreement.

I summoned up my response, preparing an explanation that would be both incisive and erudite, “I dunno. It just came out that way.”

I’ve been churning on this for a day.  Of course, the editors are right.  But it’s not a small task to move from present to past for an 88,000-word work, so I have employed a variety of arguments, justifications and self-serving excuses.  But I still come up with, “It just came out that way.”

So, why did it come out that way?

I have to blame the Oral Tradition.  See, I came to writing from music.  I’ve been telling stories and playing music for many years, and most of that is in present tense, so I guess I just naturally moved into the story-telling mode I was familiar with.

Present tense is pretty limiting, though.  88,000 words?

Author: John Rogers

I have thought of myself as a writer for most of my adult life. In 2011, I became a fiction writer full time. I studied creative writing as an English major in college. Then came family and career. I worked in finance and biotech and did a wonderful stint in Vienna. Now, I have the opportunity to use those experiences as the substrate for my stories. My first novel takes on the world of Big Data and the very timely issue of cyber war. The second uses the manipulation of financial derivatives as impetus for attempted murder during a trip from Vienna to Budapest on the Danube. I have taken writing instruction at the Cape Cod Writers Conference and from The Loft in Minneapolis. I am finding writers’ groups to be very helpful as concept editors, as well as practical advice from the published authors. I am in three such groups. I have taken writing instruction at the Cape Cod Writers Conference and from The Loft in Minneapolis. View all posts by John Rogers