There should be a law against people writing fiction books in the present tense

[raccoon]

There should be a law against people writing fiction books in the present tense.

Mainly because I don’t like it. For example:

“She walks over to her ex’s car and, carefully and deliberately, runs her key down the side of the car. “

What’s wrong with writing in the past tense? People Have been doing that for ages and ages and somehow it works better.

Sometimes I can get past the present tense of the story is really riveting. But most of the time I just put it down.

So if you are a fiction writer, and you write your novels in the present tense, quit it, quit it, quit it, quit it!

[PJMcK]

1. To each their own (n/t)

[Srkdqltr]

2. Never noticed that. Write to the author.

[snowybirdie]

3. Please be sure

To write all things down you don't like so Congress can enact laws against them. It'll make it so much easier

[raccoon]

5. A good suggestion. I'll start a list. Nt

[Trueblue Texan]

4. Tense is a tool...

Every element in fiction has a purpose, of course. I think I "immediacy" is offered as the main benefit of present tense in modern novels. I enjoy present tense in lots of stuff, but not everything, of course. I think you should do what you're doing. If you don't like it, put it down. For some reason I don't like books set in UK--I have no idea why. I suspect it may be because the Brit form of English confuses me, but I'm not really sure. So I don't buy those books. We all have different taste, as we should. Writers who enjoy writing in present tense (myself included) need readers and so do those whose fiction tends to work better in past tense. Glad they are all still producing great works for us! Thanks for sharing!

[Harker]

6. Perhaps you'll get past the use of the present tense

more regularly in the future.

[highplainsdem]

7. Fiction writers should be free to write whatever they want to write, however they want to write it.

Readers are of course free to read it, or ignore it, or read it and complain about it.

And writers are free to heed or ignore those readers.

Rules change, of course, depending on the audience the writer's trying to reach. Or the publisher or editor.

But it would be a very sad world if one reader, or any fraction of readers, dictated what could be written.

And btw, it's a safe bet that there are types of fiction and styles of writing you like that other people don't like, and that some of those people might even think there should be a law against.

[Ocelot II]

8. I think the author is trying to convey a sense of immediacy,

like they want you to imagine yourself standing right there, watching the character carefully and deliberately running the key down the side of her ex's car. "She walked over to her ex’s car and, carefully and deliberately, ran her key down the side of the car" has a less immediate sense - it might have happened yesterday or ten years ago, but to cast the same event in the present tense can lend a bit more drama to it. It can be clumsy or it can be effective, pulp fiction or Finnegans Wake.