#narrative tense

Every story is different and requires us to use a unique narrative time. Narrative tense conveys information about time. It relates the time of an event (when) to another time (present, past, or future). So, the narrative tense we choose when writing a particular story indicates its location in time. In my previous post, we talked about narrative point of view. POV is the perspective, the…

Narrative Time vs. Calendar Time #amwriting

Today we’re discussing narrative time, or what we call tense. Narrative tense subtly affects a reader’s perception of characters, an undercurrent that goes unnoticed after the first few paragraphs. Narrative time shapes the reader’s view of events on a subliminal level. In grammar, the word tense indicates information about time. Tenses are usually shown by how we use the forms of verbs. The main…

Character Development: Narrative Time

Last week, we discussed how the descriptive narrative of a story is comprised of three aspects: Narrative point of view is the perspective, a personal or impersonal “lens” through which a story is communicated. Narrative time is the grammatical placement of the story’s time frame in the past or the present, i.e., present tense (we go) or past tense (we went). Narrative voice is how a story is…

I tend to write in past tense as well, and characters in my stories think in present tense. This is because I treat a character's thought as a direct quote. "I need to go to the store, he thought" would put the character's thoughts in present tense since I am directly quoting his thoughts, where "He thought about going to the store" is telling us what he was thinking without quoting it.

I am not entirely sure what you mean with “this” and “here.” The only phrases that come to mind are “This was —” and “Here was —,” and even then I’m not sure what to say on the subject.

Ah. The great debate, possibly tied with “which point of view?”

The short answer is that it is entirely up to you and your style as a writer. Some things to consider:

Past or Present Tense: a NaNo discussion

Pros and Cons of Present Tense

Narrative Tense: Right Now or Way Back Then

Some very quick thoughts on the present tense

Past or Present: A comparison

The fierce fight over the present tense

Use of past vs. present tense in works of fiction?

Past vs. Present Tense in Fiction and Poetry