Past/ present tense

by Clare Williams
25th April 2017

Hi all

I'm experimenting with past/ present tense in my MS, would it be ok to use both? i.e One character's POV told in present tense, the other told in past? Would that be too confusing? Has anyone seen good examples of that working?

Many thanks

Replies

I haven't seen that working but it sounds intriguing. Are there just two characters in your story? If there are more it could get very confusing. I think it might work if each character is presented in separate chapters/sections, perhaps alternating. The biggest problem I can foresee would be if you ever want there to be any dialogue between the two characters. That could be a nightmare. Most stories are much enhanced by dialogue, so not having any, could be a real limitation.

Hope this helps.

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Ruth Edwardson
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