I don't like fiction written in the present tense.

[raccoon]

I wish writers wouldn’t do that.

Sometimes if it’s a good story I can get past that and go ahead and read the book and it doesn’t bother me as much. But sometimes when I just open up a book to take a look and I see that it’s written in the present tense, I put it down.

[CrispyQ]

1. Totally agree!

I also have a 50 page rule - if I'm not engaged in 50 pages I can close it forever, guilt free. I used to feel committed to the entire book once I opened it. WTF?

[leftieNanner]

3. Except for Charles Dickens

He always took about 100 pages to hook me, but it was worth the wait! His style was so different from what we find in fiction today. I took a writing class a while back and the instructor said that for an agent or editor to pull your story out of the slush pile, you need to grab them on the first page! That may be why so many people passed on the first Harry Potter book because it doesn't begin with a bang! It begins with a description of Vernon Dursley and Privet Drive. It took a curious assistant carrying it home for the weekend to get attention. Apparently, she came in on Monday morning and told the agent - "YOU MUST TAKE ON THIS BOOK!"

[CrispyQ]

8. You are right.

I went to a writer's conference a few years ago and "grab them on the first page" was standard advice. I'm willing to give a book way more than one page!

[3catwoman3]

10. I couldn't finish the first Harry Potter until after I saw the movie.

The aunt and uncle were so awful to Harry that it was depressing. Once I knew there was a happy ending, I was able to get thru the first chapters and finish the book.

I have finished a few books I wish I had not bothered with.. Most notable was The Oldest Living Confederate Widow. I threw it away, even tho it was a big expansive hardback, because I didn’t wan’t to torture anyone else with it by donating it.

Also Michener’s Poland - every major male character for 300 years was named Jan, and it was very confusing.

She’s Come Undone - aauuugggghhhhh!

I don’t usually give up on a book, but am rather getting over that. My husband and I just made a 12 hour drive to empty out my 98 yr old mom’s house, which just sold. We were about 5 discs into an audio book, when I finally said, “I have NO idea what this story is about,” so we decided not to finish it.

Dicken’s Great Expectations was, to me, excruciatingly boring.

[leftieNanner]

11. I have definitely gotten more selective with my reading choices

And do not hesitate to put a book down that isn't worth the time. Great Expectations wasn't my favorite Dickens either.

By the same token, I have enjoyed re-reading books that I loved years ago to see if they aged well. Just read Dune and Winter's Tale again and loved them still. (Except for the fact that Winter's Tale was written by Mark Helprin, who is a RW jerk)

Cleaning out my garage (a small bonus of this stay-at-home rule) I found my old hardback copy of Atlas Shrugged. Definitely threw that in the garbage!

I just read Born a Crime, Trevor Noah's book and it's very good. A quick read. And it gave me a better understanding about South Africa before and after apartheid.

[3catwoman3]

13. I, too, am a re-reader. I know a lot of people think that is...

...foolish or a waste of time (“You already know what happens), but not to me.

My older son was a re-reader as a child, and we were once discussing the “waste of time” opinion. He made what I thought was an excellent point - people re-watch movies they really like, or listen to favorite songs perhaps hundreds of times. How is that any different than re-reading a book?

I have re-enjoyed several childhood favorites, and I have read Daphne DuMaurier’s Rebecca more times than I can count. Also Wouk’s Winds of War and War and Remebrance.

Some authors are such exquisite wordsmiths that is just feels good to let their skilled word usage roll around in your brain.

[leftieNanner]

14. OH! Winds of War and War and Remembrance!!

I loved those books!!

But your son's example is spot-on. I have watched Sense and Sensibility many times (my favorite movie of all time) and pull out First Wives Club, Ruthless People, or (going way back) Revenge of the Nerds when I want a romp.

[3catwoman3]

15. I rewatch The American President when...

...I want to feel good, and The West Wing.

Downton Abbey and Poldark, too. I love period dramas.

I think I learned more about World War II from Wouk’s books than any history texts. Robert Mitchum was a terrible casting choice for Pug Henry in the TV mini-series. Carroll O’Connor would have been my pick. And Polly Bergen was much too short to be Rhoda.

[leftieNanner]

16. I need to read them again

Since I do have some time on my hands............

Love long books!

[Amy-Strange]

20. I also love to re-read books...

Last edited Tue May 26, 2020, 05:51 PM - Edit history (1)

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What's weird, to me anyway, is that when I re-read a book, they never read the same way I remember them reading the first time.

The stories are the same, and I remember the plots, but the beginnings almost always confuse me, because I don't remember them starting that way.

It's almost like I'm reading the book for the first time again.

I also like your argument. It's very sound for movies, but doesn't really work for music, because you don't have to pay attention to enjoy it, like you do when watching a movie or reading a book.

You can also do other things while listening, including watching a movie or reading a book, so how can it be a waste of time?

Other than that, it's a sound argument.

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[3catwoman3]

22. I'm not a speed reader, but a relatively fast reader.

The first time thru a book, I want to get to the end to know how it all turns out. In subsequent readings, I savor details, notice things i missed the first time thru, and re-enjoy good writing.

Good point about the music and the relative lack of involvement that is possible.

My son was only about 10 when he came up with this analysis, so it seemed pretty cogent for one so young.

[Amy-Strange]

23. I've also found that the second time around is a better read...

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and I wish I were ten-years-old again, because the second time around would definitely be better
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[bif]

19. I'm a 50 pager as well.

Life is too short to read mediocre books!

[Amy-Strange]

25. Do you read anthologies?

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because I think that would be tough with a fifty page rule, but hey, that's just me.

Personally, I have a one page rule, and the title also has to be interesting.

It can't be too expensive either, or pretend to be smart when it's not.

It also has to have a lot of dialogue, but unfortunately, most of that will probably be in the present tense.

Damn, that sucks!
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[mr_lebowski]

2. You mean like this sort of thing?

Well, it's a lovely day and I'm just walking down the street when I see this funny guy walking towards me. Obviously he's been drinking, because he's moving from side to side.

[raccoon]

5. Yes, that's what I mean. Nt

[mr_lebowski]

7. I would say when it's written in present tense ... then it's basically a play.

Given that's how they're written

[Newest Reality]

4. Here I am...

Here I am, watching TV and feeling totally flummoxed. It appears that aliens have landed for real this time. I gulp, take a slug of water, and say to myself, "There they are!" My gaze is transfixed. I wonder if I have been inside by myself too long.

They landed only an hour ago, completely unmoved and unscathed by any attempt to restrict them as walked directly into the White House, literally freezing all the Secret Service men in their tracks. I watched the cell phone videos of them trying to pull their feet up from the ground. It seems like they knew exactly where the President was hiding. The Secret Service had not been able to get him out with the alien vessel so close, the report is saying.

Now, the aliens are standing with Trump in the Rose Garden. The leader has commanded Trump to get on his knees, bow, and repeat certain phrases with the option of being euthanized if he does not wish to comply. It looks like Trump is very having a hard time with this, but he is is wearing his fear like a suit. I expect tears to come out of his eyes, as he bows and repeats the words. The effort is making him pant and moan. "You are the Masters. I am weak and I bow to you. I am nothing but a liar, cheat, fraud. I hate, loath and despise my base."

I am guessing at this point that the aliens knew Donald J. Trump well and had been watching our politics with a keen eye. An announcer breaks in and says that the aliens will have the President read a speech they have prepared that will be addressed to the global community....

[raccoon]

6. You grabbed me! Nt

[Amy-Strange]

24. I'd pay money to read the rest of that story...

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it's gotta be hilarious!
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[PJMcK]

9. Well, the author probably had a very good reason for using that perspective

Good writers are usually very careful and deliberate about their choices of every detail in their works. The point-of-view, time frame, plotting, characterizations and much more are all specifically chosen for the effect the author wants to raise in the reader.

Among popular writers, Stephen King has used the present tense narrative to good effect.

Nonetheless, if a book doesn't grab you, why torture yourself? As another poster wrote, if it doesn't snag you in the first 50 pages, you can drop it guilt-free!

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

12. I likewise cannot abide books written in the present tense.

I got a page and a half into Wolf Hall and gave it up because the present tense usage was so distracting.

And other, lesser known books get put down by me if written in present tense. I know some writers claim that it gives an immediacy to the action, but it immediately makes me not read the book.

[The King of Prussia]

17. "Immediacy to the action"

We argue about this at our writing group, and this is the pro-present tense argument that is always trotted out. My feeling is that if the writer feels their writing is so lacking in immediacy that they have to put it into present tense, then maybe they'd be better off not bothering at all. I hate stories written in the present tense.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

18. Excellent point.

I agree with you totally.

Probably would get me kicked out of any such writing group, but I'd simply refuse to read anything written in present tense. I would just politely say I didn't read it, and why, and leave it at that.

[Amy-Strange]

21. It's a personal choice for sure...

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Normally, I don't care, but sometimes it does throw me, like you explained.

My major argument for writing in the present tense is mostly biased, because I decided to write my three book series like a Journal, using a narrator with an eidetic memory that allows him to relive things like watching a movie, and under those circumstances, writing in the present tense was sometimes unavoidable.

I have to agree, though, that writing in the past tense is easier, and sometimes, if you pay attention when you read, you'll notice that even things written in the present tense also use past tense verbs.

Actually, we all do it, because no matter how fast you say something, whatever you're talking about is never happening in the present, unless it's a prediction, and then you're using the future tense.

Hmmm... I wonder if that even makes sense to anyone?

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