Tenses

[poliphilo]

 I remember being told that writing fiction in the present tense was a cheap trick and the responsible writer didn't go there- except, perhaps, for effect in scenes of heightened emotion or suspense. These days writing in the present tense is the norm- all the thriller writers I'm reading do it- all the time, as a matter of course- and it's passages written in the past tense that draw attention to themselves. 

I've no idea when the change occurred. Is it a 21st century thing? Is there gain? Is there loss? Philosophically I'm happy with it: if you believe everything is happening in an eternal present then it becomes the obvious thing to do...

Has anyone ever written a novel in the future tense? Would it be feasible? Could it be done in a way that wasn't annoying?

Comments

[heleninwales]

There was a short SF story by Elizabeth Bear that was written in a very weird tense. Second person future perfect, or something like that. It no longer seems to be available free online so I can't link. It did actually work as a very short story, but I wouldn't have wanted to read a novel length story in anything so odd.

[bleodswean]

Would love to hear a title if you can recollect...

[heleninwales]

I think it was "The Chains That You Refuse", which is the title of a collection of short stories by Elizabeth Bear. A story with that title is in that book and I think that's the one in the weird tense. It used to be available online, but I couldn't find it when I googled and the wikipedia entry doesn't have a link.

[bleodswean]

Thank you so much!!! I'm going to get ahold of a copy of this one.

[poliphilo]

I assume that the second person future perfect is intrinsic to the story- is part of the point it's making. I should think it would become unbearable over anything more than a few pages.

[heleninwales]

Yes, it's a very short SF story and the tense works in context. I definitely couldn't cope with anything longer written like that.

[bleodswean]

Yep. And it makes this older reader go BAH. It reads oh so hip and kool and doesn't leave room for long modernism narratives. It's like post-modernism taken to a minimalism that usually leaves me wanting. With certain subject matter, admittedly, it works well. Short, sharp, shock.

[poliphilo]

I think it's an appropriate style for thrillers.

It seemed an odd choice for Hilary Mantell in the Cromwell books- which are set so very decidedly in the past. I'm not terribly fond of those books, by the way- and perhaps the present tense has something to do with it- the breathlessness of the narrative., always hurrying from incident to incident.