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

[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.