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]

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.