Odd, while writing in present tense it often feels more dreamlike. I don't have an explanation why, maybe present tense feels like things are happening without much input from me (the person experiencing the dream/story) and as such it feels disconnected and dreamlike.
Or it could be other writing choices I made the few times I used it.
Present tense narrative (not in unspoken thought) is stage direction. It's great for screenplays, etc. but the reader (viewer) never sees it. It's what the screenplay writer tells the actors to do, and the viewer sees it onscreen in the actor's actions. But some professor somehwhere decided it would be a good way to write fiction (mostly because nobody else had done it and s/he could publish a paper on it and therefore approach or keep tenure.) Past tense is the natural voice of fiction.
I thought I was the only person in the world who felt that way - disconnected from present tense stories. I haven't read a single one yet that drew me in. I hate that disconnected, dreamlike quality. This is the first time I've seen someone articulate what I've felt every time I've tried to read one of those things!
“present tense makes the story more immediate.”
Odd, while writing in present tense it often feels more dreamlike. I don't have an explanation why, maybe present tense feels like things are happening without much input from me (the person experiencing the dream/story) and as such it feels disconnected and dreamlike.
Or it could be other writing choices I made the few times I used it.
Present tense narrative (not in unspoken thought) is stage direction. It's great for screenplays, etc. but the reader (viewer) never sees it. It's what the screenplay writer tells the actors to do, and the viewer sees it onscreen in the actor's actions. But some professor somehwhere decided it would be a good way to write fiction (mostly because nobody else had done it and s/he could publish a paper on it and therefore approach or keep tenure.) Past tense is the natural voice of fiction.
I thought I was the only person in the world who felt that way - disconnected from present tense stories. I haven't read a single one yet that drew me in. I hate that disconnected, dreamlike quality. This is the first time I've seen someone articulate what I've felt every time I've tried to read one of those things!
Huh. I look at it this way: Less competition - not that an MFA would be providing much anyway, by the look of it.
Great insights, Michaela. Thank you!
So if we don't have an MFA will Michaela give better copy editor rates? *wink.
Thank you Michaela for your observations, and your confirmation that MFA is not the way to go!
Thanks, Tiff. I'll pass on your comments to Michaele. (No "a" at the end, though I might have misspelled it in the post.