Past Tense or Present Tense?

Hi, writers.

I've started (trying) to write a tickle story, but I've been unsure whether to write in the past tense or present tense. I've looked around online and most sources have said that it's best to use past tense, but is this really the best option for tickling stories? What is your preference?

Thanks!

Hi Smeg.

I'm not exactly a regular contributor to the stories subforum (and certainly not a popular one! lol) but I thought I'd reply anyway.

Yeah, past tense is certainly the most conventional format - for whatever sort of story. Some people have a strong aversion to present tense narration, though I'm not really sure why: I've always thought it can be pretty effective when used well. Having said that, I'm not personally fond of the 1st person present tense narrative where the reader is being addressed as though they were a character in the story: "I run my finger down your etc etc. You look at me and say blah blah..." To my mind, that's not so much writing a story as just transcribing a personal fantasy. Which is fair enough, I guess, but maybe not the most imaginative way of going about things. Also, it can get repetitive if almost every sentence is beginning with I/my, you/your.

I think the best thing is just to use whatever format you think best suits the concept you've come up with. Whatever feels most natural, I suppose.

Hmm, well, personally I'm a fan of them both. Past tense is easier, from the writer's perspective; for some reason, most people--myself included--seem to find it easiest to write as though the events already happened. It's like we're hardwired to write that way; even when I try to write present tense, I find myself having to focus really hard on it, and if I let my concentration slip at all, I'll type like three pages and realize that I'd switched to past tense without noticing. XD

Present tense, though, is more immersive, I think. It makes it feel as though you're right there, and the action is happening as it unfolds before you. It can really make a reader get invested in the story, as it makes you feel like you're watching it rather than reading about it. I do tend to reserve present tense for when the story is also first person, though; it can sound a little like cheesy narration otherwise.XD

Both have their purposes, I think, so use whatever you feel fits best! ^^

Vanillaphant said:

Hi Smeg.

I'm not exactly a regular contributor to the stories subforum (and certainly not a popular one! lol) but I thought I'd reply anyway.

Yeah, past tense is certainly the most conventional format - for whatever sort of story. Some people have a strong aversion to present tense narration, though I'm not really sure why: I've always thought it can be pretty effective when used well. Having said that, I'm not personally fond of the 1st person present tense narrative where the reader is being addressed as though they were a character in the story: "I run my finger down your etc etc. You look at me and say blah blah..." To my mind, that's not so much writing a story as just transcribing a personal fantasy. Which is fair enough, I guess, but maybe not the most imaginative way of going about things. Also, it can get repetitive if almost every sentence is beginning with I/my, you/your.

I think the best thing is just to use whatever format you think best suits the concept you've come up with. Whatever feels most natural, I suppose.

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Thanks for your input. I'm writing in first-person, but the reader is not being addressed - and I agree, using first and second-person pronouns makes it sound like a transcribed fantasy. I always try to vary sentence starters, too, which is a skill I picked up during middle school.

arachnid95 said:

Hmm, well, personally I'm a fan of them both. Past tense is easier, from the writer's perspective; for some reason, most people--myself included--seem to find it easiest to write as though the events already happened. It's like we're hardwired to write that way; even when I try to write present tense, I find myself having to focus really hard on it, and if I let my concentration slip at all, I'll type like three pages and realize that I'd switched to past tense without noticing. XD

Present tense, though, is more immersive, I think. It makes it feel as though you're right there, and the action is happening as it unfolds before you. It can really make a reader get invested in the story, as it makes you feel like you're watching it rather than reading about it. I do tend to reserve present tense for when the story is also first person, though; it can sound a little like cheesy narration otherwise.XD

Both have their purposes, I think, so use whatever you feel fits best! ^^

Click to expand...

Thanks, arachnid. It's funny, I started off writing in the present tense, but as soon as dialogue appeared I instinctively switched to past-tense. This is probably because it feels weird for me to write "he/she says", etc. I carried on writing in the past-tense, which has worked so far, but the immediate transition in the first/second paragraph feels a little sloppy to read back.

Thank you both for your responses!

Stories are more commonly written in the past tense (even if they're set in the present), but that's the only real distinction that I can see – perhaps the past tense has a more natural feel to readers because of that.

An exception might be a story written in the second person – you might use the present tense if you were asking the reader to imagine they were experiencing the story themselves as they were reading it.

I decided to try two rules for the first story I posted here: one was to write in the future tense, and the other was never to use the word "tickle" or its derivatives.

Coda said:

Stories are more commonly written in the past tense (even if they're set in the present), but that's the only real distinction that I can see – perhaps the past tense has a more natural feel to readers because of that.

An exception might be a story written in the second person – you might use the present tense if you were asking the reader to imagine they were experiencing the story themselves as they were reading it.

I decided to try two rules for the first story I posted here: one was to write in the future tense, and the other was never to use the word "tickle" or its derivatives.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I've read that past tense comes naturally to most people. Thanks for your input.

What comes naturally is key. As has been discussed, the overwhelming preference is for past-tense, but the format that's going to be most beneficial, ergo effective, is the one you feel most at ease using. There's no sense writing in a technique you're not comfortable with just to please the audience, because your discomfort will show through the work. If you're writing in the way that works for you, the story will ultimately be a better end-product than one you wrote begrudgingly, for lack of a better word.

In short: Do what you do, the rest will take care of itself

TickleMantis said:

What comes naturally is key. As has been discussed, the overwhelming preference is for past-tense, but the format that's going to be most beneficial, ergo effective, is the one you feel most at ease using. There's no sense writing in a technique you're not comfortable with just to please the audience, because your discomfort will show through the work. If you're writing in the way that works for you, the story will ultimately be a better end-product than one you wrote begrudgingly, for lack of a better word.

In short: Do what you do, the rest will take care of itself

Click to expand...

Thanks. I wrote naturally, but that ended up with the story beginning in present tense and then switching to past tense after a few sentences, with the rest of the story being in past tense from then onwards. I think I'll stick with past tense, but as I said the small bit of present tense at the beginning makes me feel slightly peeved, even though that's how it came naturally to me.

I'm going to make an argument that the tense of a story depends upon what fits it best. Past is (obviously) most applicable when describing events that have already happened, like a character is recounting an event (a journal might be an example).

Present is preferable in most cases for one major reason: the words generally have more oomph to them, so to speak. There's life an action to it. It's also harder to write in that style and, at times, it doesn't work as effectively as past tense could.

Something that isn't necessarily relevant to the past/present discussion but relevant to best practice in writing: In general try to avoid weak sentence structure with forms of be and look for more active structure (was the object acted upon or did a particpant perform an action, essentially? Bad: The girl was tickled by a guy. better: The guy tickled the girl.) The emphasis on the action and the actor will, usually, present in a more lively fashion. I bring this up because past tense lends itself to the former whereas present tense lends itself to the latter. It is a difficult concept to get down but its something to keep in mind.

tl;dr write in whichever way makes the most sense to you, the plot structure or the characters in the story. Sorry that I don't have great examples of anything.

ElFewja said:

Something that isn't necessarily relevant to the past/present discussion but relevant to best practice in writing: In general try to avoid weak sentence structure with forms of be and look for more active structure (was the object acted upon or did a particpant perform an action, essentially? Bad: The girl was tickled by a guy. better: The guy tickled the girl.) The emphasis on the action and the actor will, usually, present in a more lively fashion. I bring this up because past tense lends itself to the former whereas present tense lends itself to the latter. It is a difficult concept to get down but its something to keep in mind.

tl;dr write in whichever way makes the most sense to you, the plot structure or the characters in the story. Sorry that I don't have great examples of anything.

Click to expand...

Thanks for replying!

I get what you're saying, and I definitely agree that active voice sounds a lot better than passive voice in terms of story writing. I guess the active voice is kind of my default writing style regardless of whether I'm writing in the past or present tense.

I voted "no preference" because I do not prefer one above the other; instead I use those tenses in different contexts. I personally find the present tense to be more suitable when the story is told from 1st-person perspective, otherwise I write in the past tense. Apart from that, it sometimes depends on the type of stories; sometimes I feel it's better told in the present tense, sometimes not. It's like a toolbox: I pick the right tool for the right job.

This precision notwithstanding, I agree with all that the above posters have said