For me, it’s hard to show something in third person. It always ends up coming off more as telling. In first person past tense it’s almost the same, just with the hes and shes replaced with Is. When I write in first person present tense, though, it comes off less as someone telling the story and more of being inside the character’s head. It’s hard to explain (or at least, I suck at explaining it), but I actually think a less connected perspective is better for action-oriented stories, whereas introspection benefits from a personal, in-the-moment view of things. I can relate more to that sort of view since I’m not an omniscient ball that views everything five minutes after it happens. (Not to say there’s anything wrong with people who are.)

That said, I think your take on it is very interesting. I agree that it puts you alongside the characters, I just disagree on the outcome — but it all depends on how you write and what you’re writing.

Ultimately, present tense relies on the writer to write a kickin’ book.

On the one hand, this is like with any choice made — I don’t like fantasy so much, but a good fantasy novel is a good novel, regardless of my opinions of the genre.

Present tense can be like that (you may not like it, but if it’s done well, ala Charlie Huston, then good is good).

Unfortunately, with something like fantasy, you’ll get people who buy it Just Because it’s in that genre. Doesn’t matter if it’s good or not.

Present tense doesn’t have adoring fans. At least, I don’t think.

I’d love to see a secret cult of present tense proselytes.

They are always Doing.

They are never Recollecting.

All right. Soup calls.

– c.

Biggest obstacle for writers is that it’s hard to do. When done well awesome, when not done well…eek~!

My problem seems to be that I can’t wrap my head around how it’s all in the present, since I don’t read at the exact same chronological pace the narrative is happening in. Three-hundred pages of “now,” doesn’t work for me. First-person gets me good in short fiction though.

First came the gender change. In junior high the protagonist had been male. This had the problems of me being too close to him. So, switch his Y chromosome to X and hey presto, distance and character depth. The story went in a different direction and was an overall good change. I’d kept it in first person perspective, however, and interspersed it with breaks to a third person omniscient perspective which didn’t work.

I didn’t know it didn’t work at the time. It was only after another failed attempt to get much attention for the work that I was told that the third person bits broke the flow too much. That, along with inspiration for something to make the work a little less pedestrian and more speculative, helped the novel move into it’s current form, which while still a work in progress, feels much more like the kind of thing people will want to pick up and read.

At least, I hope so.

That being said, it is still not my cup of tea. I still prefer my third person past limited, and I find it really difficult to write in anything else. I can enjoy present tense if the subject matter is compelling, but it has to fit with the feel and I will say I am looking forward to seeing what you did with it.

With all that said, some tenses just don’t work. My wife is convinced she can write an entire work in second person – she did this with a character history once and ever since has been infatuated with the style.