Using Verb Tenses in Fiction
I recently worked with a student who struggled with using verb tenses in fiction. In case this is something that you struggle with too, I wanted to give some quick tips.
First of all, we need to decide if a story will mainly be written in the past or the present tense.
If we choose the present tense, the main events will sound like this:
"Slowly, Cindy approaches the closet door and reaches for the knob. But before she touches it, the knob begins to turn on its own. She screams and jumps back."
If we choose the past tense, the main events will be written like this:
"Slowly, Cindy approached the closet door and reached for the knob. But before she touched it, the knob began to turn on its own. She screamed and jumped back."
Then, if we want to add a flashback or background information, we'll use a verb tense that's one step further in the past than our main verb tense.
If the "now" of our story is written in the present tense, then flashbacks and background will likely be written in the simple past...
"Slowly, Cindy approaches the closet door and reaches for the knob. But before she touches it, the knob begins to turn on its own. She screams and jumps back. She bought this house six months ago, though her sister warned her not to."
On the other hand, if the "now" of our story is written in the past tense, then we'll move a step further into the past and use the past perfect ("had bought", "had warned").
"Slowly, Cindy approached the closet door and reached for the knob. But before she touched it, the knob began to turn on its own. She screamed and jumped back. She'd bought this house six months ago, though her sister had warned her not to."
Important: When we return to the main time of the story (the story's "now"), it should be consistent with the main verb tense we were using before the flashback.
If our main verb tense is the present, we return from our flashback to the present tense. If our main verb tense is the simple past, we return to that.
What about jumping ahead into the future? Again, our choice of future tense depends on the main verb tense of our story.
If the "now" of our story is written in the present tense, we can use a simple future tense, like "will feel".
"Slowly, Cindy approaches the closet door and reaches for the knob. But before she touches it, the knob begins to turn on its own. She screams and jumps back. She bought this house six months ago, though her sister warned her not to. Cindy is sorry she didn't listen, and she will soon feel even sorrier."
But if the "now" of the story is written in the past tense, then we can use the future-in-the-past tense, like "would feel".
"Slowly, Cindy approached the closet door and reached for the knob. But before she touched it, the knob began to turn on its own. She screamed and jumped back. She'd bought this house six months ago, though her sister had warned her not to. Cindy was sorry she hadn't listened, and she would soon feel even sorrier."
It's up to you whether you want to use the past or the present as the main time of your story. There are advantages to both.
Using the present tense can be very dramatic, as if events are unfolding in real time. But sometimes the past tense feels more natural. It's the way we normally tell stories, describing events that already happened.
During a rough draft, don't worry too much about verb tenses. You can fix them during the revision.
Before I end, I want to talk about two advanced techniques.
1) If you have a very long flashback, it can get clunky to keep using the past perfect tense with all those "hads" ("I had left the house at seven, had arrived at work at eight, then had stopped to talk to Myra...") So, you start out with the past perfect to let readers know it's a flashback, and then you drift into the simple past. ("I had left the house at seven, arrived at work at eight, then stopped to talk to Myra...") If you do this, make sure that the transition is seamless and that the reader will not be confused about what time they're in.
2) In certain situations, a flashback might be written in the main verb tense of the story...
"John lies in the grass and closes his eyes. He inhales the smell of the pine trees, and suddenly he's six years old again, on a camping trip with his father. The crunch of footsteps brings him back to the present, and he opens his eyes."
In this example, the flashback is written in the present tense to show that, for John, it feels like it's happening right now. You can do this as long as it's not confusing.
The key with verb tenses in fiction is always to avoiding confusing or distracting readers.
Verb Tenses in Fiction - Next Steps
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