《Writer's Guide》How To Write in Tenses

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Title is weird, I know.

There are two tenses I'm referring to: past tense and present tense.

a tense expressing an action that has happened or a state that previously existed

When a writer writes in past tense, they're writing the story as if it had already happened. Words often end in ed or something like that. For example, you'd see words such as said, did, wondered, thought, spoke, laughed, told, yelled, cried, were/was and so forth.

a tense expressing an action that is currently going on or habitually performed, or a state that currently or generally exists.

When a writer writes in present tense, they're writing the story as if it's currently happening. For example, you'd see words such as say/says, does/do, wonder/wonders, think/thinks, speaks/speak, laugh,/laughs, tell/tells, yell/yells, cry/cries, am/are/is and so forth.

Choosing a tense may be important in how you tell your story and the plot, or it may not be important. However, when you choose a tense, you STICK WITH IT. If you write the first chapter or prologue or whatever in present tense, you write the whole story in present tense. The same goes for past tense. I'm bad when it comes to writing in one tense, although it's more of a problem for stories I write in third person. However, when I read a story and see someone has switched between both tenses, it really bugs me.

Keep in mind that there are some cases when switching between them is acceptable. For example, if you're writing in present tense but then talk about something that happened to a character in the , then it's okay. Here is an example just to clarify.

Liam sighs and drags his hand through his hair, tugging on it in frustration. He can't fail this exam, he just can't. Last time he failed his math exam, his mother been furious and he grounded for a month.

Do you get it now?

I hope this helped you if it happened to be a problem. I have a bad habit of switching between the two when it's not needed, but it's not as bad as you may think.

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