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May 20 – Limits: Present Tense

The Prompt

Write A Story In The Present Tense

The Prompt

Write A Story In The Present Tense

Tips

  • The present tense grants an immediacy not there in the past tense.
  • This is great for thrillers, because we can’t be sure that the authorial voice (or first person narrator) will survive until the end.
  • You can jump around in time, but each segment must be in the present tense. You can indicate a shift in time by having your characters talk ‘to camera’ or by noting that the sun is now setting or that the morning dew has burned off the grass at last…

GO!

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4 thoughts on “May 20 – Limits: Present Tense”

  1. Mmm. Quite a challenge, but editable, so job done. It is interesting how the story feel changes when we do these different things.
    What with the dialogue yesterday, with it’s imminence and tension, to this one, where I added a flashback – it too in the present tense – in the middle.
    I almost chickened out and added ellipses to give clarity, but then I took them out.
    Let the reader do some work too, I thought.

  2. Done, but present tense seems difficult after writing mostly in past. A few years ago I wrote a story for my grandson in present tense to see if I could. Lots of slip-ups, so I avoid that one

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