How to Use Present Tense in Fiction Writing
Are you stuck trying to choose the right tense for your novel? This is the second installment in the tenses series where we guide you to the perfect fit for your novel. In this post, we are examining how to write in present tense for fiction. So, if the past tense didn't fit your story, let’s find out if present tense will. Read on!
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Writer’s Guide: Writing in Present Tense
In today’s market, you’ve probably seen a ton of books written in the present tense, that’s because it’s a modern phenomenon. Present tense novels are most popular among YA (young adult) and fiction. However, these are not the only genres that write in present tense; choosing a tense is always a style choice by the author— do what is best for the story you are telling.
Here is a list of a few book examples that are written in the present tense.
The Hunger Games, Divergent, Twilight, Ulysses, All the Light We Cannot See, Happy Place, and It Ends with Us.
You get the idea.
You also may have noticed that books written in the present tense are often paired with a 1st person point-of-view (POV). This style choice can give the reader a sense of immediacy— it will put them right in the world with the protagonist.
For this case study, we are breaking down the proper verbs to use for this tense. We will discuss POV in another post, but for now, let’s see what writing in present tense looks like.
Pros and Cons of writing in Present Tense
Pros:
Immediate intimacy with your protagonist
You can create an unreliable narrator for a twist
Deep point of view
Cons:
It's difficult to write stories that take place over a longer timeline
Limits the narration
Time jumps can be jarring
Akin to the previous article on Writing in Past Tense, you are locked into the tense you choose. That’s not to say you can’t embed scenes using different tenses to show different timelines— you can. For example, if you’re using present tense, and you want to show the reader something significant about your protagonist that occurred in the past, what do you do? You write a flashback. If you choose to embed a flashback scene, you have to be clear with this time shift when writing in the present tense. Your flashbacks will need to be written in past tense to signify the event was in the past. And, you have to make a clear visual indication to your reader that we have now entered the past, otherwise, your reader will be lost. I’ll break down how to write flashbacks in another article, so be sure to subscribe to this blog— you don’t want to miss it.
The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins, Scholastic (October 2013) and Happy Place, Emily Henry, BERKLEY, 1st Edition (April 2023)
LEt’s start with the basics of present tense writing
What is most crucial to present tense writing? That’s right—the verb.
In present tense writing, we will add -s or -es to the verb root.
Writing in present tense has different forms:
The Simple Present Tense: habitual actions.
Ex: “I write every morning.”
The Present Progressive Tense: an action that is happening now and continuing.
Ex: “I am writing…”
The Present Perfect Tense: an action that is happening with the help of auxiliary verbs have or has. It’s used to describe a verb that has happened in the past and still continues in the present.
Ex: “I have written every morning…”
The Present Perfect Progressive Tense: an action that started in the past and continues in the present, is incomplete up to the present, or expresses emphasis.
Ex: “I have been writing since this morning.”
I know it’s a lot to take in, but the best way to understand the verb tenses is to practice; reading and writing are your allies.
I hope this guide to writing in present tense is helpful to you. Leave a comment below and tell me!
What type of story is present tense writing best suited for in fiction?
This style choice became popular amongst YA fantasy writing. And for good reason— it’s highly immersive. When a reader steps into a fantastical world filled with dragons and adventure, unlike the real world, we love the thrill of transporting into it. A reader becomes the protagonist.
But writing in the present tense is not only for those types of stories. Honestly, when it comes to choosing a tense, do what feels most natural to you as a writer, and what the story demands.
Is writing in present tense better for your story?
Writing in the present tense is littered with verbs that put us into our narrator's shoes; we feel everything because we are in the protagonist's mind. We become and move with everything they do.
Present tense allows us to observe the story in real-time from our protagonist's perspective— we don’t know what the male is thinking— all we know is how our protagonist perceives him in that moment. We feel what the main character is experiencing— we move through time linearly, as they do.
That is ultimately what you're deciding when writing in the present tense— to move linearly with your narrator to unfold the story.
The next time you approach your writing project, I challenge you to read what you’ve written thus far and focus on the tense. Has your project already chosen its tense unconsciously to you? Do you find yourself jumping between tenses?
If you are weaving between writing in present tense and then jumping into past (not by flashback), I implore you to rewrite the same page separately in both past and present tense. Feel out what your story chooses— surrender to its call. Once it reveals itself to you, stick to it. And if you need guided help— come back to this post for reference. Finally, don’t forget that you can always pick up a book in the tense you choose and study it!
You got this! Remember, writing is rewriting.
