Search where?

This Portfolio (beholden)

All of Writing.Com

◄ October ► 2024
S	M	T	W	T	F	S
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31
Archive				RSS

Create New Item

Read & Review

Community

Browse By Type

Browse By Genre

Writing Resources

Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025

4:42pm EST

Members: 919

Guests: 2,585

Total Online: 3,504

Toe in the Water

by Beholden

Rated: 13+ · Book · Experience · #2223922

A tentative blog to test the temperature.

Ten years ago I was writing several blogs on various subjects - F1 motor racing, Music, Classic Cars, Great Romances and, most crushingly, a personal journal that included my thoughts on America, memories of England and Africa, opinion, humour, writing and anything else that occurred. It all became too much (I was attempting to update the journal every day) and I collapsed, exhausted and thoroughly disillusioned in the end.

So this blog is indeed a Toe in the Water, a place to document my thoughts in and on WdC but with a determination not to get sucked into the blog whirlpool ever again. Here's hoping.

Signature for those who are nominated for a Quill Award in 2021

Show Recent Comments

10 Most Recent Blog Comments:

Beholden

Jan 24, 2025 at 7:09am
In response to "What's With This Present Thing?"

Trust Ned to see the answer immediately!

1 Like

Ned

Jan 24, 2025 at 6:37am
In response to "What's With This Present Thing?"

Listen to them talk: "So I go" "and then he goes", etc.. They don't really have a past yet, everything is in the now. Some day when they are old, they'll realize everything is in the past.

2 Like

Beholden

Jan 23, 2025 at 4:40pm
In response to "What's With This Present Thing?"

Gaming! I'd not thought of that but, of course, you're right. There are even stories that openly declare their connection to that form.

And I've seen many examples of the accidental slip into past tense too. So much better to write in the past and so avoid those mistakes.

2 Like

tj wanderlust-words-in-motion

Jan 23, 2025 at 4:25pm
In response to "What's With This Present Thing?"

I have also noted this trend and my thoughts went to gaming; the "story", unfolds as you move through the game, thus instilling a sense of story telling in the present as the writer moves forward.

I also agree, it becomes tedious to read anything of length in present tense, and even worse, many of the items I've read have jumps from present into past and back again.

2 Like

Beholden

Jan 23, 2025 at 10:20am
In response to "What's With This Present Thing?"

I look forward to reading one of those!

2 Like

Dave Ryan

Jan 23, 2025 at 10:06am
In response to "What's With This Present Thing?"

One of these days I'm going to drive people nuts by writing a story in the future tense or, even better, playing around with modals:

A stranger could burst through the door, firing wildly. "Look out", you might say, diving for cover as the bullets could thud into the wall.

3 Like

Beholden

Jan 23, 2025 at 9:05am
In response to "What's With This Present Thing?"

Actually, I think you might be on to something with thie visual thing. It might just be that the amount of screen viewing through which stories are told today has something to do with it. When you are so used to stories being told in such an immediate medium, it may be that the present tense becomes the natural way to tell a story.

2 Like

Amethyst Snow Angel

Jan 23, 2025 at 9:01am
In response to "What's With This Present Thing?"

I don't want to say anything, but I suspect part of it might have something to do with AI generated content. But presumably an AI would default to past tense unless instructed otherwise, since the vast majority of what it's trained on would be in past tense. Perhaps it's related to the highly visual nature of most content these days? People don't realize stories aren't written the way they look, if that makes any sense? *Shrug*

2 Like

Beholden

Jan 7, 2025 at 6:31pm
In response to "Dominik Dudek"

Glad you liked it, Adhere!

Adherennium - Maybe Writing?

Jan 7, 2025 at 4:46pm
In response to "Dominik Dudek"

Going to add my thumbs up here, this is great. Thank you for sharing.

1 Like

October 8, 2024 at 7:00am

#1077941

The Only Living Boy in New York

The Only Living Boy in New York

Just stumbled upon a recent video of Paul Simon being interviewed and found it most interesting. It seems he’s losing his hearing and the thought resonated with me and my fear of losing my sight. It was a point of contact, perhaps.

But then he started talking about how the songs for his latest album came to him. And they came in a dream. Bingo, I thought, that’s exactly what happens to me sometimes. Once again, I was reminded that “your old men will dream dreams” Joel 2:28, Acts 2:17. That has become almost a motto of mine over the last few years. It seems it’s true.

Anyway, Paul went on from there to thoughts of life, death and old age, all so familiar to me - although mine might be a bit more focused. Writers are so logical, you know. It was nice to hear that I’m not the only one experiencing old age in such a manner.

The video is below if you’re interested. Most of the stuff I’ve been talking about is in the first few minutes but you’ll probably be caught and listen to the whole thing. Be warned.

Word count: 194

2 Like • Comment

Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/profile/blog/beholden/day/10-8-2024