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 |   A tentative blog to test the temperature. |
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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.     |
| What’s With This Present Thing? I am currently reviewing at least one short story or poem a day, for reasons to do with 7-day badges (psychology works). In the course of all this, it has become apparent to me that there is a trend in WdC newbie work. More and more of them are writing in the present tense. Now, I’m not against writing in that tense - I’ve even been known to do the occasional piece myself. But I do find it interesting that so many new writers are attracted to it, apparently at least. To me it seems that writing in the past tense is easiest and, in the early days (if I can cast my mind back that far) the idea of telling a story in the present never crossed my mind. And that was probably because none of the books I read at the time were written in that tense. So what makes young writers gravitate in numbers to the present? Is it because they don’t read enough old time literature to have become used to the past? Or maybe the schools don’t deal with such things as writing in different tenses? Perhaps there’s something in the air and the culture is experiencing a shift that I can’t possibly understand due to my advancing age? I’d really like to know and, if anyone has any thoughts on the matter, I’d be interested to know. Until I begin to see the point in it, I will continue to advise young writers against spending so much of their effort in the present. A whole book written thus is a pain to read and even a decent length story can become quite tiresome in it. It just feels so natural to me to write in the past tense. Word count: 292 |
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