Blind and tense

    There may yet be some old stagers around who read this post when it went up years ago. I was reminded of it - specifically the question of tense - while reading Philip Pullman today; he shares my view but expresses it rather better than I did:

    "[...] many fine writers have written many admirable books in the present tense. But I can't make it work. The present tense is like those Venetian blinds that, instead of having horizontal slats, have vertical ones. I don't like being in a room that has those blinds because you can only look up and down. But life isn't vertical, life is horizontal. Friends and neighbours and cats and dogs and cars and the postman come along the road, not down from the sky. The present tense is like that: what it gives you is a vertical slice across a horizontal life."

    From Daemon Voices: Essays on Storytelling.

Comments

[Callmemadam]

I agree with that. Just one of many reasons for my dislike of Wolf Hall (ducks).

[Cornflower]

I am unarmed, Barbara!

[Margaret Powling]

I must be on my own here, as I enjoy present tense narratives. I think it adds immediacy to a story. Of course, other factors must be considered, such as whether the writing itself is good, but I have no objection to the present tense in principle. However, I dislike vertical blinds or as I think of them "office blinds" which have no place in a domestic setting.
Margaret P

[Toffeeapple]

Ah, so it is not just me then?

Mr Pullman is so right.

[ntoder]

There are rare exceptions but in general I can't bear the present tense. Thus I think this should disclosed in reviews so there are no unpleasant surprises should one order a book online.

[Aparatchick]

You are not alone! I like novels written in the present tense for, as you say, the immediacy it imparts. Perhaps we are a club of two. ;-)

As for blinds, all I know is that I loathe cleaning them.