Is it just me or is Third person present the new craze? I've read a couple of books lately in that tense and can't remember any from before this year. Now this one, and I've heard a couple of friends talking about others too.
I really don't like the tense. I know it's supposed to instill a sense of urgency but I just think it's sounds really weird. I read Blood Red not to long ago that used this and I spent more time concentrating on the tense than I did on the story. I felt the same way about that as you seem to with this one. I liked the story, but just couldn't put my finger on why. Definitely wasn't because of the third person present tense, lol.
11 years ago
It's not just you. It's something that has come in with self-publishing and of course young people see books written this way and assume that makes it proper.
Have you ever seen a classic book in pt? No, apart an occasional slip in Dickens but he breaks all sorts of rules. Any books from school, including those you read by choice in pt? No. Because it's the wrong form for a novel a.d in my ranting opinion, a sign of literary ignorance. If we boycott these mutants of self-publishing hell, the bigger companies will realise that it's not a trend to jump on.
I think the earliest book I've encountered with third person present was "Unwind" by Neal Shusterman. That was published in 2007, and I know I've read others like that recently, but I'm pretty sure they were all from this year or last year. But it's just...bleh, gross. I always say it sounds like a nature documentary; some old British guy narrating a cheetah stalking its prey or something.
I get what you mean about the urgency--I've read countless articles about why people like present tense so I could try and understand it better, and the authors of those articles always point out that it's urgency, it draws the reader closer to the character because neither of them knows what will happen next. But...it doesn't make sense to narrate a story to yourself as its happening! If I thought to myself, "I walk across the black and white tiled floor" while I'm walking in my kitchen, I think people could call me a little crazy. So third person present makes even LESS sense. Past tense makes sense because you tell a story after it happens. You don't tell it WHILE it's happening, because while it's happening, you don't even know if it's a story worth telling. It seems to be that it's just logical, but...I guess I'm in the minority nowadays. Past tense is a dying art, and I swear that books will drive me crazy if most of them are written in present tense. It already irritates me so much. And it definitely has been swept in with self-publishing. >>
Maybe when I do become an editor, I'll be able to convince the authors I work with to just not, hahah.
11 years ago
Nooooooo! Proper writing is not dying! And we must never let it. I'm glad I started reviewing for Netgalley now. Any books in present tense will get the same lecture I, Morgana did. We must all speak out against this travesty.
Oh yes, I speak out whenever I can! In just about every review for a book that has present tense writing, I always talk about it as something I didn't like. I think everyone who knows me knows how much I hate it by now, but I'll never stop. (:
11 years ago
Excellent. If enough blogger/reviewers keep saying how awful it is, writers will have to learn to write properly or settle for a 3 star cap.
I really don't like the tense. I know it's supposed to instill a sense of urgency but I just think it's sounds really weird. I read Blood Red not to long ago that used this and I spent more time concentrating on the tense than I did on the story. I felt the same way about that as you seem to with this one. I liked the story, but just couldn't put my finger on why. Definitely wasn't because of the third person present tense, lol.
Have you ever seen a classic book in pt? No, apart an occasional slip in Dickens but he breaks all sorts of rules. Any books from school, including those you read by choice in pt? No. Because it's the wrong form for a novel a.d in my ranting opinion, a sign of literary ignorance. If we boycott these mutants of self-publishing hell, the bigger companies will realise that it's not a trend to jump on.
I get what you mean about the urgency--I've read countless articles about why people like present tense so I could try and understand it better, and the authors of those articles always point out that it's urgency, it draws the reader closer to the character because neither of them knows what will happen next. But...it doesn't make sense to narrate a story to yourself as its happening! If I thought to myself, "I walk across the black and white tiled floor" while I'm walking in my kitchen, I think people could call me a little crazy. So third person present makes even LESS sense. Past tense makes sense because you tell a story after it happens. You don't tell it WHILE it's happening, because while it's happening, you don't even know if it's a story worth telling. It seems to be that it's just logical, but...I guess I'm in the minority nowadays. Past tense is a dying art, and I swear that books will drive me crazy if most of them are written in present tense. It already irritates me so much. And it definitely has been swept in with self-publishing. >>
Maybe when I do become an editor, I'll be able to convince the authors I work with to just not, hahah.