Is it OK to write in present tense? And what do you do if you don’t have a title for the novel you’re writing? I tackle both questions today.
Grace posted this question on my “Ask A Question For My Blog” page:
I have a question regarding the tense used in writing fiction. I write in third person present tense. I was told this style of writing makes it harder for the reader to follow.
Randy sez: It’s no harder for a reader to follow present tense than past tense, unless she thinks it is. Unfortunately, some readers really dislike present tense, which means that if you choose to use it, you’re going to alienate these readers.
Personally, I like present tense when it’s done well. Some examples of books where it’s done very well are THE TIME TRAVELER’S WIFE by Audrey Niffenegger, THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins, and THE SPEED OF DARK by Elizabeth Moon. If you want to see how it’s done well, check out these books.
That was a short answer, so I’ll take on another question today.
Cathi asked:
Hi! I have a follow-up to the question about publishers changing book titles. How bad is it is you don’t have a title in mind at all? That is my situation…five years in to a nearly completed manuscript ready to be thrown into the market, and a title evades me. Thanks!
Randy sez: Five years is a long time to go without a title. I’d start working on that, because it’s going to be a lot harder to sell your novel without a title. It sounds like you’re blocked on this title thing, Cathi, so maybe it’s time to enlist some help.
I’m assuming you know the category of your novel (your genre and sub-genre) and your target audience. I also assume you can summarize your novel in 25 words or less. If all of the above is true, then it’s time to start asking your writer friends for some ideas. Tell them your category, your target audience, your one-sentence summary and then ask or beg or threaten people for ideas on titles.
Cathi, if you’re feeling brave, you can even send the above information to me and we can run a “Name Cathi’s Book” contest here on this blog. That could be fun.
One reason writers get blocked sometimes is their perfectionist streak. It’s easy to refuse to take any title except the absolute best one on the planet. Unfortunately, there can be at most only one of those. Even more unfortunately, nobody agrees what it is. So you aren’t going to get perfection. Pick a title that fits your book. Even if it’s not perfect.
Odds are fifty-fifty that your publisher is going to want to change it anyway. As soon as they start telling you the title their geniuses dreamed up in committee, trust me, you’ll suddenly be Xtremely motivated to come up with a better one.
Some thoughts on titles, in random order:
Don’t tell the ending. SAMANTHA GETS THE GUY is a terrible title for a romance. RAMBO SHOOTS UP 200 COPS is also not so great.
You don’t need a gimmick. HARRY POTTER AND THE X works pretty well for just about any value of X. No gimmicks there. Good writing trumps gimmicky titles every day of the week.
One word titles can work well. Some of my titles have been OXYGEN, TRANSGRESSION, PREMONITION, and RETRIBUTION. The first three of those were not my original titles. The original title of OXYGEN was O2. (Our editor showed good sense in changing that one). The original title of TRANSGRESSION was AVATAR. (I still think AVATAR was better, but I have no idea what I’d have named the sequels if my publisher had kept that title. It took me a while to realize that using similar words as titles for a series can make a lot of sense.)
If you’ve got a question you’d like me to answer in public on this blog, hop on over to my “Ask A Question For My Blog” page and submit your question. I’ll answer them in the order they come in.
Oh, go on! I like a good contest 🙂
I’m not sure why, but sometimes I find myself writing something in present tense, for no apparent reason. I don’t think I’ve ever made the conscious choice of using present or past tense. There’s a very distinct difference in how the writing “feels” and when I read back what I’ve written, it also reads differently.
I don’t have an explanation, and I for one would love to learn more about the difference between the two.
If I had to take a wild stab in the dark, I would say that present-tense stories tend to feel more “real” or realistic. I don’t think, for example, that fantasy novels in present tense would ever work.
This is certainly food for discussion. I’d love to hear what others have to say on this subject!
Personally, I hate present tense. Especially third person present, which reads (to me) like stage direction. In first person a skilled author can pull it off, (Jeanne Stein’s Anna Strong Vampire Chronicles come to mind — it fits her voice) but otherwise it just raises the bar.
As for titles, I have a terrible time with them myself. For short stories with a twist ending I’ll try to put a pun in the title that only becomes obvious in retrospect, but that’s hard to do and doesn’t work for longer stories or novels. However, a “working title” is good enough for a novel; as you said, chances are the publisher will change it anyway.
John Updike’s 1959 novel Rabbit, Run, may have been the first novel written in the present tense, but Updike says two other writers were first: Damon Runyon and Joyce Cary. Updike said: “In Rabbit, Run, I liked writing in the present tense. You can move between minds, between thoughts and objects and events with a curious ease not available to the past tense. I don’t know if it is clear to the reader as it is to the person writing, but there are kinds of poetry, kinds of music you can strike off in the present tense.”
Here’s a terrific example of the present tense, from Slumdog Millionaire by Vikas Swarup (originally titled Q&A):
“Now Godbole calls me that, and worse. I sit cross-legged in a ten-by-six-footcell wth a rusty metal door and a small square window with a grille through which a shaft of dusty sunlight streams into the room. The lockup is hot and humid. Flies buzz around the mushy remains of an overripe mango lying squished on the stone floor. A sad-looking cockroach lumbers up to my leg. I am beginning to feel hungry. My stomach growls.”
Present tense lends an immediacy to the story, but a lot of writers find it gimmicky.
Has anyone ever read Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates? I’m pretty sure that it was written in present tense but I can’t remember…also experimental fiction like Infinite Jest sometimes uses it in order to break from the traditional “fiction experience”.
Sometimes I feel like first person is an easier way for an author to create an emotional experience for their reader, But I don’t know if that is more a function of author or tense.
An especially effective use of present tense can be found in one of Guy Gavriel Kay’s books (sorry, don’t remember the title — it’s one in an earlier trilogy, the one involving a ghost realm).
The bulk of the story is done in the usual past tense, but then he put the key conflict (climax) chapter in present tense. The shift blew me away. You feel like your face is suddenly pressed up against the screen, from having been sitting back in your chair enjoying the entertainment.
I can suggest also disconnected titles that can provide with an intelligent omission such as :
” I did not cause the Katrina disaster”.
“A refusal to become a monster.”
“That is not the name of the game.”
About titles… I would argue that you need to come up with a whole list of titles that would work for your book rather than just one. Keep your favourite as a working title, but being able to give your agent or editor a list of 10 or 20 that you would be happy with heads off the dreaded publishing house committee choosing a title based solely on a 25 word pitch and a list of “hot” words from the marketing department.
An added bonus is that having to identify 20 different title possibilities forces you to delve into what the story is really about and what themes and motifs you have incorporated into it. A final read-through after picking your list of titles may show up areas where you could punch up the imagery or strenghten a theme or motif to the betterment of the book.
Great advice! Particularly about the titles. I am just starting a new novel and have yet to come up with a title, but this is giving me motivation to work on that. Thanks!
Sarah Allen
(my creative writing blog)
I like the idea of doing a contest for the book name.
As far as tense is concerned, I am a fan of past tense with a 3rd party perspective. But that’s just one opinion of many that differ.
I’ve made a change from past to present tense in a short story to highlight a significant change in the attention of the MC. The MC gets physically attacked which throws him into a flashback of childhood abuse. The story is in past tense until the flashback, and returns to past tense as his consciousness returns.
I also find present tense demands more attention from me the reader.
Thanks for answering my question, Randy. I’ve come up with several titles, but like you said, the perfectionist in me isn’t set on any of them.
I’ll take you up on that contest idea. I’ll reply to your e-mail with the requested information shortly.