Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

60%
+1 −0
Q&A Is there a complete guideline for which tense to use?

When it comes to fiction there is no accepted tense. As long as you don't change tense, perspective or person midstream you're fine. Yes past tense is most common but I've read future, present, a...

posted 10y ago by CLockeWork‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T03:35:18Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/12198
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar CLockeWork‭ · 2019-12-08T03:35:18Z (almost 5 years ago)
When it comes to fiction there is no accepted tense. As long as you don't change tense, perspective or person midstream you're fine.

Yes past tense is most common but I've read future, present, and past tense and I've read first, third and even second person (that one took a little getting used to but was very well used by Charles Stross)

The real answer is that there is no _right_ tense, person or perspective. Instead it is very much down to what suits the specific story.

The most out-there I've managed was a present tense, third person from the protagonist's perspective, in which she is being interviewed about her past. Much of the story is in first person past tense. Here the transition between tense and person is made clear in that the first person/present tense sections are strictly restricted to her dialogue.

So just keep an eye on you tense usage, but feel free to use whatever feels natural. For your example I would write:

> He was hiding in the dumpster. He had been hiding here for more than two hours already, and he knew that it would be at least two hours before we could leave.
> 
> Finally, they were gone and he climbed out of the trash. He unsuccessfully tried to hail a cab -- even cab drivers had standards here -- and walked to his hotel.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2014-06-16T12:05:31Z (over 10 years ago)
Original score: 5