Post History
This may seem like an off-topic question, but it's really more about writing than about the grammar. I use a lot of dialogue in my writing, sometimes too much, but while I'm writing it, though the...
#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T05:21:37Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/23470 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
by
RE Lavender
·
2019-12-08T05:21:37Z (over 4 years ago)
This may seem like an off-topic question, but it's really more about writing than about the grammar. I use a lot of dialogue in my writing, sometimes too much, but while I'm writing it, though the story itself is in the present tense, I don't know whether it would be confusing to use the past tense for dialogue tags. For example: > I swallow and look at Mac. > > He looks back at me, just as frightened. > > "Tell me the truth, should I be scared?" He asked me. > > I answer, "I don't know." Is this confusing to do? The way I usually look at it is by imagining the way the narrator is hearing it. Like, if the narrator is narrating after it's said, use the past, or he/she is narrating during use the present, etc.b **Is it best to just stay in one tense in dialogue regardless of when the narration is happening?**
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2016-06-20T19:37:23Z (almost 8 years ago)
Original score: 2