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It doesn't matter how much dialogue you have. If your story (the narration) is in present tense, then all the verbs have to be in present tense. All the dialogue tags, all the narration, everything...
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#4: Attribution notice removed
by
System
·
2019-12-13T12:00:37Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/23479 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added
by
System
·
2019-12-08T05:21:38Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/23479 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
It doesn't matter how much dialogue you have. If your story (the narration) is in present tense, then all the verbs have to be in present tense. All the dialogue tags, all the narration, everything. The only exception is if you're talking about something which happened in the past relative to the present moment of the story. _[Bolding is for emphasis, not because the story needs it.]_ > I swallow and look at Mac. > > He looks back at me, just as frightened. > > "Tell me the truth, should I be scared?" **he asks me.** > > I answer, "I don't know." > > When we **left** town **an hour ago** , we **were** tired and hungry, but uninjured. We **walked** for an hour before we **fell** into the crevasse. Now we're tired and hungry, Mac has a broken arm, and my ankle is twisted. I don't know if we can get out of this.
#1: Imported from external source
by
System
·
2016-06-20T21:15:01Z (almost 8 years ago)
Original score: 5