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Q&A What tense do I use when talking about a character that has died?

Although the past tense makes sense due to your sentence construction, a different construction would allow the present tense, by setting a time frame: When Riley and Anna meet, Anna is a beaut...

posted 7y ago by Amadeus‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-19T22:13:14Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/31843
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T07:28:14Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/31843
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T07:28:14Z (almost 5 years ago)
Although the past tense makes sense due to your sentence construction, a different construction would allow the present tense, by setting a time frame:

> When Riley and Anna meet, Anna is a beautiful girl with a smile on her face every day, her smile is his favourite thing about her.
> 
> In their conversations she never says anything to him about death, but of the wonders of life and nature.
> 
> After her death, Riley asserts he knew her smile was fake and Anna wanted to die, but does not reveal how he knows this.

(The last example is still a present tense character, talking about his own past).

I think this is the writer's choice; whichever you feel is the most clear and readable. A core directive of writing is to be clear to the reader.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2017-12-06T17:08:07Z (almost 7 years ago)
Original score: 2