deilaitha
Sage
Yet, one of the best-selling traditionally published trilogies of the current market employs present tense narration: The Hunger Games. I actually really like the way that Collins uses it. I certainly imagine that it can be done poorly, but it isn't a given immersion-breaker for me. I think a lot of this article comes down to the author's personal tastes.I also wondered about that. Then I started just writing anything I could think of in the present tense and it does seem very table top rpg like and a little corny over all.
That being said, he also makes some very good points. Many of the things he mentions are problems, such as the dreaded 'expository clump.' On the other hand, he makes it seem as though these are problems which exist primarily in the indie book world--there are many books which are professionally published and/or hailed as classics that break these rules of immersion. No book by Charles Dickens would stand up to this scrutiny. I think that good storytelling is less dependent on the rules and more dependent on choosing how or when to break them. Conventions are a good thing, don't get me wrong, and when writers thoroughly ignore them, it's problematic. But we have to remember that conventions change and shift, just like clothing fashions.
Overall, this is a good article with sound advice, and I really appreciate how he points out these common issues. But, as is the case with present tense storytelling, how much of this can be attributed to personal taste?