I came here with a question I don't think has been asked here -- at least, a cursory search says it hasn't.
I know, people generally hate tense shifts, even when done intentionally. However, given a reasonably deft touch, do you think it would work? I've been toying with a story idea in my head that requires some different timelines (not slipstream or anything like that, just as a means to build suspense), and that involves chapters set up as follows:
Present-Tense Chapter (Short: 800 words; limited third of protagonist)
Past-Tense Chapter (Long: 2000-3000 words; each chapter is based on limited third of a given character)
Past-Tense Chapter (Long)
Past-Tense Chapter (Long)
Present-Tense Chapter (Short)
Past-Tense Chapter (Long)
Past-Tense Chapter (Long)
Past-Tense Chapter (Long)
... and so on, so that every 10,000 words or so there is a break (there are about 10 of these). The present-tense chapters will function as interludes, and are definitely the highest-stakes part of the story -- and the past-tense part of it deals with the events leading up to the present situation.
The reason I'm doing this is to build suspense for the reader and because I'm interested in how it will work as a process, as I've rarely read it in genre fiction. I'm working in a Baroque-ish world in terms of comparison, fairly canonical fantasy fiction which leans more low than high. It's a standalone novel, not a Robert Jordan-sized series or anything, too. There is no time travel component to the story.
Would this be feasible? What traps might I run into? (I already know in advance "Write the story the way it comes to you" and "Present tense never works" as contrasting maxims, so don't worry on their account!)
I know, people generally hate tense shifts, even when done intentionally. However, given a reasonably deft touch, do you think it would work? I've been toying with a story idea in my head that requires some different timelines (not slipstream or anything like that, just as a means to build suspense), and that involves chapters set up as follows:
Present-Tense Chapter (Short: 800 words; limited third of protagonist)
Past-Tense Chapter (Long: 2000-3000 words; each chapter is based on limited third of a given character)
Past-Tense Chapter (Long)
Past-Tense Chapter (Long)
Present-Tense Chapter (Short)
Past-Tense Chapter (Long)
Past-Tense Chapter (Long)
Past-Tense Chapter (Long)
... and so on, so that every 10,000 words or so there is a break (there are about 10 of these). The present-tense chapters will function as interludes, and are definitely the highest-stakes part of the story -- and the past-tense part of it deals with the events leading up to the present situation.
The reason I'm doing this is to build suspense for the reader and because I'm interested in how it will work as a process, as I've rarely read it in genre fiction. I'm working in a Baroque-ish world in terms of comparison, fairly canonical fantasy fiction which leans more low than high. It's a standalone novel, not a Robert Jordan-sized series or anything, too. There is no time travel component to the story.
Would this be feasible? What traps might I run into? (I already know in advance "Write the story the way it comes to you" and "Present tense never works" as contrasting maxims, so don't worry on their account!)
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