Danielmedley.com

First Person Past Tense

Some time ago I finished a piece that was written in first person past tense. I’ve always disliked first person past, but did it anyway as a sort of experiment. After completing four drafts I was reasonably happy with it. Now, some months later, I dug it out and started going over it again and I instantly came to the conclusion that the first person angle is definitely not working. In fact I’m going over it and thinking, Ugh.

I’m still happy with the story and the general structure, but it comes across as a somewhat biographical, confessional piece which, to me, is just horrid. Sure, it uses some elements that I’m familiar with and takes place in a local that I’m intimately familiar with, but the characters and events are all fictional. Well, that’s not entirely true. There is one part that relies heavily on an actual event, but I don’t have a problem with that. The point is that—except for the aforementioned event—it’s just a pack of lies, not a biographical confessional.

So, I’m going to dismantle the whole damn thing and do it in third person.

Also, this will be a great opportunity to—as alluded to in the previous post—kill a few darlings and tighten the whole thing up.

I am writing a story in first person present tense. And I love it and hate it equally. I think it is the hardest tense to work in.

I like that phrase murder your darlings you alluded to. It is nearly impossible for me to do but I am working up the courage to kill a few of mine.

Sara

As far as killing your darlings, there are a couple of different schools of thought on it. Some say kill ‘em, some say keep ‘em. I’m thinking it’s somewhere in between.

And even though I said I was going to rework the piece in third person past, after I sat down and started it, it doesn’t seem to work as well. It appears as though the first person past might be the way to go; I just have to do it better. Also, there are a few darlings that I see upon reading it for the umpteenth time that certainly need to be, if not killed, severely abused.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts.