No, I don’t mean that tight feeling in your shoulders when you’ve been sitting at the computer too long! In writing, TENSE shows the time of a verb’s action. The following are the simple tenses we commonly use: • Action occurring now is PRESENT TENSE. She understands the problem . • Action that occurred before now is PAST TENSE. She understood the problem . • Action likely to occur in after now is FUTURE TENSE. She will understand the problem . Then, we get into somewhat more complicated versions. By adding a “to be” verb, we create a PERFECT TENSE. (That doesn’t mean it’s perfect to use all the time though.) • PRESENT PERFECT refers to completed actions whose effects are still relevant. I am walking that trail today. • PAST PERFECT: I had walked that trail last week.  • FUTURE PERFECT: I will have walked that trail many times before I grow old.  The tricky part is knowing which tense to use when, and when to limit the “perfects.” As authors, when we begin a sto...

What are the most common errors you see when line-editing manuscripts? I've been a copy editor for the last 10 of my 23 years in newspapering, and recently I've been keeping loose track of the kinds of errors I spot in the news copy I read five nights a week. Tell us how often these kind of mistakes pop up in your own red-pen adventures. In no particular order (and leaving out typos because spellcheck usually identifies those, and often they're mistakes of speed-typing rather than deliberate ignorance): Sentence-Smoosh Syndrome. Example: "The sergeant, who found the car to be stolen, attempted to pull it over, but the man refused to stop, and a pursuit began, going down Auto Center Way, onto Kitsap Way, and eventually to Chico Way." I realize that in fiction, long sentences can convey a certain intense dramatic flow or sense of unrelenting action. But it takes a high degree of skill to keep from losing a reader by cramming too many thoughts into one cerebr...

Previously we looked at how to use a blend of pluperfect tense and past tense to integrate flashbacks. Today we will look at mixing past and present tense. Deliberately Mixing Past and Present Tense I've read some interesting stories using a mixture of tenses. One book involved a current investigation that triggered constant flashbacks for the protagonist to a previous investigation. The author handled this by separating the two stories and writing the main narrative in present tense, alternating full scenes of present tense and past tense reflecting the present and past respectively. It helped to clarify for which case clues were being processed. Another story was written in first person past tense in a confessionary style. When the narrator spoke of scenes that were emotionally "present" to him, he slipped into present tense narration. Take care with this technique, as you need to have a good handle on your own grasp of tense. Inadvertently Mixing Tenses Some writers f...

The tense you use can add an extra element to your writing style. Writing the narrative in past tense with the character dialogue in present tense has been the most popular method for a long time. This is also the most comfortable and familiar to readers. But, increasingly, writers have been experimenting with tense, especially in shorter works and literary fiction. Present tense has a faster pace than past tense. Combined with a first person narrative, a story written in present tense puts the reader directly into the action with the sense of immediacy and urgency that you create. However present tense can tend to stick out like scaffolding, while past tense disappears into the background, much like the "said" dialogue tags. Pluperfect Tense (Past Perfect Tense) Lengthy flashbacks don't need to remain in pluperfect tense when you're writing your narrative in past tense. This is especially relevant if dialogue is quoted in the flashback scene, as it's jarring for ...