(no subject)

[roselightfairy]

I’m terrified that I might have to switch my story from present to past tense. All 70k-and-counting words of it.

Comments

[katajainen]

oooouch.

(Basically I have one story where I'd like to do that, but since it has 3 chapters posted already, I likely won't, but damn, it's a brutal feeling.)

[roselightfairy]

*sob* IT REALLY IS. Because there are no shortcuts; you have to go through and change EVERY. SINGLE. VERB. I haven't yet decided if I'll do it; there are arguments for both sides. Basically, I have a couple of "bookends" for the story-- scenes that take place at the very end of the timespan I'm writing, that I think I might use as the first and last chapters. Those will stay in present no matter what. But for the rest of it, since it's a jump back in time, it might make more sense to write in past? But there are also a few time-skims that have more the structure of long headcanon posts than actual story, which I want to use to indicate the general mood of that particular passage of time-- and it feels more natural to stay in present for those. But then, the present tense might also be dulling the language; it might feel a little more clean and concise if it were in past. But can I really rely on the tense to do the language work for me? Maybe I just need better words... And on and on and on.

(I'm really hoping I don't have to rewrite the whole thing, but who knows. It's impossibly dull right now, and I don't want my story to be boring.)