SA, you know how you feel about first person? I am that way 99% of the time about present tense. I define good present tense writing by one criterion only: if I notice it's present tense, I'm outta there.
deb is me.
Present tense and second person I can only deal with in small chunks--in a short story or fanfic, they can add a nice sense of urgency and immediacy. For long sweeping narratives, I much prefer traditional past tense and 1st or 3rd person POV.
I have no preference between 1st or 3rd person. It entirely depends on the type of story and what the author is comfortable with. My novel is in first, and I enjoy it because my narrator's head is fun to inhabit, and because I like the challenge of a fundamentally honest narrator who's unreliable because of her own immaturity and blind spots. The fanfic I just started is 3rd limited, multiple POV, because if I actually follow through on it, there's way too much going on for just one character to witness and narrate.
I'm a big ho for all tenses, POVs, etc.
I'm trying to think of any I haven't enjoyed, and coming up short.
3rd person plural, pluperfect.
Susan, yes indeed. Lucy, your main character, has a very distinctive voice, and I love that you let her talk instead of pulling her around. She also has a very distinct way of looking at her world, and you show me that, as well. I'm all about that.
ita, SA, I ought to qualify: very short pieces, the drabbles and whatnot? A lot of them do work very well in the present tense. But in straight fiction longer forms, I hate it with a stone passion. I find myself assuming that the writer can only last two minutes in bed before he/she runs out of breath....
3rd person plural, pluperfect.
I almost want to dare someone to try this.
But, I see what you're saying.
"They had had sex. It had been very good for them."
"They had had sex. It had been very good for them."
That unpleasant squishy thing you all just heard was the sound of my head exploding.
t snerk
I wonder if anyone could feasibly write in the pluperfect tense.
I wonder if anyone could feasibly write in the pluperfect tense.
I'm looking it up right now...
What? I need a challenge.
I, err, appear to have stunned you all into silence.
101 words, Buffy/Wesley, pluperfect tense as far as I can.
Never again.
- - -
They had had sex, and rested, and had sex again. It had been good for them, because everyone needs to let off a little sexual tension now and again, and the air between them had been getting thicker for weeks.
Sex with Wesley, Buffy had decided, was good. It wasn’t as good as it had been with Angel, but it had the major advantage of happening more than once.
“This has been good,” he had said, “but it can’t go on. I’m meant to be responsible.”
She had turned away, tears in her eyes, but she had known he was right.
