# First Person, Active Voice, & Past Tense



## cmwilson (Mar 15, 2017)

I'm a beginner writer, and I seem to be getting tripped up on trying to maintain the above. It seems when I write in first person, making sure to use active voice, the result ends up in present tense, as opposed to past tense. Was just curious if anyone ran into this as a beginner and how they managed to stop it from happening lol.


----------



## EmmaSohan (Mar 15, 2017)

Maybe you should post an example?


----------



## cmwilson (Mar 15, 2017)

I already went through and corrected what I had written. I guess this is just a weak spot of mine that I make sure I pay attention to. For some reason it just seems more natural to write in the present tense, a bad habit I need to break lol.


----------



## ArtBlinked (Mar 15, 2017)

I used to mix up my past and present tense all the time. Like, twice in the same sentence kind of bad. I'm still not perfect but what helped me was just time. Reading and re-reading my own writing, reading what others wrote and paying close attention to their tense. 

Sorry, I don't have any quick fix for this, I probably learned the long/hard way. But with enough time and intentionally correcting your own writing as you go, you will improve and eventually it will become second nature.


----------



## cmwilson (Mar 15, 2017)

That's what I have been doing. Writing out a paragraph, than reading over it. I suspect once I get a little more experience it will go away. =)


----------



## j.w.olson (Mar 15, 2017)

I've been writing for a long time, and I've found where I'm comfortable, though it's shifted over time.

When I write in 3rd person, I prefer past tense. When I write in first person, I prefer present tense.

I just wrote a story in 1st person past tense over the past week (the narrator is telling a story, so he interjects a few present tense thoughts) and I kept mixing my tenses up. I fixed it in revision, and noticed that the issue was way more prominent at the start of the story. So... I guess just practice? Or try switching the whole thing to present tense and see if you like that better.


----------



## Sam (Mar 15, 2017)

Unless you post an example, it's going to be very difficult to understand what you're describing. 

Post a short excerpt here so we can see what you're trying to explain.


----------



## Non Serviam (Mar 15, 2017)

The OP is finding that he's drifting into the present tense when he intends to write in the past; so instead of writing _I took a breath, aimed, and squeezed the trigger_ he's accidentally writing _I take a breath, aim, and squeeze the trigger_.

It's a side-effect of becoming strongly immersed in your story.  It's happening because you see the story happening around you in your mind's eye.  This is a good thing and I would advise you *not* to try to fix it.  Just plough on ahead and get it all written in rough draft form, without worrying about active voice or past tense or in fact anything other than setting out what you see in your head while it's fresh and immediate.

Then print it all out, stick it in a large envelope, write a date on the envelope in six month's time, and Do Not Open It for at least six months.  Write something else in the meantime.

When you open the envelope, the passage of six months will give you distance and objectivity that enables editing.  You'll find your story is a horrible mess, with passive voice and tense confusion and convoluted sentences and goodness knows what else.  But the imagery and flow of the story will be fresh and vivid.

If, on the other hand, you try to fix it as you write, then it'll take a very long time to write, and by the time you get to the end the early parts of the story will be tired and overworked.  It's much better to do it the other way.


----------



## Jay Greenstein (Mar 16, 2017)

Since you have no writing samples posted it's hard to comment, but here are some things to keep in mind.

• The person and tense you write in is an authorial choice, and for the most part irrelevant to the story (though whatever you choose to use, you should be consistent). For the protagonist it's always present tense, first person, just as it is in our lives. And we can tell the story in the moment the protagonist calls now in any tense and person we care to. Person, as defined by which personal pronouns you use, has nothing to do with viewpoint. And it's a strong viewpoint that defines active writing.

• Viewpoint, and how to maintain it is a learned skill that is not taught or even mentioned in our school years, where we learn only nonfiction writing skills so as to prepare us to hold a job.

• Given that we leave school knowing only nonfiction skills, spending time and a few dollars acquiring our writers education makes a lot of sense.


----------

