From 'Huh?' to 'Hurray!' by Stiles Stephanie;

Author:Stiles, Stephanie;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UPA
Published: 2010-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

EXERCISES

1. This exercise allows you to experiment with the use of past and present tenses in your writing. As you write, keep in mind the need to be consistent within the tense you’ve selected.

• Because the preponderance of literature is written in past tense, we have become far more habituated to its use. It is, in a sense, easier to write past tense because we are so accustomed to it. Here, using the past tense, write about someone who found something valuable. What he found is up to you to determine. Love letters in his grandmother’s attic? An old man’s wallet containing cash from a social security check? An original Picasso hidden under a Jonas Brothers poster? A birth certificate of a sister he never knew existed? What was the object, and, more importantly, what did he do about it? Although you may be tempted to slip into present tense, given the tension of the discovery, resist the urge; the exercise here is to remain consistent in your depiction of time’s passage.

• After you’ve written in the past tense, experiment with the present tense. Typically, this requires a great deal more concentration, due to our tendency to conceive of stories or poems (and certainly memoirs which, by definition, recount what has already happened) in the past tense. Take the piece you’ve just written for the above exercise, and recast it in the present tense. Or, if you prefer not to use the above exercise, write two brief passages–one in past tense, and one in present tense–about an embarrassing moment. After you have written each version, consider these questions:

Which works better? Why?

How does verb tense change the work’s dynamics?

Which was easier for you to use?

Which comes more naturally?

Were you able to use one tense consistently throughout?

Does one seem forced or unnatural in the piece?

Which do you think you will use more in future? Why?

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.