Creative Writing- Past or present? (1 Viewer)

[NWO]

If in he hsc, they make you use first person would htis make sense?

"I was an old, lonely, tired man." OR " I'm an old man.."

"He was an old, lonely, tired man etc."

And if i stay with past tense, should i stay with it throught the essay?

 

[hjed]

The first two are both first person, just different tense...

 

[Absolutezero]

Pick a person view (1 or 3)
Pick a tense (past, present, future)

Stick with it.

 

[NWO]

Ok. thanks cos it doesnt make sense somehow. For example.

"I was an old man with white hair."- it sounds as if it happened in the past. W/E lol its sounds weird. I read too little these days. USed to read like 2 books per week. my creative writing sucks again

 

[Crobat]

If you wanted to do it in 3rd person, be sneaky and write "'I was an old man...' he would think to himself, over and over again. (Name) would..."

 

[Elisa Sweet]

As long as you stay consistent, it doesn't really matter.

 

[Absolutezero]

Ok. thanks cos it doesnt make sense somehow. For example.

"I was an old man with white hair."- it sounds as if it happened in the past. W/E lol its sounds weird. I read too little these days. USed to read like 2 books per week. my creative writing sucks again

If it says, "I was an old man" then that refers to the past. So it will probably be set in the past. You can change it to the present though, with something like "I was an old man, now I'm a monster, an uncaring machine". Or you could put it into third person present. "I was an old man" he thought to himself. Now he's monster, a vacant figure of his once self.

 

[NWO]

No, i mean if i start with past tense, i want to stick with past tense. I hate shfting back and forth. it's not a memory or anything. Cos if the quote started with " He felt exiled..." i could write something liek..

"Jackey was an uncaring, old man who would bully kids..... etc"
But it would sound awakard descrbing my self in the past tense
" I was an uncaring, old man who would bully kids." The word WAS makes it sound like it was in the past.. lol im bad at expressing my self. Do you

 

[NWO]

no lol, the man is old in the present. Since the story is set in the past, The MAN WAS OLD. lol hsc's trolling me. 3rd person natrration would be better

 

[Absolutezero]

If he's old in the present in third person say "IS" not "WAS".

If he's old in the present in first person say "AM"

So:

I am an old man. I do old man things.


If you use 'WAS", it puts it in the past.


If the starting quote is "He felt exiled..." you can still put it in what is essentially the present.


He felt exiled. There was no one else around him. He reached for the mug.

 

[Frostbitten]

They don't think it be like it is, but it do.