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Person and Tense
Sep. 18th, 2007 11:54 pmThis post on person and tense made me think about how I used these in my own writings. I know that I've written several fics in the much-dreaded second person, and I feel like I use past and present tenses about equally. But I decided to go back to my index and make a list.
( 1st person )
( 2nd person )
Third Person (POV character is "she," "he," etc.)
Everything else . . . my fic index is here. [ETA: 38% of my third-person fic is written in present tense; the other 62% is written in past tense. The longer a fic is, the more likely it is written in past tense; the shorter it is, the more likely it is written in present tense.]
[. . .]
( Figure 1 ) The interesting thing here is that whenever there is a "you," regardless of whether "I" or "you" are the POV character, in every case but one the story is in present tense. In "Permutations" the shift from 3rd/1st person to 2nd person even happens to exactly coincide with the shift from past tense to present tense. When I stop and think about it, this makes sense. Having a "you" foregrounds the act of telling, even if it is only a character's internal monologue as she addresses herself during the story's events, so the story by necessity takes place as it is being told, whether it be Moriarty and Holmes plummeting to their deaths at Reichenbach Falls in "Requiem at Reichenbach" or Dawn preparing Beatrice for the Cruciamentum in "Watcher's Burden." Indeed, in "Dear My Ideal Audience," the telling of the story is completely inseparable from the events it described (a dynamic which is integral to metafiction, as we'll see below).
In the one instance in which a story with a "you" in it is not in the present tense, it is still not written in the past tense, but rather in the future tense. Since we know that it is Lilah who is speaking and Wesley who is being spoken to, though, we are also privy to an implied "now" in which the act of narration is taking place, one in which Lilah is imagining for Wes' benefit one possible future. What we end up with is a series of concentric circles.
The difference between "On Her Knees" and "Requiem at Reichenbach" is simply that the inner ring--the 'verse in which the diegetic act of naration is taking place--in "Requiem" is more fully fleshed out, whereas we have no idea where Lilah and Wes are or what they are doing as Lilah narrates the story to Wes. This difference is enough for me to refer to "Requiem" as being present tense; it's simply that the bulk of the narrative takes place in flashbacks. Even more bluntly, "On Her Knees" contains no present-tense verbs, while "Requiem" does. Compare, say, Poe's "A Tell-Tale Heart."
As Ari says in the comments to "Incurable (The 'All You Zombies' Remix)," "Clearly where [one] need[s] a flowchart to understand the construction of [a] fic, something is right."
( 1st person )
( 2nd person )
Third Person (POV character is "she," "he," etc.)
Everything else . . . my fic index is here. [ETA: 38% of my third-person fic is written in present tense; the other 62% is written in past tense. The longer a fic is, the more likely it is written in past tense; the shorter it is, the more likely it is written in present tense.]
[. . .]
( Figure 1 ) The interesting thing here is that whenever there is a "you," regardless of whether "I" or "you" are the POV character, in every case but one the story is in present tense. In "Permutations" the shift from 3rd/1st person to 2nd person even happens to exactly coincide with the shift from past tense to present tense. When I stop and think about it, this makes sense. Having a "you" foregrounds the act of telling, even if it is only a character's internal monologue as she addresses herself during the story's events, so the story by necessity takes place as it is being told, whether it be Moriarty and Holmes plummeting to their deaths at Reichenbach Falls in "Requiem at Reichenbach" or Dawn preparing Beatrice for the Cruciamentum in "Watcher's Burden." Indeed, in "Dear My Ideal Audience," the telling of the story is completely inseparable from the events it described (a dynamic which is integral to metafiction, as we'll see below).
In the one instance in which a story with a "you" in it is not in the present tense, it is still not written in the past tense, but rather in the future tense. Since we know that it is Lilah who is speaking and Wesley who is being spoken to, though, we are also privy to an implied "now" in which the act of narration is taking place, one in which Lilah is imagining for Wes' benefit one possible future. What we end up with is a series of concentric circles.
Events of "On Her Knees" <-- Lilah narrating "On Her Knees" to Wes <-- The reader reading Alixtii's fanfic "On Her Knees"
The difference between "On Her Knees" and "Requiem at Reichenbach" is simply that the inner ring--the 'verse in which the diegetic act of naration is taking place--in "Requiem" is more fully fleshed out, whereas we have no idea where Lilah and Wes are or what they are doing as Lilah narrates the story to Wes. This difference is enough for me to refer to "Requiem" as being present tense; it's simply that the bulk of the narrative takes place in flashbacks. Even more bluntly, "On Her Knees" contains no present-tense verbs, while "Requiem" does. Compare, say, Poe's "A Tell-Tale Heart."
Moriarty's memories of Holmes <-- Moriarty remembering (at Reichenbach, as he falls to his death) <--The reader reading
Metafiction operates by blurring the division between the innermost sphere and the ring which surrounds it, as in both "Dear My Ideal Audience" and "Incurable (The 'All You Zombies' Remix)."
River Tam and the Ideal Audience <---> Joss Whedon doing a creative writing exercise <-- Alixtii doing a meme in Ari's journal
River as agent of Wolfram & Hart <---> Ari as White Room Girl <-- Alixtii writing a remix of Ari's fic
River as agent of Wolfram & Hart <---> River in the asylum <-- Alixtii writing a remix of Ari's fic
River as agent of Wolfram & Hart <---> Ari as White Room Girl <-- Alixtii writing a remix of Ari's fic
River as agent of Wolfram & Hart <---> River in the asylum <-- Alixtii writing a remix of Ari's fic
As Ari says in the comments to "Incurable (The 'All You Zombies' Remix)," "Clearly where [one] need[s] a flowchart to understand the construction of [a] fic, something is right."