Past vs Present. Which one?

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pocoscon
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Re: Past vs Present. Which one?

#16 Post by pocoscon »

Ran08 wrote:I sort of agree with netravlr, but... I have to admit, present tense can be a little tricky for me to write sometimes! :) With some scenes or dialogue, I just find past tense easier. However, personally, it feels right to write a VN in present tense, because of the choices and such. I mean, if everything had happened in the past, then why add choices to change things? They already happened. Haha. That's just my personal take on my own works, though. :) With kinetic novels, anything is fine.
I can see how present tense works when you do a VN, but I think past does also in a way. It's just really difficult to write in present for some reason. I guess it's because I've always been a past present person
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Diamonit
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Re: Past vs Present. Which one?

#17 Post by Diamonit »

I feel that both present and past have their own advantages.

Present tense feel much more natural if you need to insert mental comebacks in between dialogs, for example :

Girl A : "Shut up, pervert!"
Is she kidding me?!
Talking with her is really a waste of time...


Actually, present tense feels more natural for anything involving mental thoughts or unspoken lines / commentaries, as they feel like they are a continuation of the dialog.

However, past tense is way better for any kind of descriptions.

Girl B : "What's your problem?"
She was looking at me in a weird way. Her smooth skin and her soft, long hair made her look like some sort of unreal being.

Sometimes it feels more natural to mix a bit of the two, but it's kinda tricky to do.

Just my two cents though^^
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Re: Past vs Present. Which one?

#18 Post by Holland »

Diamonit wrote:Actually, present tense feels more natural for anything involving mental thoughts or unspoken lines / commentaries, as they feel like they are a continuation of the dialog.
Good eye. Thoughts are considered a continuation of the dialogue, so they're supposed to be in present tense even when the story is in past tense x3

Hannah turned to me and glared. "This is all your fault. You know that, right?"
'Not again,' I thought to myself. 'She's really pushing it this time.'

Of course, that might be a little harder to get across in a visual novel, especially if there's no clear indicator of what's thought and what's description.

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Zootower
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Re: Past vs Present. Which one?

#19 Post by Zootower »

It ultimately depends on how much you want to comment on the material you're presenting. If it's past-tense, it gives your narrator the gift of hindsight and analysis. It's a double-edged sword, though. I find that it's difficult to get immersed in that kind of storytelling unless the fellow is recounting a war, or an event that is already laden with action and presence. If you're hitting the usual slice-of-life genre, present's probably the best tense to communicate the doldrums of day to day life. It breathes some much-needed air into it.

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