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Mosaic Musings...interactive poetry reviews _ Prose Education -> Noble Narratives _ POV and tense EXERCISE

Posted by: Toumai Sep 21 05, 05:58

Please try this exercise to see how choice of tense and POV make a difference to a story.

Pick a very simple scenario and then use different combinations of tense and viewpoint to write exactly the same (very brief) scene.

Past tense with third person omnicient naration is the classic way of writing a novel but first person is very immediate (as the reader sees through the narator's eyes) and in the present tense can be very compelling for action sequences and thoughts.

I have had a very quick go and will post that as an example below.

Hopefully you'll come up with something a bit more exciting than mine, lol.

Fran

Posted by: Cleo_Serapis Sep 21 05, 17:25

Thanks Fran for posting this exercise!

This looks quite fun and challenging! Iam enjoying the posts so far!

all!

I'll try and participate when I can...

Cheers!
~Cleo :pharoah2

Posted by: jgdittier Jan 3 07, 10:35

Dear Toumai,
First time I've wandered into this room.
What a great start! I've been devoted to poetry and haven't been reading novels much for years. Lotsa factual prose though.
Your initial posting was all new to me, I've read much but never had a course in literature writing or for that matter recognized the options the author has. I'm not
even very sure of which of your forms I prefer.
Fran, with poetry, I've been concentration on form to the detriment of message. Here you concentrate on form very similarly. I know this, in novels I've missed much by never appreciating the ploys the author used to entertain me.
I especially like the novel that's full of characters and sub plots such as Arthur Hailey wrote. Often chapters totally change the venue and so I expect Hailey must have changed the form in his novels frequently. Now I must go and reread one.
Any chance you could ID yours and if it's available, point me at it?
(My muse has been dormant lately, anyway.)
This last half hour was a delightful learning experience!
Cheers, Ron jgd

my e-mail is rbjones02@optonline.net