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About Writing Styles
I am not an overly educated man. Most of my studies were in computers and other sciences. I don’t have a solid academic background in literature or writing specifically, nor philosophy. But I am a smart man, despite what @arahant may have you believe. So I consider things that I am sure people have considered many times before me, and even have official words to describe. Such as certain styles of writing. Forgive my ignorance of terms as I describe three styles I’ve noticed, one of which I absolutely detest.
Third Person: Most novels I read are written in third person. It’s some person who is narrating a story. Like if your grampa was telling you a tall tale. Here’s an example:
John sat on the bench in the train station and watched the old man, leaning against a wall as he pulled a cigar out of his breast pocket, along with a match. The old man struck the match on the sole of his worn boot, and lit the cigar. “Why does he have to light that cigar in here,” thought John.
I like this style of writing the best because it has the most flexibility. The narrator can tell you whatever you need to know, because he or she is outside the story.
First Person, Past Tense: The best example I can think of here is the Sherlock Holmes stories. Always written from the perspective of John Watson, but looking back on something that had happened, which John was a part of. To convert my previous example:
I sat on the bench in the train station and watched the old man, leaning against a wall as he pulled a cigar out of his breast pocket, along with a match. The old man struck the match on the sole of his worn boot, and lit the cigar. “Why does he have to light that cigar in here,” I thought to myself.
I don’t mind this form, either. But it is limited in at least one way: the narrator can only describe the parts of the story he actually witnessed. Anything that happens outside of his direct experience must be related to him by others. “Holmes explained to me that he’d been traipsing all over London inquiring about the man…”
First Person, Present Tense: I’m reading a new book called Winter World, which is the first in a series of books called The Long Winter Trilogy. It is written in this style, where the events that happen are described as if there are happening as you read the story. My example again:
I sit on the bench in the train station and watch the old man, leaning against a wall as he pulls a cigar out of his breast pocket, along with a match. The old man strikes the match on the sole of his worn boot, and lights the cigar. “Why does he have to light that cigar in here,” I think to myself.
I hardly can stand this style and if I open a book written this way I’ll usually close it. Winter World is doubly bad, because it is written this way from the perspective of multiple characters. One chapter is about James. And James is telling you what is happening. The next chapter is about Emily, and Emily is telling you what is happening. The problem with this is that James and Emily become basically the same character, because the writer has very little ability to tell James’s and Emily’s stories from their perspective, differently.
Anyway … the other thing I hate in writing is a poor conclusion.
Published in Literature
Re: comment # 3
I wonder what you call what James M. Cain is using in the novel Mildred Pierce. The only character who’s thoughts you know are Mildred Pierce’s. You see and hear what she sees and hears of what everyone else says and does. At least once, at the beginning of the book—-but I don’t think after that—-you see what she doesn’t see another character doing. I’m sure you’re never told the thoughts of any other character.
The effect of what Cain does is that you start to have an interpretation of the other characters’ behavior that’s different from Mildred’s. You start to think you see things about the characters she hasn’t perceived. But you’re not absolutely sure you do. The feeling grows as you continue reading.
I figure it’s alright if you happen to be in a manic phase of bipolar disorder.
That’s your basic third person, past tense. It’s just only ever one character.
Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas, if I’m not mistaken. Not one of his best, IMO.
Past tense:
Epstein didn’t kill himself.
John Batchelor listeners may have recognized that he discusses history with guests by speaking in the present tense. He does some interesting stuff but that quirk finally bothered me enough that I pretty much stopped listening.
Third person – past tense rocks!
Yes, and I’ve noticed a lot of historians use a future tense to talk about events of the past. “The Roman’s are planning an attack. They will come through the mountain pass, but will eventually lose the battle and be forced to retreat.”
The historical present tense is quite common. “In 1941, German forces invade the Soviet Union…” I’m not sure where it originated, but I suppose it’s not that different from the use of present tense in newspaper headlines (“Senate acquits Trump”) for describing events that are in the past.
Dan Carlin, of the excellent and often-recommended Hardcore History podcast, often slips in and out of the historical present tense. It’s occasionally a little distracting, but I’ve gotten used to it.
Re: comment #33
Thanks for getting back to me. I should have read the thread, especially comments 13 and 23 before writing my own.
A writer who does well 3rd person, past tense, with the perspectives of two different characters in alternating chapters, is Charles Willeford in “Sideswipe” and “Miami Blues”.
In case you are interested in all of the grammatical persons:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_person
As in” Epstein didn’t kill himself”
“Epstein didn’t kill himself.”
Third person, omniscient point of view ?
“Epstein didn’t kill himself, but he wished he had, listening to the old crone’s stories as she sipped her fifth martini before sunrise and threw darts at a picture of Donald Trump.”