tenses in a flashback story
Guys, I need your help. I'm writing a fiction about a man who talks about his past. When he tells about his past on these present days, I use present tense. When he talks about his past, I use past tense. But I want to make flashback part. When I write his flashback and what he's doing in his past, should I write in past or present tense? Thank you
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Answers · 7
5
In addition, there is loads of helpful material on the internet, for example:
http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/flashbacks-in-books
1
You must write that part in past continious and in past tense.
0
I don't understand exactly - how are the flashback parts and the parts about his past different?
Well, you have a couple of options - you can simply write the flashbacks in past tense, but I guess you want to show there's some kind of difference from him talking about the past.
It is perfectly fine to use present tenses to recount a story from the past ("as if it were happening now"), but you need some other indications so we know it is in the past. eg. "Now I'm back in 2001. It's September and I'm running across my old university's campus..."
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