What Is Narrative Tense in Fiction and Nonfiction?

When telling a story or writing a factual narrative in English, you have two main tenses you can use: present tense and past tense. Here are two examples:

I walk to the castle and speak to the dragons

I walked to the castle and spoke to the dragons

In English, past tense is standard for fiction. This means its use is not stylistically marked.

Writers have another option, too – the present tense. The tense used affects the reader experience: here's how.

Use of the past tense in both fiction and nonfiction

I don't have much to say about this, other than it is standard and relatively invisible. While in fiction it's a stylistic choice, in nonfiction the use of past tense when reporting on who said what: e.g., "Judith Butler claimed ..." doesn't significantly influence the style.

The present tense in fiction

In fiction, the present tense is stylistically marked in English.

It generates a heightened sense of immediacy, which means it's more immersive.

This is why it's commonly used for audiences highly suited to immersive novels. It's common in young adult (YA) fiction, for example.

It's also used in genres like horror to unsettle the reader (through not being so familiar).

The downside of using the present tense in fiction is that people often read it more slowly (because it's not as common and naturalized as tense past tense). This means that some people find it irritating too. It has, however, been gaining popularity in recent years.

It suits some novels but not others.

The present tense in academic nonfiction

Some scholars have argued against the use of the present tense when citing other scholars, suggesting it implies all the different voices could have a conversation outside of time, when in fact all their observations and opinions should be placed in a relevant historical and social context.

So instead of:

"Judith Butler claims ..."

They would argue for:

"Judith Butler claimed ..."

I believe this is too prescriptive. Using the present tense has become commonplace, so it's certainly not something I would change in an edit. There are other ways of making a position on historicity clear through the narration. It is important to be consistent, however.

The present tense in ethnography

Now, in ethnography, using the present tense for real-world description creates a sense of timelessness. This can be problematic if you're writing about cultures and traditions as the observations aren't placed inside a historical context or moment.

Recommendation: For this reason, when writing ethnography, I usually recommend using the past tense as a narrative tense, following Fabian's argument in Time and the Other. If you want to use the present tense for immediacy, then make sure you use other narrative devices or exposition to ensure your description doesn't come across as timeless. As above, you can use other narrative strategies to emphasize the historicity of your ethnography or arguments.

You can retain the present tense for descriptions that really are timeless, or enduring, such as a building description. "The Empire State Building is very tall and rectangular."

What to watch out with narrative tense

Many writers often briefly slip from one tense to the other when drafting and revising. Here are the two common scenarios:

1) Authors writing in the past tense sometimes slip into present tense for scenes that requires a lot of immediacy, such as fight scenes or sex scenes.

2) Authors writing in the present tense sometimes slip into the past tense when drafting out of force of habit (because past tense is much more common).

Another issue is: Is it ever OK to mix narrative tenses in a novel?

Briefly put, yes, it can be OK, but that doesn't mean you should try! If done, it should be done intentionally and with a clear rationale, much like head hopping. It can work in literary and experimental fiction, but you should discuss the reasons why with your editor.

One positive use would be in prologues. Sometimes prologues are written in a different narrative tense to emphasize that they are not part of the main text. This can work.

But switching between narrative tenses within a chapter is almost always a bad idea, and having different narrative tenses for different chapters is often a bad idea.

How does narrative tense work differently in other languages?

I recently attended a literary translation workshop run by Katy Derbyshire, who owns a small publishing house in Berlin called V&Q Books, and I asked, “What about German?”

She said that the present tense is used much more often in German literature, so it’s worth bearing that in mind when translating.

She said she chooses to retain the same narrative tense when translating, but other translators into English sometimes change it (e.g., present in German to past in English), and that’s fine! It all depends on what suits the book and its audience.

What is crucial here is that, while for German, the options are roughly the same as in English, the meanings attached to using the present tense are different – it is less marked in German than in English. Other languages will be different again. Mandarin, for instance, use time markers and time words instead of tenses.

I'm curious whether narrative tenses are stylistically marked in other languages – and if so, how is that difficult to in English? Let me know in the comments below!