Writing in Past Tense

Writer’s Guide: Writing in Past Tense 

Do you have a story idea that you can’t wait to share with the world, but don’t know which tense is right for your book? Don’t worry. I’ve put together an entire series so you can find the right fit for your story. Let’s start by examining writing in past tense. 

Past tense is the most written out there for narrative fiction. And it’s typically paired with a 3rd person point-of-view; we’ll get to POV in another post.

Story examples: 

3rd Person POV - Lord of the Rings, Dune, Harry Potter, The Old Man and the Sea, Where the Crawdads Sing, Other Birds.  

1st Person POV - The Great Gatsby, ACOTAR.

You get the idea. 

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Past tense is most common because it gives the narrator a presence and the writer more flexibility. The narrator is relaying all the events to the reader in a seamless and chronological manner, and the reader gets a birds-eye view of an entire world.  

Let’s case study a couple of books to get a clear understanding of writing in past tense. For sake of fluidity; let’s also say you’ve already chosen the 3rd person POV. What does that look like? (I have one 1st person POV example at the end.) 

This case study may spoil the following: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Ernest Hemingway’s short story collection.

Examples:

“The cabin was in sight; Harry skidded to the door, wrenched it open, and Hermione and Buckbeak flashed past him; Harry threw himself in after them and bolted for the door. Fang the boarhound barked loudly.” 

Verbs in this sentence: was, skidded, wrenched, flashed, threw, bolted, barked.

Here’s another: 

“Harry was several streets away before he collapsed onto a low wall in Magnolia Crescent, panting from the effort of dragging his trunk.” 

Notice the past tense verbs in this sentence: was, collapsed. The narrator tells us the characters actions in past tense.

But wait… why are the other verbs that are written in the present tense? Panting and dragging?

Those my fellow writers are called, progressive past tense verbs. 

Here’s the rest of that paragraph: 

“He sat quite still, anger still surging through him, listening to the frantic thumping of his heart.” 

The narrator is telling us he sat in past tense but the other action verbs in the scene describe him surging, listening, and thumping. That is because while he sat (in the past), he then was doing those other actions (still in the past). 

Why do we see past and present tense verbs within the same sentence? 

This is because of time. You are relaying a characters actions chronologically. In the past, Harry sat; within that same past moment, he then was surging with anger… etc. It’s all still past tense. It’s the timeline of actions within the past.

I hope I didn’t lose you there.

Read this sentence and leave a comment below telling me if you can spot the past tense verbs. 

“With the force of a bullet, the wad of chewing gum shot out of the keyhole and straight down Peeves’s left nostril; he whirled upright and zoomed away, cursing.” 

-Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, J.K. Rowling

Let’s examine the pros and cons of writing in past tense.

Pros: The author can play with time; mixing a story that’s from the past but at different periods of time; a story can also unfold non-linearly. 

Cons: It can feel easier to write in a passive voice – be careful! You always want to use an active voice in narrative.

Past Simple and Past Perfect tense

Now that you’ve nailed down the basics of past tense, let’s get into past simple and past perfect tense. 

Past Simple: Writing about an action that happened in the past. 

Ex: She ate the roast.

Past Perfect: Writing about a past action that happened before another past action.

Ex: She had eaten the roast. 

Past Perfect also includes Perfect Progressive past tense. 
EX: She had been eating the roast…

I’ll give you an example; Hemingway uses Past Perfect in his writing. This short story is from the 3rd person POV. 

“The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber” By Ernest Hemingway, 1936

“He had decided now that to break would be much easier. He would eat, then, by himself and could read a book with his meals. They would eat by themselves.” 

This next short story is written in past perfect tense from a 1st person POV, which also includes Perfect Progressive Past Tense.

“Now I Lay Me” By Ernest Hemingway, 1927 

“I myself did not want to sleep because I had been living for a long time with the knowledge that if I ever shut my eyes in the dark and let myself go, my soul would go out of my body. I had been that way for a long time, ever since I had been blown up at night and felt it go out of me and go off and then come back.” 

Sometimes past simple and past perfect are used together. You can mix all of these past tense formulas: the key is to continue writing in past tense throughout the book. 

“But something odd was happening. An eerie silence was falling across the stadium. The wind, though as strong as ever, was forgetting to roar. It was as though someone had turned off the sound, as though Harry had gone suddenly deaf – what was going on?” 
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, J.K. Rowling 

Whichever tense you choose to go with, ensure that you’re remaining true to the story; sometimes stories choose their tense without our input – follow your intuition.

I’ll say it again: The most important element of writing in past tense– or any tense, is to remember to remain consistent. It too easy to alternate while writing. Don’t do it. 

If you are switching tenses, which most often happens in present tense stories while they relay flashback scenes for thematic significance, ensure you’re making it clear to your reader. Make these alternations seamless by adding a dash, a dinkus (***), or graphics. 

Remember: writing is moving forward word by word.

I hope these tips on writing in past tense are helpful, let me know in the comments below!