How to Write Right: Tense Situation

One often overlooked challenge of feature writing is choosing an article’s tense. This decision is one of the most important in writing because it sets the tone for the article. If I use past tense, I tell a story:

“On a rainy morning in January, I sat in Espresso Vivace, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. Opposite me was Lorna van Whys, the singer-songwriter whose band, the Whys and the Why Nots, had erupted onto the Seattle music scene the previous year.”

Or I could set my article in the present tense and pull the reader right into the action:

“It’s an early morning in January. Rain pounds against the windows at Espresso Vivace as I rub the sleep from my eyes. Sitting opposite me is Lorna van Whys, the singer-songwriter whose band, the Whys and the Why Nots, erupted onto the Seattle music scene last year.”

But what if you have to describe something that happened before the time period in which you’ve set your article? If your main tense is past, use the past perfect for earlier events, as in example one: “the singer-songwriter whose band ... had erupted ... the previous year.” If your main tense is present, use simple past for earlier events, as in my second example: “the singer-songwriter whose band ... erupted ... last year.”

Finally, be consistent. If you’re in the present when you arrive at the café, make sure you’re still in the present when you leave. Your readers are in that café with you, and you don’t want to give them temporal confusion syndrome. Side effects include disorientation, frustration, and turning to a different article. •

Illustration by Andrew Saeger