Real Life Diagnostics is a weekly column that studies a snippet of a work in progress for specific issues. Readers are encouraged to send in work with questions, and I diagnose it on the site. It’s part critique, part example, and designed to help the submitter as well as anyone else having a similar problem.
If you're interested in submitting to Real Life Diagnostics, please check out these guidelines.
Submissions currently in the queue: Four
Please Note: As of today, RLD slots are booked through July 11.
This week’s question:
My critique partners and I are having a discussion about point of view and tense, and I’d like your opinion. I’m writing a YA contemporary novel with a third person omniscient narrator, in present tense. One of my critique partners emphatically dislikes the third person present POV and says I should change it to past tense.
I’ve been rereading your posts about POV and the potential for omniscient third person narration to sound like the author’s thoughts intruding, as well as a tendency for writers to “show not tell” when writing in this POV. I’ve also read other resources on whether third person present tense is an acceptable POV/tense and haven’t gotten a clear yes or no. Could you please share your thoughts on both third person present tense narration and whether this scene as written shows or tells?
Market/Genre: YA Contemporary
On to the diagnosis…
