Well done :)polymath wrote:Hmm. I don't see why future tense can't be a main tense with present and past tense auxilliaries. Temporal modal verbs like would, will, must, and the like would set the scene and then can smoothly transition between present and past auxilliaries. Probably work most best from a highly unreliable subjective viewpoint readers can take with a grain of salt.Watcher55 wrote:Yesterday I stole an idea from Moni, Premonitions: Can there be such a thing as Future Tense?, and I’ve been practicing.
Challenges I see are too easily lapsing into passive voice constructs, highly unreliable viewpoints are challenging to write for reader accessibility, and too easily lapsing into recital reporting (tell) when scene reporting (show) closes narrative distance and recital opens narrative distance.
Future tense works for closing narrative distance through accessing thoughts, especially prescient volitional thoughts. Not to be outdone, polymath would rue the day Watcher55 indirectly posed a future tense challenge. Watcher55 must pay. He will pay, if polymath has anything to say about it. The main aspect, though, would be staying in the meaning space time, place, situation, and personas of the dramatic conflict so narrative distance doesn't open so much it's an unbridgeable breach.
Credit where credit is due my friend. Shall we say I passed the challenge along?
Passive voice and meaning space (that term still geeks my brain), present a difficult dynamic so it seems to me any techniqueS must include a common solution for both or at least some binding principles. As you say, present and past tense auxiliaries are important tools, but if we examine the idea of a character arc within a larger work, context can also help mitigate the disadvantages of passive voice and meaning space.
Another challenge has to do with the lack of future tense suffixes. What you end up with is lots of “going to”s, “will”s, and “will be”s. Maybe we can get away with inventing suffixes (let me get my mad scientist glasses)
did/do/gon’na/will
laughed/laughs/laugh’na/laugh’ll
Naaah – wait, I know (back me up on this Moni) – laughed/laughs/laughoni.
Hey, I'm just warming up y'all.