more remoteness?

All this remoteness stuff has got me thinking.

Why would a writer choose to open a book written in, say, 2007 with this:

"It was the year 2034".

<<All this remoteness stuff has got me thinking.>>

All what remoteness stuff?

<<Why would a writer choose to open a book written in, say, 2007 with this:>>

That's because works of fiction are almost always written in the past tense. In other words, the setting is usually treated as past relative to the book's narrative voice, regardless of whether the setting is really before, during, or after the author's time.

<That's because works of fiction are almost always written in the past tense. In other words, the setting is usually treated as past relative to the book's narrative voice, regardless of whether the setting is really before, during, or after the author's time. >

So where is the reader in regard to time in an opening such as "The year was 2034"? Is she in the past of 2034, or in the future of it?

I suppose the reader is wherever the book's narrative voice is; so in this case the reader is in the future relative to 2034. For example, if the book used first person narration, and the narrator addressed the reader, then the narrator would treat the reader as if they were a fellow person of the post-2034 world.

It's just a matter of convention. Novels, short stories, etc. are almost always written in the past tense (although use of the present tense isn't unheard of), but, for example, screenplays for movies are always written in the present tense.

I think the reason for the past tense convention is to imagine a storyteller telling you a story that supposedly really happened. (Even if it's fiction, the storyteller's job is to pretend it really did happen.) So, from the storyteller's perspective, the events did happen in the past. So, when storytellers started telling stories about the future, they simply took the same approach.

- Kef

<I think the reason for the past tense convention is to imagine a storyteller telling you a story that supposedly really happened. (Even if it's fiction, the storyteller's job is to pretend it really did happen.) >

What would be the difference if the writer wrote "It is the year 2034."?

I think it'd probably feel a little unusual, since people are used to reading stories in the past tense. Other than that, I don't think it would make any real difference.

- Kef

If it were "It is the year 2034", the writer would be attempting to give immediacy to the story.

Similar would be...

"Anyway, I'm sitting on this bench in the park and this guy comes up to me and says..."

Often know as the "graphic present".

Correction:

Often known as the "graphic present".

That's true, but it's rare to use it over extended periods, at least in print. The effect gets lost before too long, in my opinion

<<<That's true, but it's rare to use it over extended periods, at least in print. The effect gets lost before too long, in my opinion >>>

You seem a bit obsessed with frequency ratings, Furry. The graphic present has its place and should be taught.

It has its place, sure. I won't dispute that.

I've never heard of it as the graphic present, but rather as the historic present. It's not exactly rare, but it is definitely a minority usage in writing. It's used in Dickens' Bleak House, but that's all I can think of right now. In casual speech, however, it may be as common as the past in telling a story: "So I go up to the guy, and I say to him..."

We usually use the present simple in jokes, anecdotes and film or book summaries.
The present simple is also very often used in jokes and when telling a story to make the joke or story seem more immediate. This use of the present simple is sometimes called the graphic present. It is also used to retell what happens in a book or film. +


Q: A child, an honest politician, and Santa Claus all spot a $20 bill on the ground. Who picks it up?

A: The child. The other two don't exist.


A couple is touring a graveyard when they spot a tombstone that reads:

"Here lies an honest man and a politician."

The man says to the woman:

- "Look honey, there are two people in that grave."


Q: What do you call a thousand lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?

A: A good start.

Examples of jokes from: Joke by Wikipedia on 11 January 2006.

<<That's true, but it's rare to use it over extended periods, at least in print. The effect gets lost before too long, in my opinion>>

I hear that all of this book is in the graphic present:

I Have Lived A Thousand Years: Growing Up In The Holocaust

By Livia Bitton-Jackson