: Re: Past vs. present tense when referring to a fictional character What would you write when referring to a fictional character in a non-fiction work? e.g. Tom Sawyer is a boy, he has no parents,

A rule-of-thumb is that characters may become part of the past only in their universe, where they are a "real" person. In this case, you can use the past-tense if you are referring to a "previous version", or "younger version" of the character. You would still use the present for the contemporaneous one.

In any other universe, e.g. in those where they are fiction, they are elevated to timeless absolutes. The use of the present-tense is preferred. This should hold true for most non-fiction works about fiction.

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: Re: Past vs. present tense when referring to a fictional character What would you write when referring to a fictional character in a non-fiction work? e.g. Tom Sawyer is a boy, he has no parents,

More posts by @Kaufman555

: Should I explain the reasons for gaslighting? I have an ambiguous script situation, 2 co-protagonists begin gaslighting the MC. They each have ulterior motives which they don't say. The reader

: I post this answer about once per month: Jane Austen invented a style where the thoughts of any character are suddenly stated as fact through the 3rd-person narrator. Free Indirect Speech

: How can I convince my reader that I will not use a certain trope? Imagine a fantasy story in which there once was a very powerful evil divine being, but it was defeated long before the beginning

: In a script how can I signal who's winning the argument? Arguments, discussions, disagreements In my script I have a lot of "arguments" â€“ loose definition: long discussions where characters

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