: Re: Confusion on inconsistent verb tenses in a magazine article I have an obstacle writing articles that have consistent verb tenses. Generally, I've been told that if I start an article in the

The tenses are changing because there are two sets of past events and two sets of present events.

In the first paragraph the action described occurred in the past: the
anger was repressed, the youths flooded the streets, the Islamists
surged.
The second paragraph says "Right now as you're sitting here reading
this, that description sounds like the news." So the present tense is
fine, because it is referring to the paragraph which you just read a
moment ago (which is basically now, the present).
The third paragraph's first sentence describes the past (the late
1980s) and the second sentence clearly refers to today, to an ongoing
situation happening right now in the present.

There's nothing wrong with that piece; the tenses are correct for what is being discussed.

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: No, you can only do that if you're making some sort of break or shift in narrative style. If the story switches to a dream, for instance, or if the characters enter a Fae realm or another

@Debbie451

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: If you can't boil down your novel into a logline (or "elevator pitch," which is how I learned it), then you may actually have a problem with your novel. You've provided the structure of

@Debbie451

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: "Literary criticism" and "editing feedback" are two entirely different beasts. Litcrit is about looking at an existing text and analyzing it. You look at the author's intent, you look at symbolism,

@Debbie451

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: In narration, stay in one tense. "She had green eyes" is fine, because your entire story is in the past tense — the "present-past," if that makes sense. If she had green eyes as a

: Re: Confusion on inconsistent verb tenses in a magazine article I have an obstacle writing articles that have consistent verb tenses. Generally, I've been told that if I start an article in the

More posts by @Debbie451

: No, you can only do that if you're making some sort of break or shift in narrative style. If the story switches to a dream, for instance, or if the characters enter a Fae realm or another

: If you can't boil down your novel into a logline (or "elevator pitch," which is how I learned it), then you may actually have a problem with your novel. You've provided the structure of

: "Literary criticism" and "editing feedback" are two entirely different beasts. Litcrit is about looking at an existing text and analyzing it. You look at the author's intent, you look at symbolism,

: In narration, stay in one tense. "She had green eyes" is fine, because your entire story is in the past tense — the "present-past," if that makes sense. If she had green eyes as a

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