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So... should I set Volume 1's Prologue narrative to present tenses?

Tact wrote:So... should I set Volume 1's Prologue narrative to present tenses?

Well, so far, people mostly voted past tense. So as of the moment, no.

I like the way the first volume is written at the moment (past tense).

The only problem I see is with people's thoughts to themselves: sometimes the text explicitly says that the character thinks to themselves, but other times, it appears in parentheses. From Volume 16, chapter 4 (as it is now):
This has both types of 'thinking to themselves' in it. The first kind, in parentheses, seems better in present tense (and would spam the text with way too many "xxx thought to themself"'s), but the second kind works (and appears) as past tense.

Note that this is a very rough editing job. I could put it in past tense, but I don't know what to do with the parenthetical thoughts.

[quote="Tact"]So... should I set Volume 1's Prologue narrative to present tenses?[/quote]
That's kind of a special case since the narrator goes on to say "That's how Kamijou brought the end to that day, that one day, July 19", like it's a recount of a past event. I think it works better that way, with the prologue in past tense and the rest of the novel in present tense, it gives you a much better feel that the prologue happens before the main events.

As I am currently going through finals week, I have not been able to do any editing, but once that's over, I'm getting back to it under full steam. Honestly, though, are we coming to a consensus on this particular issue or not? It would be kind of silly to edit things in one tense and then have to go back through and change everything again if a different tense is agreed on. It shouldn't have to be done more than once, even if I would, personally, still go through again and do it.

[quote="Guest"]That's kind of a special case since the narrator goes on to say "That's how Kamijou brought the end to that day, that one day, July 19", like it's a recount of a past event. I think it works better that way, with the prologue in past tense and the rest of the novel in present tense, it gives you a much better feel that the prologue happens before the main events.[/quote]
That's taking artistic liberty with the volume's "starting point". I understand the differences between:

YOU ARE HERE -> Prologue -> Chapter 1
Prologue -> YOU ARE HERE -> Chapter 1
Prologue -> Chapter 1 -> ... -> End of Series -> YOU ARE HERE

Thus, unless the author had made clear that the story begins on July 20, I see no reason to have the Prologue's narrative in one set of tenses and the following chapters' in another set.

...Bah, past tenses for the narrative of the entire series it is, then...

Guest wrote: That's taking artistic liberty with the volume's "starting point". I understand the differences between:
YOU ARE HERE -> Prologue -> Chapter 1
Prologue -> YOU ARE HERE -> Chapter 1
Prologue -> Chapter 1 -> ... -> End of Series -> YOU ARE HERE

Thus, unless the author had made clear that the story begins on July 20, I see no reason to have the Prologue's narrative in one set of tenses and the following chapters' in another set.

...Bah, past tenses for the narrative of the entire series it is, then...

Doesn't that line indicate, "this happened beforehand"? That's how I read it anyway. I suppose that would still work if it's all in past tense though, I was just saying it shouldn't be put in present tense just because the rest of the novel is.

It is more natural to see a mixture of past and present tenses in fiction novels. If you recall the last ten science-fiction books you've read, they all had a mixture of past and present tenses. It would be wrong to just force one tense for each paragraph since the context could change from sentence to sentence.

Yes, of course tenses change based on how the sentence is structured. However, what we're generally setting a guideline for now are whether the setting of the story is in the past or in the present. In other words, is the narrator a commentator or a story teller?

Sorry to be a bother, but is this thread really going to be staying open for 90 days? I know it's been up for like a few weeks now, but would that mean a couple more months before any real decision is reached?

I know I'm new and all, but it seems a little slow. Currently I'm kind of putting editing on hold until this whole thing gets decided, since doing both "commentator" and "storyteller" versions is getting a little too time-consuming, especially as I've been planning to go volumes 7-13 and am just now halfway through 7. I know if I could just do 1 version I would be getting through a volume every 4-5 days, since I'm currently on vacation from college and have plenty of free time.

Well, basically, I'm asking if there is any possibility of reaching a decision early. Or if there has already been a decision reached, and I just don't know about it.

Darklor wrote:Btw. how is it in the translations done which are offically translated and published if the origin was a mix of present and past tense?

Full Metal Panic (Tokyopop): Past Tense
Shakugan no Shana (Viz): Past Tense
Karin Chibi Vampire (Tokyopop): Past Tense

SilverPhyX wrote:Sorry to be a bother, but is this thread really going to be staying open for 90 days? I know it's been up for like a few weeks now, but would that mean a couple more months before any real decision is reached?

It's a never ending poll.

Perhaps we should make the poll last til May. After May, I'll have my bache degree and will have plenty of time to edit while I job hunt.

Okay, so I guess the majority favors past tense or don't care

Before I get started editing, I suppose I should get Teh_Ping's approval...

Ehh this is a problem that is all over this site. It seems like a lot of people missed the English lesson where they were taught to keep tenses consistent. It's terrible to have 2 different tenses in the same sentence, and very bad in most cases to switch tenses in a paragraph. Also, these are things that should be kept consistent throughout the entire series due to the authors style. Perhaps the author is an amateur who won one of those competitions and that's how To Aru came to be? Maybe the original text has messed up tenses as well.

Well I'll take a look at it. If there is a correct way, I can find it. Speaking confidently because I have read literally thousands of books and never got lower than a B on an essay assignment. The only problem is keeping the atmosphere, that I think is why tenses are particularly hard to deal with in light novels. This is translated from a language not using the same rules as ours.

Its because we use two different sources: Chinese which has as far as I know only one tense and Japanese with two(?)