"Now" in past tense narration.

There's nothing wrong with using 'now' in past tense narrative. The alternative is... what? Using 'then' because that implies it is happening in the past? That would be completely jarring.

I use 'now' myself, and it has never once been flagged, either by a beta or my agent. It simply states that something is happening in the immediate timeframe that the narrative is set:

[FONT=&quot]Now she understood why Aneksi had been walking like that when she returned from the Lotus.[/FONT]

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It's fine. Telling a story in past tense doesn't mean you're telling the reader of the past, just the story is being told from a past perspective.

Though, I do recommend cutting back on it since some readers do catch this and it can jar them--exemplified by this situation.

Overuse of any word or figure or turn of phrase is bad, but IMO "now" is fine in the usual narrative past tense which is really happening in the present.

Hmm, I'm not sure. I think I'd have to read more of the passage to get a feel for it. I'm playing with it in my mind ...brb

Ok, here's a flimsy attempt at putting it together in a way that makes sense to me.

He hadn’t had much choice. The forest was familiar and comforting while the marsh was squishy and filled with all sorts of icky things, but it led to the high ground, and that’s where he’d needed to be. He’d stepped into the murk, and two hours later, struggled out onto the shore on the other side. The path wasn’t long, but the thick reeds and sluggish, muddy water had made the going rough and slow.

For a woodsman like himself, it had not been a pleasant walk. Even now, sitting by his campfire,, he felt like he had bugs crawling all over him.

I think in your sentence, the "even" makes the "now" seem different than the "now" in the sentence from Kallithrix. I'm not sure why ...

But the "even now" sounds ok for me in my example. HTH.

rwm4768 said:

I recently had someone comment that my use of the word now in past tense narration seemed jarring. I've seen this in many published books, and it has never bothered me. I wouldn't use it in academic writing, but it seems fine to me in fiction.

My example sentence was this:

Even now, he felt like he had bugs crawling all over him.

What does everyone think?

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I don't have any problem with it, and I've certainly seen this sort of thing in recently published fiction. Honestly, I wonder if critiquers who point out "flaws" like that do much reading.

rwm4768 said:

I recently had someone comment that my use of the word now in past tense narration seemed jarring. I've seen this in many published books, and it has never bothered me. I wouldn't use it in academic writing, but it seems fine to me in fiction.

My example sentence was this:

Even now, he felt like he had bugs crawling all over him.

What does everyone think?

Click to expand...

One of those cases where the reader is not "always right." "Now" has nothing to do with tense. Rather, it speaks to temporal distance. It's perfectly fine to use.

It sounds a bit like critiquers who get bent out of shape and insist that the correct usage of past progressive tense is switching from past to present also.

It's strange, because simply opening a published novel would yield plenty of examples of its usage.

Roxxsmom said:

simply opening a published novel would yield plenty of examples of its usage.

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Surprising how commonly this simple piece of advice escapes consideration, even in forums here. Might make a useful sticky.

caw

I don't find it jarring as used above, but there have been circumstances when I did. Kalli's sentence might have that effect - I'd need to read more to know. When the word begins a sentence and could be set off by a comma, its seems to pull me into my now and out of the story. It depends on the rest of the context though. In those cases, the word isn't always necessary anyway.

I wouldn't have a problem with "even then" instead of "even now." It's a matter of narrative voice, and choice, though. In my own work I might revise it out and use still.

Not a problem for me.

You can't please everybody. IMO I don't find it jarring. Heck, I use now in my writing as well and I think it works just fine.

I've always found that there are different "levels" of past tense, and its possible to write past tense in a way that makes it feel as immediate as the present. Your example would fall into that category, IMO.