Thanks in advance.
Yet another question from my novel.
Two betas have told me that since I'm writing in past tense, I can't use the word 'now' except in dialogue. Also, that I should eliminate such words as today, tomorrow, and yesterday. I worked to minimize it, left a few in sheer frustration, and thought no more of it.
When answering a post for someone in the basic writing forum, along with basic dialogue tag advice, I threw in to avoid the word now.
Several people came back saying this was unnecessary.
So, what should I do? I would LOVE to ignore what I thought was a rule if it's not. Following is an example of one of the few times I couldn't weed it out of my story.
[FONT="]Sunday morning, I woke up to what may have been the loudest squirrel I’ve ever heard. I rolled out of my blankets, still sleepy, but now that I was awake I wanted to see what was upsetting it.
[/FONT]
But I don't wish to be incorrect, either.
Yet another question from my novel.
Two betas have told me that since I'm writing in past tense, I can't use the word 'now' except in dialogue. Also, that I should eliminate such words as today, tomorrow, and yesterday. I worked to minimize it, left a few in sheer frustration, and thought no more of it.
When answering a post for someone in the basic writing forum, along with basic dialogue tag advice, I threw in to avoid the word now.
Several people came back saying this was unnecessary.
So, what should I do? I would LOVE to ignore what I thought was a rule if it's not. Following is an example of one of the few times I couldn't weed it out of my story.
*
[FONT="]Sunday morning, I woke up to what may have been the loudest squirrel I’ve ever heard. I rolled out of my blankets, still sleepy, but now that I was awake I wanted to see what was upsetting it.
[/FONT]
[FONT="]*
[/FONT]
[FONT="] Since just doesn't seem as [/FONT]snappy. And it would be nice to use tomorrow instead of the following day, too. The latter just seems clunky to me. And yesterday instead of before.[/FONT]
But I don't wish to be incorrect, either.
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