Writing is In-tense! - Romance Writers Weekly - #lovechatwrite

Our post today is proposed by the wonderful Carrie Elks!
 
Writing can be in-tense. Do you have a preferred POV (First, second or third person) and do you like writing in past or present tense? How about when you choose a book to read - do the tense and POV come into that choice? Have you ever written or read a book that breaks all your rules yet is so much better for it?

If you joined me from S. C. Mitchell, welcome!

I don't choose books only because of their tense. But I do find present tense an interesting way to read, once I get into it. It feels a bit odd at first, and flashback scenes can throw me off. I actually have a work in progress that is more women's fiction than romance and it is written in present tense third person. The story just seemed to call for it.

When it comes to POV, two of my favourite mystery authors, Dick Francis and Robert B. Parker, write in first person, and I love to slip into their character's heads to experience the world through them. But when I read romance, I prefer third person. I think part of the reason for this is that in a mystery, you're trying to solve the conundrum along with the main character, so seeing everything through one set of eyes means you're competing on a level playing field. But with romance, I like to see the relationship grow from both sides. It is so easy to misread a person's words or actions, and by having both POV's in the story a reader can have knowledge that the characters don't, which is really fun.

I wonder if Leslie Hachtel has a strong preference one way of the other. Find out here!