Part 2 in a 3 part series for Penguin Blog
In my previous post I explained why I chose to write my memoir from a child’s perspective. Today, I’d like to discuss why I decided this voice would work best if I told my story in the present tense.
The convention in storytelling, of course, is to use the past tense. But in the last few years the present tense has come into vogue for both memoirs and novels, especially those that can be described as literary.
Let me confess something right of the bat. Part of the reason why I chose the present tense was because of its popularity among what we might call the literati of my generation. My secret hope was that using the present tense would therefore increase the likelihood that my fantasy would come to pass, namely that Dave Eggers and/or Jonathan Safran Foer would read my memoir and be impressed with how incredibly hip and post-modern I am, and perhaps we’d all get together to sip lattes and chuckle at New Yorker cartoons in a swanky coffee shop…[read the rest on Penguin Blog]
2 Responses to “My Top-Secret Plan to get Dave Eggers to like me”
February 3, 2010
4:52 pm
I just finished reading “A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genuis” before I started your book. I appreciate unconventionality (word?) in memoirs. As you might be able to tell, or probably not, I’m getting really inspired to start mine. However, my life right now it very… normal. Any tips for writing a book?
February 4, 2010
11:57 pm
I would say to know how your book will fit into the marketplace before you start. That is, know exactly what kind of book you are writing, who will read it, and why they will do so.