Writing in Future Tense
This is it— the final installment in the tenses series, where we cover writing in future tense. We previously broke down the past and present tenses, which are most common in today’s market. Future tense stories are unique and rare to find on the shelves, but they exist. Let’s dive in!
Story Examples: Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel, Aura by Carlos Fuentes, Amalgamemnon by Christine Brooke-Rose
I’ve discovered that books written in the future tense are often executed in sections or dialogue rather than an entire novel. Despite that sentiment, books have been written entirely in this tense. I’ve come across at least one thus far: Amalgamemnon by Christine Brooke-Rose. Comment below and tell me if you know of any others.
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It seems like future tense stories are a wild card; they are what the author makes of them, and are often paired with other tenses to portray a complete story.
For example, the author of Sea of Tranquility used future, present, and past tense to tell her time travel story. The execution was seamless because I never realized I was reading a book with future tense until doing research for this article.
For this case study, we are examining Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel and Amalgamemnon by Christine Brooke-Rose. Disclaimer: it may spoil parts of each book.
Similarly to the other tenses, there are four forms of future tense in English.
Simple Future
I will write.
Future Continuous
I will be writing.
Future Perfect
I will have written.
Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been writing.
If you are lost, check out this video.
Now that we have an understanding of this tense, let's look at some examples.
Example: Sea of Tranquility
“He sees a maple tree just ahead, large enough that it’s created its own clearing, and that seems like a pleasant destination– he’ll walk to the maple tree, he decides, he’ll step out of the underbrush and linger a moment, then he’ll go back to the beach immediately and never enter the forest again.”
Do you notice the future verb tenses in this paragraph? “He’ll— he will” is the simple future tense used in this paragraph. It tells us what this character will do.
What’s fascinating about Sea of Tranquility is that it jumps through the past, present, and future. The true victory of that seamless success is in the structure. The author separates the time jumps every time they occur by using a new chapter, part, or break in the text.
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Now vice versa— this next novel is written entirely in future tense, which sets a different tone and reading experience because we aren’t really experiencing an event with the character. Nothing is happening — yet. This tense gives the hypothetical, it’s speculative, and dreamlike.
Example: Amalgamemnon
“The telephonist will ask what about and cut off my reply then come back and say hold on and I’ll hold on but what to, then I’ll have to repeat what about anyway when I’ll get through to the wrong man, creating a false opposition as to the rightness of the right one and a false impression of relief when I finally get to him.”
Did you notice the future tense verbs in this paragraph? Comment below and tell me if you can find them.
Amalgamemnon’s tone seems like a continuous internal monologue of anticipation. It’s fascinating.
Pros and Cons of Future Tense:
Pros: Creates suspense
Cons: It's hard for readers to stay invested in events that haven't happened yet.
Another example of Amalgamemnon:
“Bird of paradise a nature programme will murmur into my ear much later will flutter and flap to fly on the same spot in their courtship ritual, while gulls to impress their females will fly in formation and some in the south seas will do so backwards.”
Now, contrary to staying in your tense lane— Sea of Tranquility debunks that, but it works because this type of plot calls for it. It’s a story about time travel. The author could have written the entire novel in past tense, and it would have portrayed the subject well, but jumping between tenses helped the momentum of the story. Now it won’t work for every book, but it will for some.
As previously mentioned, it is best to stay within one tense, and I still believe this. But if your novel calls for multiple— do it, just ensure the structure is well developed so your reader can follow along without putting your book down. Sea of Tranquility is an excellent example of seamlessly weaving through time. So, if this is the route calling to you, I recommend reading this book to understand what I mean.
Ultimately, you must follow what your story calls for.
I hope this tenses series has helped you find the right one for your novel.
Now, tell me about your writing project, which tense you’ve chosen, and why.
