Tense and point of view: Part one

In this series we have examined the Building Blocks of Structure, of Setting and of Character. You could see all the aforementioned as planning or preparation, if you like. I prefer to see them as images and ideas coming out of the mist, revealing as much as they think I need to know.

You see, where our stories come from, what they mean, who the characters are, why they do what they do, we never quite know, at first. They come to us as and when they come to us. They are not ours to control. The best we can do is to listen, to catch a glimpse. Our only job is to give birth to these stories in the clearest words we know, let them go and await the next one to form. Stories are always an incomplete representation of their truth – for we have only words to tell them. And words are never enough.

Still, words are all we have.