Day 8 (Team July)

[elmey.livejournal.com]

wiseheart is off carousing (I hope) on a well deserved vacation, and I'll be leaving the prompt posts for the next week.

So here's today's prompt for your updates and any extracts, thoughts, or comments you might have.

Comments

[elmey.livejournal.com]

Funny how stories jump ahead on you like that :) John has such a physical reaction to to everything connected with Sherlock, it seems difficult for him to continually conrtol those reactions!

I'm going to be interested in seeing the replies on past perfect--I think it's fine in this scene. I use it a lot in the type of flashbacks I do, though when the scene gets long it seems awkward and I tend to drift into past tense. I have been called on that at times, and am now constantly conflicted because as a reader, it seems to me if the switch is done the right way, it's not noticeable and gives the scene a better flow.

[saki101.livejournal.com]

It makes me wonder whether I don't need as much bridging as I think, but then I re-read and think otherwise.

Yes, that past perfect issue is one I struggle with a lot. I glean that the modern approach is to establish the timeframe with some use of it initially and then shift to past tense. Sometimes that sounds all right to me and sometimes it seems too conversational, so my "hads" go in and out and occasionally back in again!