Hail Britannia

[TEAM_DERRICK]

Prologue:
1776
Its 3:00. Seven men stand in a red brick square in Richmond. Each one awaits to be hanged for the crime of treason against the crown. The executioner reads off their names.
" The following men are have been convicted as High Traitors against His royal majesty King George III. Each one is to be hanged this after noon. They are thus named: Benjamin Franklin, Formal General George Washington, John SIR KILLROYs, Thomas Jefferson, John Jay, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton. May God have mercy upon their souls."
They are then led onto the gallows. A noose is placed upon each of them. The crowd hurls insults at them by the hundreds. Benjamin Franklin is the only one who gives any last words. "I remember, from what seems so long ago. Patrick Henry said something before the House of Burgesses. 'Give me Liberty, or give me Death!' I am saddened to see that you people have chosen the former! For this you deserve neither Liberty or Death! You deserve no-"
His ti-raid is cut short by the pull of a lever and the collapse of the platform bellow him. Out of his failing ears he can hear the deafening shouts of the crowd.
"Long live the king! Long live Britannia!"
And thus ends the First American Insurrection.

1777 and onwards:
With what could have been a potential revolution put down, the British Empire extends its gaze unto the rest of the continent. George III begins a slow but steady expansion program further into the mainland. However, Spanish territory is annexed in the process.

So in 1786 The Great Anglo-Spanish War begins. The British decide to divide their forces against the Spanish Empire. While the majority of their fleet goes off to invade Spanish Florida, Mexico, and their South American colonies; a smaller force leaves to invade the Spanish mainland. The war rages for almost eight years before Spain finally surrenders and capitulates. Being completely crushed, the Spanish Kingdom and its colonies are absorbed by the British Empire.

[Mizagium]

You write in present tense. I noticed that recently.

[TEAM_DERRICK]

Good thing or bad?

[Mizagium]

Most fiction is written in past-tense, because the idea is that the events already happened and are being retold. I've only seen present-tense used in situations where the main character is experiencing a weird vision, or something like that.

But you might want to look up rules on tense for narratives.

As I Lay Dying was written in first person present tense

[Mizagium]

"Present tense has a faster pace than past tense. Combined with a first person narrative, a story written in present tense puts the reader directly into the action with the sense of immediacy and urgency that you create"

www.bellaonline.com/articles/art51567.asp

[Mizagium]

I don't think its so much a rule as a precedent. MOST fiction is written in past tense, either thrid or first person. But writing in present is not taboo, as far as I know. Since its not common practice to do so, your writing might get noticed because of that.

But its all personal preference and how it fits into the story.

[Mizagium]

Hell, Bright Lights, Big City was written in SECOND-PERSON PRESENT TENSE

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bright_Lights,_Big_City_%28novel%29

((lol quadruple post))

[TEAM_DERRICK]

Noted. I think I'll still tinker with present tense with the prologue.

[Mizagium]

Go for it.

I say don't rule it out for the whole thing, either. It definitely puts the reader right IN the story. An excellent technique, I think, if you can pull it off.

lol, second-person, present tense...makes me want to read that book.

[TEAM_DERRICK]

Me too