How to narrate the past of the past. Using the past perfect tense.

In which I share my writing style in order to demo narrative tense. Why DOES Sarah throw tortilla chips at Barry?

Let’s look at the past of the past, i.e. when your narrative is already in the past tense, but you need to recount something that happened before that, i.e. in the past of the past.

Here I talk you through recommended practice. It’s not just me that advises this method: editor-supremo Amy J.Schneider of The Chicago Manual of Copyediting Fiction says this too.

Another treat (!) is that I’m showcasing my writing style. Cringe. I wrote the demo extract, though I now want to make changes to it, and I wish Barry’s face was described as ‘smug’ rather than ‘perplexed’.

Oh and…

There are Britishisms herein, and some light swearwords. (Shocker!) Enjoy

I hope this helps clear up what to do when you’re dealing with the past of the past. (Past perfect.)