Writing Technique: Tense Shift Burn

"Did I ever tell you about Karen?" Michael asked.

"Karen is your wife, right?" said Rob.

"Karen was my wife."


This right here is an example of what I call tense shift burn.  In short, a sentence is said, then it is repeated, with a verb shifted in tense, thus changing the understanding of the situation.  Generally, when it appears as dialogue, it feels like the person who was corrected totally got burned.

I like this technique.  I find it both subtle and clever.  In a story, it shows how thoroughly different the scene we imagine is when a single word is changed.  And it isn't even changed into a new word, merely a different tense.  The difference between "she is my wife" and "she was my wife" can be the difference between night and day.

However, like any technique, a light touch is the most powerful way to apply it.  The surest way to make it boring and lame is to use it too much.