1ST PERSON... PRESENT TENSE? OR PAST TENSE?

If you are currently writing it in past tense, then just keep going with past tense. You can fix the first part later. Same goes for POV. I realized halfway through one scene that I had written it from the wrong POV. I finished the scene and added a note to rewrite it later from the other POV.

Past tense, no capping the subject line. O.o;; 'cause that's what you are using, you can fix it later if you don't like the result.

Novelists are a conscienceless lot.--Diana Gabaldon (An Echo in the Bone)

It sound like past tense is the more natural for you to write and/or for this particular story, so I'd say stick with that. You can always go back to the beginning when the novel is finished and change all the present-tense "says" to past-tense "said".

14 mentions of butterflies.
2 scenes at Joe's Diner.
1 scene at The Cakery.
11 chapters.

Hi, I too am writing in first person. My story opened that way. I looked at my tense and it is in past tense, which feels comfortable. I, like the others, say keep on writing. Focus on those 50,000, then you will have a lovely amount to edit, add to, rearrange, laugh at, say, omg, what was I thinking, of which you can blame your characters for steering you down a dark path.

I feel like half of my words are "I" - easy to add to the word count. What do you do?

I suggest past, simply for the reason that present is incredibly awkward to me.

I mean... is it possible to write a book as you go along with every day life? I can only imagine what that would be like... carrying around a pen and a notebook, and literally writing in there as you go, "I walk to the fridge and get out the jug of milk. I can't hold it well because I am writing this story at the same time. It nearly slips out of my hand." Gah, it just makes no sense to me <_< It's far more realistic to have the character re-tell the events... At least that way it makes sense to read it out of a book..

New Century Dawn - My pride and joy, an expansive (and still growing) Digimon RP.

Nano '09 - The Ocean Dwellers

Hi Ice,

While what you describe seems 'odd' (literally), first person does allow more scope in certain situations: for instance, offering an in-depth insight into a character's death. Unless you revert to absolute realism, which would entail, at the most, a '... ' or a complete blank, the writer (likewise, the reader) is able to 'accompany' his character on the great journey into the unknown by way of the character expressing his/her dying thoughts and sensations, which are much more effective coming from his, or her, head, rather than via the narrator. The irony is that every reader knows that this is literary artifice, but the reader suspends belief in order to enjoy the story and to 'experience' the death vicariously. In any work of fiction, suspension of belief is required, otherwise no-one would ever choose to read it. This is true no matter what tense is used. However, I accept that some people prefer third to first, since the suspension of belief does not appear to be quite so great; but this is only a matter of degree.

MJ

But stories can be spoken as well as written. I've always perceived first person present tense as being a visitor in the narrator's brain. I guess that's why I'm fond of it.

On topic: write what feels right to you. That may be first person present; that may be first person past. It may involve both in different sections of the book.

I think that when you're writing in first person, you need to consider where the character is while he/she is telling the story. Is the character looking back on an event or telling it happens? This should help you decide whether to use past or present tense. Also, no matter what tense you decide to use, you need to be consistent. It's really important that you do, otherwise, you might loose your readers. I've put down a lot of stories because the narration wasn't consistent enough.