Sometimes I mix and match in a story giving the feeling that a situation is either happening now or has already passed by giving the book a recollection of events type of feel but, I don't know if this is the best way to do it.
Is it best to compile a book on a past tense i.e. using words like 'was' and 'had' or in a current happening now kind of tense therefore using words like 'is' and 'has'?
Thanks for all your support and comments.
Personally, I disagree with Ien: I think that the present tense CAN add to immediacy. In some cases, it can even give the reader the feeling that the writer is as curious about what's going to happen as the reader is.
As Jonathan wrote, whatever you did, don't mix tenses! Wasn't that irritating?
There are other reasons for using the present tense. Some people prefer to read books, whenever possible, in their original languages. A foreigner reading your book in English would have more difficulty with irregular verbs in the past. I can read French tolerably well, but I missed the year at school that dealt with the "simple past". Far from simple! I can read novels in Spanish, Catalan, and German, but French novels for adults are beyond me. In fact, I think that the only work of fiction that I've read in French (since school's short stories) was The Little Prince (having read it several times in English already). And that was a struggle.
As a writer of children's books, with an eye to translations (by myself wherever possible), I chose to write my latest book in the present tense to make the translation work easier on myself (and others). Quibbling points on very specific situations, perhaps...
I have also (Ien) considered writing a piece of fiction in the future tense. Funnily enough (but that's not my reason: I'd do it just to be different and contrived for the hell of it), in several languages (and especially English) the least plagued by irregular verb forms.
Most people write in past tense because they're describing events which have happened. If you write in present tense, you're giving a commentary rather than telling a story. When I'm reading a story that's written in present tense, I usually find it intrusive at first, but then become used to it as I get caught up in the story - although it still jars occasionally. I can only think of two justifications for writing in present tense: (1) the story is told from the POV of a commentator, or (2) the narrator has the colloquial habit of reporting past events in present tense - "So I'm walkin' down the street, right, and this guy comes up to me and says . . .".
I don't feel that writing in present tense makes the story 'more immediate'. Writing in first person is a more effective way to do that, although it does restrict the reader to a single character's POV, which can be a good thing.
It is technically possible to write in future tense (and/or in second person), but I think that only really works in job adverts: "You will be working in a hazardous environment so, as a successful candidate, you will have good knowledge of safety procedures . . ."
Personally, I would only write in present tense if I had a good reason (story- or character-related) to do so - the same goes for writing in first person.
Thank you Jonathan, that's good advice. I have considered changing it to past tense for a good while now.