5d ago

I rewrote my opening chapter in past tense instead of present and now I cant tell which one sounds less boring

I heard a writer on a podcast say she keeps two files open for every draft, one present and one past, and reads them out loud back to back before she picks. That sounds smart but also like twice the work. My problem with past tense is it puts everything at a distance, like the narrator already lived through it and knows how it ends, so the tension leaks out. Present tense feels urgent but it gets sweaty fast, every small move sounds dramatic. What worked for me was past tense for anything that already happened before the scene, and present for the scene itself, though switching mid chapter can get messy. Three hours in a Panera is a lot though, next time just use find and replace and save yourself the sandwich money.