Here's the situation: I'm a little more than halfway through the first draft of my novel. I flip-flopped on tense for a while before eventually settling on present because it felt right at the time and I enjoyed the immediacy of each scene. But as I keep writing, I feel like the story would be better told in past tense--with a little bit of distance between the narrator and the story at hand. I think it would come across less exhausting and punchy, and would feel more natural.
I'm not 100% sure that this is the decision I want to make, but it's been sounding better and better over the past month or so knocking around in my brain. I guess my question is if I should just finish the first draft in present tense and then make the decision once the entire manuscript is done, or switch to past tense now and go back to edit/rewrite the first half once I start revisions. Either way it's going to be a pain, I realize, but perhaps one will disrupt my creative process less. Perhaps it doesn't matter, but I've been battling myself for the past month and can't make up my mind, which is hindering progress on the story.
Any advice/commiserating would be much appreciated.
I'm not 100% sure that this is the decision I want to make, but it's been sounding better and better over the past month or so knocking around in my brain. I guess my question is if I should just finish the first draft in present tense and then make the decision once the entire manuscript is done, or switch to past tense now and go back to edit/rewrite the first half once I start revisions. Either way it's going to be a pain, I realize, but perhaps one will disrupt my creative process less. Perhaps it doesn't matter, but I've been battling myself for the past month and can't make up my mind, which is hindering progress on the story.
Any advice/commiserating would be much appreciated.