History Main / PresentTenseNarrative

* L.E. Modesitt is fond of this narrative style, and uses it throughout ''Literature/TheSagaOfRecluce''.

* The novel ''Literature/{{Elsewhere}}'' by Gabrielle Zevin is entirely written in the present tense. YMMV as to whether or not it works well, or makes the book sound stilted and awkward.

* In the ''Labyrinth of Reflections'' novels by Creator/SergeyLukyanenko, all scenes taking place in RealLife are narrated in the past tense, while all scenes inside the local {{Cyberspace}} are in the present tense. [[spoiler:This is also the first clue that the ending of the first novel never happened in reality.]]

* This is often used in documentary films and television programs, to make the narrative feel more immediate. ''Film/FourDaysInNovember'', a documentary about the Kennedy assassination, uses present tense narration from beginning to end while describing the events of Nov. 21-24, 1963.

* Most InteractiveFiction is written in second person present tense, to simulate the idea that [[{{AFGNCAAP}} the player is you]].

* Katherine Kerr's novel ''Polar City Blues'' was written in present tense.

* ''Film/EmpireFalls'' is a novel set in a DyingTown in Maine that makes extensive use of SwitchingPOV. Protagonist Miles Roby has the most POV time, but other characters that get in on the POV action include Miles's ex-wife, Miles's daughter, a mean-spirited cop, the cop's bully of a son, and others. All of the action is told in standard past tense style...except for one character, Miles's daughter Christina "Tick" Roby. For Tick, a 16-year-old navigating the pressures of high school social life as well as her parents' impending divorce, the story is told in present tense.

Not to be confused with NarratingThePresent, a generally comedic trope where a character narrates current events in-universe to other people.

* Creator/CharlesDickens' ''Bleak House'' switches back between a first-person, past tense narrator and a third-person omniscient narrator in present tense.
* John Updike's novel ''Rabbit, Run'' is one of the first major novels written entirely in present-tense.

See also UsefulNotes/HowDoIUsedTense, for when this is done by accident.

* Creator/DamonRunyon notoriously wrote most of his stories in present tense.

* ChooseYourOwnAdventure books are often written in present tense.

The present tense tends to give a work a sense of urgency and immediacy, and as such is often used to increase tension in the story. The narration may switch from past to present -- with or without explanation -- to fulfil this end.

However, Third Person Narrative can also be written in the Present Tense; the story is still fast but the reader gets the sensation of being right there, ''following'' the characters in their adventure. Done badly it evokes frustration and a sense of helplessness, done well the reader cares deeply and fears for the character's lives.

When used with SecondPersonNarration, the reader has more distance from the narrator, but now the story can legitimately [[BreakingTheFourthWall trample all over the Fourth Wall,]] and the story still maintains a distinct sense of urgency and the question of actual survival.

The present tense is, as any graduate of middle school grammar knows, used to describe events as they occur. As such, it's ubiquitous in the news, magazines, websites, advertisements, nonfiction of all sorts. But as for fiction...

See also HowDoIUsedTense, for when this is done by accident.

* The second half of ''The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas'' by Creator/UrsulaKLeGuin.

* ''Literature/ThreeDarkCrowns'' is written wholly in third person (from the PoV of three [[TheProtagonist young queens]]) in present tense.