I've always felt like present tense is more of a self-inself kind of writing. I mostly write past tense out of habit.
I write about 99% of my stuff in present tense, and it is literally just personal preference for me. Same way I tend to default to third person point of view instead of first.
I used to stick to past tense because that's what I'd always read, but now I write exclusively in present tense because you can get away with SO MANY MORE VERBS that way! Somehow they all sound more visceral and in-the-moment than they would in the past tense, which suits my preferred (close/intimate) narrative distance.
I write past tense out of habit and preference (the preference definitely grew out of the habit though). I can't even really say what influenced me though, or like the reason for it, it just "felt right". Which is why I was so surprised when six months after I posted my first mag7 fic I went back and looked at it and discovered it was written in present tense. I really don't know why that is, but I think it's because the first line of that fic came to me in present tense and it was what inspired that fic so I had to just go with it. On a similar note, one of my fics for mag7week last year (the one I named something like “all the hearts that we have forsaken” or something it’s a terrible title, and a kinda depressing fic), the first lines for that one were present tense as well, and I wrote the first bit in present tense before I could stop myself, and then had to go back and rewrite it because I knew it was going to be a long fic and there was no way I would be able to write present tense in a longer fic.
100% based on what i just find myself writing in whenever i try out a snippet of an idea i’ve been thinking about. sometimes after 500 words or so i'll change my mind but usually present vs. past feels pretty obvious to me (i feel like i write more in present even though i prefer writing in past for whatever reason)
I got into the habit of writing in present tense because of rp
I always write in present tense, and if I post a fic in past tense then it’s been written in present and changed later. I think it’s the immediacy of the story for me: it feels artifical to narrate a story in the past, when it’s over and dead; telling a story in the present means that it happens as it goes along. It never occurred to me when I started writing that this was any kind of a big deal - I’ve been astonished at the number of people I see who declare a preference for reading in one tense or another (or in one person or another). But then I’ve always read a lot at the experimental end of literature, so I don’t feel strongly that there’s only one way to do these things.
These are all really interesting replies! And also mostly in favour of present haha, I’m not sure which one I was expecting to be the more dominant reply. I can definitely get how reading in present makes everything feel more ‘in the moment’, so it’s neat that it feels like that when you’re all writing it as well. Although habit is definitely a strong factor I’m sure. I’ve never felt tempted to write in present, just because past feels like a baseline tense that I don’t even consciously register, and more automatic. But yeah I definitely enjoy reading both, I was just curious what makes people choose one tense over the other, and if there’s an intentional reason behind it or not. Thank you guys so much for replying, these are great answers to read!