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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/3256
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

A lot of it is just convention. Most people seem most accustomed to reading past tense, so it tends to not be noticed by the reader.

There are exceptions to this, however. YA, especially, has a lot of present tense writing, and in that genre it seems to be totally unremarkable.

Fans of present tense often argue that it gives a sense of immediacy to the story, while opponents say that it is jarring and intrusive to their reading experience.

Personal anecdote: My first two books were written in present tense; I don't remember giving it much conscious thought, that's just how the words came out. There was some negative feedback from readers, although the books overall were fairly popular. I thought the critics were crazy, but I wanted to sell, and so for the next couple books I tried past tense.

When I went back to the present tense books, after having immersed myself in the past tense, the present tense DID seem awkward and intrusive to me! I got over it quite quickly (within the first chapter of rereading), but it wasn't automatic. So I do think there's a significant element of just being what people are accustomed to that determines their preference.

Original score: 15