Post History
Most stories in English are written in the past tense. If it happened five seconds ago, it's still past. Occasionally writers put a story in the present tense with the idea that this will give a s...
Answer
#3: Attribution notice added
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/7616 License name: CC BY-SA 3.0 License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision
Most stories in English are written in the past tense. If it happened five seconds ago, it's still past. Occasionally writers put a story in the present tense with the idea that this will give a sense of immediacy. If done well it can certainly work, but it's unusual, and any unusual writing style tends to be distracting. So my short answer would be: Use past tense unless there is a specific reason to do otherwise.