Changing tense near end of book?

If the prologue is present tense and you have finally "caught up" to the time of the prologue -- to now, so to speak -- I think it should work to revert to present tense.

Based on your post, it sounds like that may even be the better way to go, though it's hard to have an opinion without having read the actual work.

Either way, good luck with the project!

I'm not sure if it's been done before, but have you considered a frame?

The beginning of the novel is present tense, with your character about to head into the climax. So then we have a "flashback" that essentially takes over the rest of the book, to explain how/why your character is where she is now. Then, right before the climax, you've caught up the readers with the rest of the story, and now you go back into present tense to see the character through until the end.

What I just set up sounds like what you're doing already, I'd just be careful that it's clear in your beginning what's going on so the switch back to present tense at the end is almost expected--make the frame clear. I feel like an approach like this would more easily if you have a first-person narration, but I suppose it could work in third person, too.

Personally, I find changing tenses to be very jarring as a reader, so I'd suggest picking one and staying with it. However, anything can work if done well, so if you feel the story needs to be told that way, do it that way.

Ditto Danthia -- I think it would be too jarring, especially if the reader is really into the past tense narrative.

Unless it's really necessary for the plot or some higher creative motive, keep the past tense going.

I've read some books by Emily Giffin that switch between past and present tense throughout the book and it worked fine for the stories.

In my experience, the choice of tense used in a novel is not arbitrary, but vitally connected to the nature of the narrator. In my current WIP, the narrator's voice is in her journal - but she doesn't just tell what happened to her in the past. She also talks about what is happening, and what she is feeling, while she writes. So the things she reports appear in past tense, while the things that are current to her writing appear in present tense. It makes sense - but only if I've established the nature of the narrator from the very beginning.

Katiemac's suggestion sounds pretty reasonable to me - but if you're going to change tenses at a certain point in the narrative, that will stand out hugely to readers, and so you need a pretty good reason to do it. Maybe that intro piece is a turning point for your main character? Here's an example: in The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, the main character's narration begins in present tense, in a reflective and almost static voice. Then all of a sudden the voice switches to past tense. I'm not going to say this was easy for me to handle - it did throw me out of the narrative. But when I went back and thought about what was happening, I discovered the change of tense corresponded to a huge change in the narrator's state of mind. Once she started using past tense, all of a sudden I got a perception of the passage of time, and of goal-directed behavior on the part of the main character.

Which is all to say that you can do it, but you shouldn't do it arbitrarily, because readers will be expecting a good reason for the change.

Maybe that intro piece is a turning point for your main character? Here's an example: in The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, the main character's narration begins in present tense, in a reflective and almost static voice. Then all of a sudden the voice switches to past tense. I'm not going to say this was easy for me to handle - it did throw me out of the narrative. But when I went back and thought about what was happening, I discovered the change of tense corresponded to a huge change in the narrator's state of mind.

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Wow, I don't even remember the tense change in Handmaid's Tale. I'll have to go back and check it out--obviously it was less jarring for me than for you.

The point you make, though, about a change in the narrator is a very good reason to use a change in tense.

katiemac said:

Wow, I don't even remember the tense change in Handmaid's Tale. I'll have to go back and check it out--obviously it was less jarring for me than for you.

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It's one of my favorite books and I've never noticed it. Now I need to go and have a look-see...

Anyway, in my current WIP I'm shifting between the past and the present. I'm using present tense for both because that's how this tale wants to be told. That may change if betas find it weird, but for the moment it feels right.

To the OP: write it the way you feel best serves your story. If your beta readers have a problem with the tense, they'll soon let you know.

I wouldn't change tense, it will jerk the reader out of the story big time. I don't think there's an issue at all with your 'teaser' being present tense, and then played out again in past tense....by the time your reader gets there, they'll probably have forgotten whether the teaser was in past or present.

Tense changes are fine as long as there is a reason and as long as it makes sense, that it's clear. Clarity is important.

I've read novels with tense changes that made perfect sense, and they worked.

The Pacific Between was written in present tense but parts of it is in past tense. There's a reason, and my readers understand.