this question probably doesn't belong here, but I'm just wondering

Your example sentence sounds fine to me. Like you said, it's still true in the present, not just back when the story was taking place. I think it helps make it feel like a real person is telling me her story.

I went through the same struggle myself, sissybaby, the first time I wrote a first person narrative. And I agree with MsJudy -- your example sounds right to me. Your character is describing an action that occurred and also mentioning a continuing characteristic of hers. If she had said, " I tried not to pull away, but I really hated it when people touch me," that would imply that the character used to hate it -- but perhaps doesn't hate it anymore.

The key to stuff like this is to be consistent with it.

If this were the only example in the book, I might change it. If it comes up periodically, don't worry about it. If it's happening often, more than once per page, you may want to rethink your choice of past tense.

I've read a few books written like that - one was Conrad's Fate by Diana Wynne Jones, so I'm thinking it should be fine

Debbie V said:

The key to stuff like this is to be consistent with it.

If this were the only example in the book, I might change it. If it comes up periodically, don't worry about it. If it's happening often, more than once per page, you may want to rethink your choice of past tense.

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I'm not sure that consistency IS key here. I think paying very close attention to exactly what is meant is the key. If the behavior/action, etc. is entirely restricted to the past -- as in, "I really hated it when people touched me" (i.e., "before I got my therapy") -- then put it in the past. But if it's a characteristic that was true then and is still true today -- "I really hate it when people touch me" -- then put it in present.

This reminds me of the movie the Princess Bride. The grandfather tells the story to a sick grandson. I am pretty sure the book goes the same way. Is your POV telling the story to someone?

Inkblot said:

I'm not sure that consistency IS key here. I think paying very close attention to exactly what is meant is the key. If the behavior/action, etc. is entirely restricted to the past -- as in, "I really hated it when people touched me" (i.e., "before I got my therapy") -- then put it in the past. But if it's a characteristic that was true then and is still true today -- "I really hate it when people touch me" -- then put it in present.

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Precisely.

I might have just been thinking about this question because I read the thread recently, but this morning, I was reading a few passages from The Graveyard Book, and this came up.

In many places, Gaiman did what you did--used present tense in a past-tense narrative to indicate things that are still currently true. Example:

He couldn't push the minds of the dead as he could the living, but he could use all the tools of flattery and persuasion he possessed, for the dead are not immune to either.

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At one point, he didn't, and (though, it might just be me because I was reading for it by that point) it made the sentence a little confusing. I had to read it a couple of times:

It was late autumn when the daybreak was long in coming.

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For some reason, the sentence meant something else to me at first, as if it has been, "It was late when John was driving home," or something. I wouldn't have had the same confusion with it on first read if instead it had been, "It was late autumn, when the daybreak is long in coming," (because no matter which autumn it is, the daybreak is always long in coming).

I don't know if that helps (or if anyone else even agrees with that analysis).

heza, I agree.