I think it makes it harder to pull off, but if you can it can be great. Ann Aguirre does it so effortlessly in the Jax books that I seriously forget about the tense, and I guess that's how you know it's good.

I can't think of any examples in YA, but Grimspace is my favorite book I've read in...oh, I don't know. A while. And I think the 1st person present really works for it.

-Bree

I never really pay attention to the tense. But my 15 year old neice was just telling me this weekend that she only reads books that are 1st person, present tense. She said that 3rd person, past tense gets on her nerves.

The Gemma Doyle trilogy by Libba bray is an excellent example of this POV. It begins with A Great and Terrible Beauty and is a great read!
:D

Don't read a lot of YA, but I can't hink of a single UF book I've read in the past few years that wasn't 1st person, present. Am actually worried because the one I am writing is 3rd person...

I'm currently mulling over changing my paranormal YA from first person past to first person present because I like the sense of immediacy that present gives, and also the slightly surreal quality to it.

As for examples, I can't think of one off the top of my head, but I know I've read one not that long ago...

I have an irrational dislike of present tense. No reason for it, I just don't care for it. So if a present tense book draws me in, I know it's a good one. In addition to the Gemma Doyle books, The Adoration of Jenna Fox (Mary E. Pearson) was one where the present tense made sense thematically, it disappeared into the story, if that makes sense.

Tense and POV change? I'm exhausted just thinking about it! FHT was first person present (it was an experiment when I started writing it - lol)

I can't read it when I'm trying to write in 1st person past. It messes with my head. And I think SUCH A PRETTY GIRL by Laure Wiess was in first person. And WAKE and FADE by Lisa McMann. Hugs, Heather Dearly

Well done for nearly fnishing! I used to not like present tense, but Jeri Smith Ready sold me on it once I read Wicked Game :-)

Excellent 1st/present YA books are:

Need by Carrie Jones - great contemporary setting [and pixies! Yay!]
Hunger Games - Suzanne Collins
Forest of Hands and Teeth - Carrie Ryan

The first book I wrote was third person, past tense. The second was first person, present. I am not sure I'll ever go back to third person, certainly not as long as I'm writing YA/MG.

I found it was easier to connect in 1st person, and quite frankly, I had far fewer blocks because I could always sit and "talk" to my mc, hear her voice, and let her help me. I think it *does* depend on the project. The editor I'm revising my 1st book for said she liked that project third person, past tense. But it was a very different book from my 2nd.

Congrats on the nearly finished bit. Good luck with the person/tense bit. I can't think of an example offhand, but I'm pretty sure I've seen YA in the first person, present tense before :)

It's the only way I know how to write!

Hunger Games is 1st person present. I prefer 3rd person past tense, but maybe one day I'll experiment :-) Good luck!!!

I love Kevin Brooks and many of his novels are first person, present tense. It suits the suspense genre very well.

Ooooh, I absolutely hate it. When it is done well, it works - the aforementioned ADORATION OF JENNA FOX and HUNGER GAMES are good examples; I also like Neil Shusterman's use of it in UNWIND.

But when it doesn't work - which is far more often than not (i.e. I really, intensely disliked GRIMSPACE, and part of that stemmed from the unbelievable voice) - it's terrible. I don't think there's any narrative POV that bugs more readers than the poorly done 1st-person present tense. *shudders*

~ Thea

Honestly? I hate it, hate it, hate it.

But saying that, I'm sure I've read books with it and it's been done so well I haven't noticed. But once I do notice...

Radiant Darkness by Emily Whitman. It's a retelling of the Persephone/Hades tale.

Well, seeing as though my current WIP is first person present, I love it. :-)

I don't have any YA recommendations since I've been reading mostly adult stuff lately, but Jeri Smith-Ready and Ann Aguirre are to blame for my choice of POV/tense. I never considered writing present tense until their books. I tried to write the WIP past and it won't have it.

I'm surprised your book will let you change. You have so much more control over your creation than I do, LOL.

I'm not sure I could pull off present tense! I'm a big fan of first person past.

Anyway, YA I can think of in that tense are:

Forest of Hands and Teeth
Dull Boy
Wake
Gemma Doyle Trilogy
The Hunger Games

I like it a lot, but it does make certain types of scenes harder to write--like action scenes. Not having those -ed verbs makes them tricky.

Well, you've already gotten the few suggestions I had, and a lot more. I'll just weigh in on the side of present tense being hard to work well.

I can't think of a YA example, but Anne Aguirre's Grimspace is a fantastic example of first person, present tense. It's done so well, you soon stop noticing it.

Wow, you have a billion comments already, so I won't add another (well, besides this) -- I know you'll make the right choice :)

I used to only read third person, but now I prefer 1st person. Most of the urban fantasy I read is 1st person, past tense. I've also read Jeanne Strong and Ann Aguirre and at first the 1st person present tense jumps out at me, but I soon forget it. I hear it is hard to do, to keep it consistant, but when it's done right it works very well.

Now that most of the books I read are 1st person, I do find myself hesitating to pick up a 3rd person book. Weird of me, I know.

Something else that I like Devon Monk did in her first book, Magic to the Bone. The book was mainly 1st person, past tense, but there were passages that were in the 3rd person. It created a mystery, because you weren't sure who's pov it was. Very mysterious. I liked it, worked well for the story.

It has to be what feels comfortable to you though, as you stated earlier.

I loathe present tense. It's bad enough in short stories but in novel length it drives me bonkers.

I have no problem with first person, but it does present challenges to the writer. Your protag has to be on stage pretty much all the time. Anything simply told to him or her gets diluted. In my opinion, books with multiple narrators really, really need to be third person.