Understanding how to use writing tenses is challenging. How do you mix past, present and future tense without making the reader

This tense choice is smart for Calvino’s novel since it increases the puzzling nature of the story. In If on a winter’s night a traveler, you, the reader, are a character who buys Calvino’s novel If on a winter’s night a traveler, only to discover that there are pages missing. When you attempt to return it, you get sent on a wild goose chase after the book you want. Tense itself can enliven an element of your story’s narration. In a thriller novel, for example, you can write tense scenes in first person for a sense of present danger: A muffled shot. He sits up in bed, tensed and listening. Can’t hear much other than the wind scraping branches along the gutter.