Present Tense?

First, apologies. I have been away far too long. My day job got very demanding, leaving me two free hours a day, which I have spent writing fiction –– and becoming delinquent to my Type M commitment. But I am back.

Now onward.

About a year ago, I wrote a post considering when the present tense was suitable for novel-length fiction. I want to return to that topic. Last spring, I was 50 pages into a novel when I started reading "The Maid," by Nita Prose. The novel features the first-person voice of Molly Gray. It is written in present tense. (I had toyed with present tense previously when working on a script, and I love to read the screenplay to the pilot for Breaking Bad.) But I had never written anything in a sustained present-tense voice.

However, Nita Prose got me thinking.

So I went back to my opening 50 pages and reworked them to present tense. Immediately, I liked the writing. I had always heard that present tense asks too much of readers. They can’t sustain it. Yet I liked the voice. Liked the pace. Found it wasn’t too much (for my advanced readers anyway). My agent read it and liked it. So I continued.

One thing I liked immediately: present tense cuts out the fat –– fewer to-be verbs (“had” is almost completely wiped out. I’m 170 pages in (40,000 words), and I think it’s working.

I’d love to hear others’ thoughts on using present tense in fiction.