: Re: Can the first-person narrator use both past and present tenses? My first person narrator is telling his story in the past tense but there are present tense realities too that get me confused

@Michele605

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It depends on the time you pick for your narrator to tell the story.
If he's reminiscing of his youth in his old age, the physical description probably doesn't apply anymore, and women no longer react to him the same way they used to when he was younger. In that case, he would tell of his experiences in the past tense. Similarly, even if only a comparatively short time has passed since the events in the story, maybe at the narrator's point in time, something in his behaviour or outlook might have changed. For example, meeting this particular woman could change the way he views women in general.
If none of that applies and your example sentences are still true (or he views them as true), present tense is perfectly fine.
To summarise, part of the narration could be told in present (the parts that are still true in the narrator's time) but others could use past tense (the ones that have changed).
For the reader, a shift in tenses can give interesting information about the character or foreshadow future events. For example, if you introduce a character as "She was the most beautiful woman I ever met", that leaves a few options for the reader to ponder: did she die? did she lose her beauty? did he meet someone more beautiful later on?
You can also increase this effect by including comparative phrases like "at the time" or "back then". For example, "Back then, I was six-foot six ... and used to ladies staring at me" carries a hint of regret over his lost youth.

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