Please try this exercise to see how choice of tense and POV make a difference to a story.
Pick a very simple scenario and then use different combinations of tense and viewpoint to write exactly the same (very brief) scene.
Past tense with third person omnicient naration is the classic way of writing a novel but first person is very immediate (as the reader sees through the narator's eyes) and in the present tense can be very compelling for action sequences and thoughts.
I have had a very quick go and will post that as an example below.
Hopefully you'll come up with something a bit more exciting than mine, lol.
Fran
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