i was going to comment on this yesterday saying present omniscient 3rd is pretty respectable as far as pov goes, and i was going to hold out until i had more to say on that but like. yeah, idk that there's anything inherently elevated about past tense over present and as long as the pov you choose achieves your goals (intimacy/immediacy as u say) then it should be sufficient. obv u don't have to take this utilitarian response as the end all be all but ummmm what was it you said in the other post about setting urself up for higher standards?