Using All Major Time Frames 

People often tell stories aloud to share about something that happened to themselves or to someone else. These stories may be stories about the past, present, or future. Often stories will be told in chronological order starting at the beginning, moving through the middle, and reaching an ending. However, some stories may be told in a different order such as those with flashbacks (suddenly jumping to the past) or flashforwards (suddenly jumping to the future) and some stories may have a more complex timeline. All stories require good control over using time frames so that the reader or listener can clearly understand what is happening in the story and when it is happening. 

There are three major time frames in English: past, present, and future. These are the simple time frames that a storyteller may use. For more complex stories, a storyteller might also use aspects such as progressive, perfect, and perfect progressive. You can learn more about these time frames and aspects in detail n U3: Grammar. 

Past

To tell stories in the past you will likely use past tense verbs either the base verb + "ed" for regular verbs or the irregular past tense version of a verb. You can also use past progressive (was/were + base verb + "ing"), past perfect (had + past participle), or past perfect progressive (had been + base verb + "ing"). To make these negative, you can add "not".This places the story being told at a time in the past. If the whole story uses simple past tense, then you can usually assume that the events happen in the order that they appear. However, you can also add cohesive devices like "first", "in the beginning", or "then" to really clarify the order of the events.

In the example, only simple past tense is used (e.g. played, was, kicked) and the order is very clear: 

1. Amber got the ball at the beginning of the game. 
2. She kicked the ball to Jenny. 
3. Jenny kicked the ball to Steve.

          etc. 

However, you can use various types of tense and aspect combinations to show more information about the actions of the story. This also adds interest to the story and makes reading or listening more enjoyable for the audience. 

This version of the story still mostly uses simple past tense, but it has some variation by including past progressive and past perfect progressive. It also expresses more information by using present perfect in the first sentence. When telling a story about the past, you will mostly use past tense verbs. However, you can use other tenses or aspects where needed to express your idea. Notice however that in the main body of the story, the tense stays in the past. Jumping between past, present, and future can be confusing to the reader, so should be avoided usually.

You can make the story even more interesting by using sentence variation (see U1: Grammar)

Present

A story may be told in the present tense for many reasons. It may be told in the present tense so the reader feels very involved in the action as if they are with the character as the actions happen right now. It could even be told using present progressive to really draw in the reader and make them excited about the actions of the story. The story may also be told in present tense or even using present perfect tense so the reader knows that the actions that are happening are actions that happen generally. Often stories of daily routines are told using the present tense. To summarize, present tense and aspects are used to draw the reader into the action or to show that the action happens generally. 

To tell stories about the present or about daily routines, you will likely use present tense base verbs or base verbs + "s", present progressive verbs (BE verb+ base verb + "ing"), present perfect verbs (have/has + past participle), or present perfect progressive (have/has been + base verb + "ing").To make these negative, you can add "do/does not" or "not".Just as with telling a past tense story, you will probably use mostly the simple present tense. The present tense aspects can be used to provide more information in more complex stories. 

In the first example, the storyteller is speaking about their general daily routine. Therefore, the storyteller uses mostly simple present tense. However, in the second example, the storyteller gives more information by both changing the aspect of the first sentence and adding more information in a second clause. The majority of the story is still in simple present tense, but some parts have been changed to give additional information. 

Also notice that when there is only one tense used, the use of transition words or cohesive devices like "then" become very important to understanding the story. While the reader can guess that the order of the sentences is the order that it is told in, it is still helpful to add cohesive devices like "then", "next", or "after". Because present tense is used for general facts, cohesive devices are especially important. 

You may also notice that the first sentence of the example above uses a past tense verb. This sentence has both a present perfect verb and a past verb. The story is mostly about the daily routine of getting ready in the morning, but the storyteller includes a detail about how they have had this routine since they started working at a new company. Because working at the new company happened in the past, the storyteller needed to use the past tense for this part of the story. You can use multiple tenses in a story, but be careful not to jump between them. It should be very clear which time is being discussed in each part of the story.

You can clearly see when each part of this story is happening due to its use of tense and aspect. In this example, the first part happens in the past and the second is happening currently. The person telling the story is on their way to work and is currently listening to music while telling the story, so the actions from earlier are in the past and the actions that are current are in present progressive. This is an example of purposefully using multiple time frames. 

Future

Even if you are telling a story about the future, you will likely use past or present tense the majority of the time. For example, if you are telling a story about a character who lives on a spaceship and has an adventure beyond the current reach of modern technology, you will still use past or present tense because it is easier for your audience to relate to. This might look like "The year is 3562 and I have just begun a daring adventure into space. I am recording this log according to space exploration guidelines. Take off from Moonbase 29 was smooth and our ship is now leaving Earth far behind." If writing a story set in the future, you would likely just pretend that it is currently the future when you are telling the story. 

That being said, there are times when you would want to use future tense such as foreshadowing where the author hints at the future or in dialogue where the characters speak. If you foreshadow something, you may use future tense to give a hint at the future that is to come in the story. If a character in your story is speaking about the future, they will probably also use future tense. As with past and present tense, the simple form of future tense is the most commonly used, but you can use future aspects to express more specific information about an action. 

To foreshadow or include dialogue with future tense, you will likely use the future tense (will + base verb), future progressive (will be + base verb + "ing"), future perfect (will have + past participle), and future perfect progressive (will have been + base verb + "ing"). To make these negative, you can add "not".

The examples above show how future tense might be used either by the narrator to foreshadow or a character in dialogue. the majority of the text will probably still be a mix of past or present tense. You can use future tense purposefully when discussing future actions.