Chronological help with writing my story? Authors advice please?

So I'm fifteen- sophomore in hs and I'm writing a book based on my high school years. Everything is true, even the characters (although they have different names that do have signifcance to the real characters.) Is it better to write the past or the present (fresher in my head)





Authors help? Thank you!Chronological help with writing my story? Authors advice please?
Do you mean the past/present tense or past/present events?





If it's events, I would have to say both. Write selectively from the events that you thought defined your high school experience, but don't forget about the more recent ones.





If your school had a minor zombie outbreak which led to the installation of practice zombie drills which led to you and your class spending the lunch hour locked inside the school's panic room, then you'd better include the zombie outbreak in your book.





Your book should be written about the defining experiences about your high school years. Include both past and present events.





If you mean tense, then I'd recommend past tense. I just like it more.





EDIT:


Oh.


I think that you hould continue writing from where you left off while keeping a journal of current events to help you out when you advance your story. For an autobiography, I don't think that flashbacks would work very well and it would be best to tell things in the order that they happened.





That said, if you really know your stuff you can write things from the present view and include stories about the past as you write.





I think, however, that your best option would be to continue the story from where you left off while making notes about the present so that you have something to work off of when your story catches up with them.Chronological help with writing my story? Authors advice please?
I agree with the other answers, but it occurs to me that you might mean chronologically - Is it better to start the book with the past and work forwards in time; or to start with the present , and reveal the past in ';flashbacks';?





If so, you ought to experiment. There are some excellent books which play around with time and reveal the present through the past. Huxley's ';Eyeless in Gaza';, and Rose MacAuley's ';The Towers of Trebizond';, for example. Try writing both, and go with the one that makes most sense to you.
You mean, writing in the past or present tense? Honestly, it's a matter of what you feel more comfortable with and what sounds better in the story.





I'm writing a novel-length manuscript about people a few years older than I but I'm writing it in the present tense because I tried to write it in the past and the depth I wanted to imply just wasn't there. It allows for more spur-of-the-moment action, which is more important for me.





EDIT


I agree with OnTheOrigin. If I were you, I would continue writing from where you left off, but create an outline so that you don't forget anything you want to put in. It doesn't have to be a bare-bones outline, either - you can put in more details, characters, and anything that happens.





I would warn you against writing about people you know. If you put this out and they read it, they could sue you for slander if they feel they were improperly represented. Just something to think about. I think it's great to write a memoir of your high school days, but you might want to save it as research and write your own unrelated story, using your experiences as background, unless you're going to write it so that they won't sue you. It's a fine line.