So, a standard dialogue would be in whatever tense you like, followed by past tense, right?

example:

"Hello, my name is Juliette. I am a college graduate!" I greeted my interviewer for my job interview. I tried to make my appearance perfect, I wore a clean white shir and a tuxedo.


However, what if the first point of view character were talking to herself? What tenses should I use?

Is it like this:
"Hello, my name is Juliette. I am a college graduate!" I greeted my interviewer for my job interview. I tried to make my appearance perfect. I wore a clean white shirt and a tuxedo. Oh gosh, he is so handsome! he had slick black hair and a lean body. He also wore a branded tuxedo

Or is it like this:
"Hello, my name is Juliette. I am a college graduate!" I greeted my interviewer for my job interview. I tried to make my appearance perfect. I wore a clean white shirt and a tuxedo. Oh gosh, he was so handsome. he had slick black hair and a lean body. He also wore a branded tuxedo.

Or is it like this:
"Hello, my name is Juliette. I am a college graduate!" I greeted my interviewer for my job interview. I tried to make my appearance perfect. I wore a clean white shirt and a tuxedo. Oh gosh, he is so handsome. he has slick black hair and a lean body. He also wears a branded tuxedo.


my readers were complaining I often switch tenses. I tried to figure out the rules.

#2 seems the most natural to me.  If you want to change tense, you can do it by making one of the sentences italicized thought instead of first-person narration:

Quote:"Hello, I'm Juliette.  I'm a college graduate!" I greeted my interviewer.  My appearance was perfect, or as close as I could get it.  I wore a clean white shirt and a tuxedo.  Oh gosh, he's so handsome.  He had slick black hair and a lean body.  He also wore a branded tuxedo.

Something like that is an option.

If you start mixing past tense and present tense, everything goes fucky. Just stick to past tense for everything outside of dialogue. 

Laulau20 Wrote: "Hello, my name is Juliette. I am a college graduate!" I greeted my interviewer for my job interview. I tried to make my appearance perfect. I wore a clean white shirt and a tuxedo. Oh gosh, he was so handsome. he had slick black hair and a lean body. He also wore a branded tuxedo.

I'd personally italicise the thoughts and add an 'I thought' in standard lettering if you want to keep things crystal clear, like so:

Oh gosh, he's so handsome, I thought.
(this makes it operate like a spoken sentence, in that the thought itself can be present tense but it's clearly in the past as it's under the umbrella of the verb 'thought')

Or alternatively, you could add some sort of body language or nervous fidgeting to make it clear the thought was her own, for example:

I had to stop myself from staring. He was just too handsome.
(the above's not great but hopefully you get the point)