Writing dialogue, present or past tense "said"

This may seem like an off-topic question, but it's really more about writing than about the grammar.

I use a lot of dialogue in my writing, sometimes too much, but while I'm writing it, though the story itself is in the present tense, I don't know whether it would be confusing to use the past tense for dialogue tags. For example:

I swallow and look at Mac.

He looks back at me, just as frightened.

"Tell me the truth, should I be scared?" He asked me.

I answer, "I don't know."

Is this confusing to do? The way I usually look at it is by imagining the way the narrator is hearing it. Like, if the narrator is narrating after it's said, use the past, or he/she is narrating during use the present, etc.b

Is it best to just stay in one tense in dialogue regardless of when the narration is happening?

Answer

It doesn't matter how much dialogue you have. If your story (the narration) is in present tense, then all the verbs have to be in present tense. All the dialogue tags, all the narration, everything. The only exception is if you're talking about something which happened in the past relative to the present moment of the story.

[Bolding is for emphasis, not because the story needs it.]

I swallow and look at Mac.

He looks back at me, just as frightened.

"Tell me the truth, should I be scared?" he asks me.

I answer, "I don't know."

When we left town an hour ago, we were tired and hungry, but uninjured. We walked for an hour before we fell into the crevasse. Now we're tired and hungry, Mac has a broken arm, and my ankle is twisted. I don't know if we can get out of this.