How do you use present tense in your writing or your homework?

For example if you were writing someone playing football

Past : he was playing football

Present : he is playing football

So present tense is something going on in that moment

The whale was a missile blasting from beneath the surface.  2.) a majestic whale leapt skyward before diving back into the sea.    these are both figurative language. this is so because the whale in sentence "1" was not actually a missile, nor was it actually blasting. now, for sentence "2", a whale can not actually "leap".