I personally like writing in first person because it really makes the heroine very immediate for me. I can climb right inside her skin and I hope the reader can, too. For lots of my heroines so much depends on their viewpoint, how they see the world and themselves. Quite often this isn’t how other characters see them and so you have to really understand how the heroine thinks.

I also love the challenge of writing in first person. Because only one person can tell the story, you have to figure out ways of letting the reader maybe know some of the things the heroine doesn’t know herself, like when she’s making a mistake, or what the other characters know and think. In GIRL FROM MARS, one of the other characters has a secret right from the beginning, and I had a lot of fun putting in clues so that hopefully the reader guesses it, though the heroine doesn’t.

I really like 3rd person too, getting in other characters’ heads. It all depends on what the story needs—some need multiple viewpoints, and some are stronger for staying with one. I love a good multi-viewpoint novel—I’m reading one now, where half the novel is told from a modern character’s point of view, and the other half from a historical character, with various other characters speaking at other points. It’s great piecing the story together.

I’ve often wondered why authors write in first person. I like seeing the other view points because it adds more to the story for me.

I’ve got Girl from Mars on my wish list at Amazon. I’ll be interested to read about Daleks and Stormtroopers.