“Person”
Third-person is a given. First person is very difficult to write well and I do not have the skill needed. For example:
We were gathered at the edge of the tree line. Just before speaking, I noticed a faint hint of lilac wafting on the light breeze. “All right, people, we need to get started,” I began.
1st person
They gathered at the edge of the tree line. A light breeze carried the faint scent of lilac to the group. “All right, people, we need to get started,” Jason began.
3rd person
My biggest problem with first person is injecting the scene through the character’s perspective. It’s much easier to describe it “stand alone” than it is to filter it through the character.
Tight third-person is my favorite. It can give the illusion of first person because the reader is tightly (hence the name) tied to a single character’s perspective, but not everything must filter through that character. As the author, I can mention things the character does not notice. For example, “… Jason began, oblivious to the snake lurking (menacingly, of course) in the brush beside him.” One cannot do that in first person because if the character does not notice something, neither does the reader.
First person also tends to internal monologue as the character thinks about things that the author wants the reader to know about. This can work, but I can’t write it – and neither can a lot of authors who try.
That is an easy choice for me.
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