Sandra asked Josh Lanyon:

Hi Josh! I love your books so much. Your writing style gets me hooked and sinked every single time. So I have to ask, what makes you write in a first person point of view? Is it a conscious choice or something that just happens naturally?

Josh Lanyon It really depends on the characters and the story, Sandra. It's a choice that's made early on, usually before I start writing. If I determine that there will be a primary POV character, that's one consideration. That's usually determined by whether the suspense and romantic tension will be upped or reduced by having two POVs. Usually two POVs reduces tension and suspense. But sometimes you do need that additional insight -- as in the Dangerous Ground series or Snowball in Hell.

But after the first decision as to whether there is a main POV, I have to consider whether the "voice" of that character will be crucial to the storytelling. And that's trickier. Sometimes that voice is really important -- typically if humor is a big part of the story, I'll go for First Person because so many of the observations will be part of the comedy. Or because the main character has a complicated and personal journey -- Adrien English, for example -- and I really can't fully capture that without viewing the story through the character's eyes.

It's a great question, and very timely because I'm currently working on Winter Kill, and while I originally thought that would be third person single POV, I now realize the story will be better for a two person third POV.

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