Point of view

An important part of the general vibe of a book is formed by the chosen point of view. And in the case of the Taggart Advanced Drive Technologies series, I've chosen for a bit of a non-standard approach: The books are all written (except for the first one, I really should rewrite Mercury's Child!) in the First Person Present Tense point of view. Basically, you are placed inside the head of the main character while events are unfolding around our hero. "Look, that girl is funny! I wonder if she knows it?"

Most books are written in a Third Person Past Tense point of view, where a narrator is recounting events around one or more protagonists, as it happened in the past. "John walked into the room, got himself a glass of water and drank as if he tried to drown himself." This form is very flexible, allowing many different styles. And it allows the narrator to provide hints of future events, things the protagonists can't know about, yet. "Little did she know about what was about to unfold." When the narrator is also the main protagonist, you get into the First Person Past Tense writing style: "As I walked up to the crest of the hill, a magnificent vista opened up before me. It was breath-taking, but as I was about to find out, also very dangerous!" This does allow the story to be more personal, as you can somewhat look inside the mind of the narrator, but it's also a redacted view on the truths of the past events. The narrator had time to think about it, had time to reflect and can choose to give his own version of the truth. The last common form is the Third Person Present Tense point of view, with an external narrator giving a live view of unfolding events. This is the "film" point of view, with us as viewers looking into the scenes. "Tom walks in and starts to shout! The dog clearly doesn't like this and starts to bark at him in return. It's a decent cacophony!"

The least common form of these four styles is the one I've chosen for the books (first-person-present-tense). I have a couple of reasons why I made that choice, with the most important reason being that it forces me to keep the story personal. I want the stories to be about how exceptional situations in the personal lives of the protagonist lead to a growth in character. And because this is about personal development, I like to get the "raw" experiences, without the reflection, just when it happens. The reader should be surprised at the same time as the main character, should get angry about similar things, get hurt, fall in love, be happy,  and laugh in tandem.
Another benefit of this form is the natural way dialog fits into this style, with the main character being able to have an internal dialog in parallel to the actual dialog.

However, there are also several drawbacks of this style: It's harder to provide back-story to the characters. As a writer, you need to place the protagonist into situations where it's logical to remember some background information. One way to do this is through dialog. Letting someone ask some background info or recount something that happened in the past. In a way, the main character has a head start on the reader because it knows more about the past and the world. Similarly, it's a bit harder to "paint a picture" of what's happening right there and then, as most people don't consciously describe what they see. So, in a sense, you are continuously falling out of the style to provide some background info or a description of the current situation. "I walk into the room. Nice couch!"  vs. "I walk into the room. There is a nice couch standing in the middle."

Another drawback is that it's hard to control the progress of time. People are continuously waiting, and similarly, people have the tendency to do all sorts of small tasks while walking around, mundane stuff that doesn't need to be described in a book. "I need to leave for work, so I grab a quick glass of water, pack my bag, put on my shoes, check the lights, put on my jacket, grab the bag, open the door, walk out, turn around to close the door again, etc., etc."
So, this can be replaced by something pacier. "I need to leave for work, so after grabbing a quick glass of water, I walk out." You can skip quite some time in this way, although that's not very reader-friendly. For example, check out this sentence: "After a good night's sleep, I'm leaving for Paris." For this writing style to be effective, these type of time-jumps should be minimized. It's better to close the scene and restart a new scene afterward. But then you need to tell the reader that it's now later, without falling out of the writing style. "Great to have had a good night sleep. I'm leaving for Paris now."

I have a natural tendency to write "information-heavy", compact, but fast-paced. Through the chosen point of view, I'm forced to slow the pace down somewhat and therefore keep it realistic for the main character. The style protects me from one of my more problematic tendencies as a writer. And hopefully, the viewpoint of the main protagonist also helps me in taking enough time to describe the world in which our hero lives.