I’ve always had a problem with separating my characters from myself when I’m writing fiction, and so more of my main characters have been female than male and the POV third-person limited. Makes the POV less connected to me that way.

Nevertheless, I did experiment with writing one novel in first person from a male’s POV, and after some slips at the beginning, the novel took off on its own, and I finished it successfully.

The latest trend is for YA authors to use present tense (a few even use second, at least in a few separated spots), but present tense just doesn’t fit my style.