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Viewpoint in the Novel - First Person
In the mystery genre many series novels are written in first person, usually in the sleuth's viewpoint, whether amateur or professional, and with a distinctive voice. A lot depends on the publisher and on the line.
I enjoy writing in first person because it is immediate and it comes straight from my own feelings and beliefs. When I'm writing my Charlie Plato mystery series, I AM Charlie Plato. Her thoughts are my thoughts. She eats the foods I like, thinks the way I think, enjoys the same kind of activities I do. Plus she has my attitude! Charlie is 30 years old. Writing in her viewpoint I've come to think I'm 30 years old. Hell of a shock when I look in the mirror.
The disadvantage of first person is that you can tell the reader only what happens through the viewpoint character, who cannot always be present in every scene. But there are ways to get around that too. Someone else can tell the viewpoint character what happened. Or s/he can overhear a conversation about it. (Don't overdo eavesdropping however--it gets unbelievable very quickly.)
In Dead Men Don't Dance, the second novel in my Charlie Plato series, Zack begins telling Charlie something very painful that happened in his past. Charlie responds here and there but after a while I could see that the dialogue was going on too long and it was time to change tactics. So I simply wrote, in Charlie's viewpoint, "Somewhere in here I had closed my eyes. The pictures Zack was painting were coming through very clearly. I could see the little boy he must have been...."
After that I wrote more of Zack's story on scene as Charlie is visualizing it. A couple of pages later when there was a natural transition I dropped back into dialogue between Charlie and Zack again.
Another problem that arises when writing in first person viewpoint is that it's difficult to let the reader know what the viewpoint character looks like. Please don't let your character pause in front of a mirror and describe what s/he sees. It usually doesn't come off as convincing and it's a very trite way to treat the problem.
In Dying to Sing, the first Charlie Plato Mystery, I handled this in a straightforward manner by having Charlie talk directly to the reader. She's a breezy sort of person, so it seemed okay to do it this way. She starts by saying she's envious of another woman's hair that whips when she dances. "Mine doesn't whip. It's long enough, but too frizzy to do more than flop. It's also orange. Not strawberry red or titian. Orange. As in carrot. Or pumpkin. I'm Charlie Plato by the way, a thirty year old divorcee with an attitude. In other words, depending upon your point of view, a nineties woman or a walking cliche."
A self-deprecating attitude is best if the character is describing himself or herself. Having a character say, "I have an exquisite profile and beautiful blue eyes," is not going to endear her, or him, to the reader.