Tip #261: Making character choices

I tried to focus on the choices you make before you write a novel. The main character and the most important character are not always the same person — you have to know the difference. The first-person voice and the third-person voice each come with advantages and disadvantages; it helps me to know what the story is, and who the characters are, before I choose the point-of-view voice for the storytelling.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/10/books/review/john-irving-by-the-book.html