When I wrote the first version of The Channel, I wrote it in first person. This meant, the story had one story thread that was visible to the reader, the one from the main character's perspective. Although there are some challenges associated with writing with a first person point of view, one of them isn't keeping track of what all the other characters in the book are doing when they aren't in a scene. Yes, you do have to know what the other characters are doing if you send them away and then bring them back but you don't have to worry about all the details.