You’re not someone who cares about tradition in your fiction, are you?
You’re willing to explore. You’re striving for meaning, and you want interesting experiences.
Well, that’s the second-person point of view (POV) for you: nontraditional, explorative, meaningful and interesting.
It also sounds a bit like an ad for an exaggerated travel agent or a self-help book, doesn’t it? There’s a reason for that, and we’ll get to it later. But first, I have a little riddle for you…
Is this blog post written in the second-person point of view?
By now, you know I use the word “you” quite a lot. In fact, many bloggers address their readers personally as “you.” Does it make our writing fit the second-person POV?
As you may have guessed, the answer is no.
True, I’m addressing you as the audience. But there’s still a protagonist to this story, and it’s me, in the first person. I’m the person behind this post.
What is second-person point of view?
Let’s start with a second-person point of view definition.
In fiction, pure second-person POV uses the perspective of a single character, the protagonist, to tell the story. This character is well-defined, with habits, traits and a unique personality. The reader is simply placed “behind” this character, seeing and experiencing the world through his eyes, body and mind.
Need a second person example? It sounds like this:
Eventually you ascend the stairs to the street. You think of Plato’s pilgrims climbing out of the cave, from the shadow world of appearances toward things as they really are, and you wonder if it is possible to change in this life.
— Jay McInerney, Bright Lights, Big City
As you can see, there is no “I” in this second person example. There might be a “he” or “him,” whenever the protagonist is interacting with someone, but your principal pronouns are “you,” “your” and “yours.”
For that reason, it’s a bit hard to create a variety of sentence structure in this POV. Starting every sentence with “you” can quickly grow old.
If you try using the second-person POV, watch out for this issue. You can alternate pronouns by writing about items and other characters in your protagonist’s environment. For example, here’s an excerpt from from Italo Calvino’s If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler:
Adjust the light so you won’t strain your eyes. Do it now, because once you’re absorbed in reading there will be no budging you. Make sure the page isn’t in shadow, a clotting of black letters on a gray background, uniform as a pack of mice…
The good and evil of writing in second person
The second-person POV casts the reader as the protagonist. That means she’s “forced” to act and think in ways that might not be authentic for her.
If you, as the writer, pull it off, this POV creates instant, complete empathy between the reader and the protagonist. It makes every thought and action her own and evokes emotional responses from her gut.
If you aren’t successful, though, reading in this POV can be a highly annoying experience for your audience.
Writing in the second person means treading a fine line. When you write in this POV, you’re very clearly attempting to manipulate the reader’s thoughts and emotions. Not all readers will take well to this strategy.
But that’s OK! All good writing manipulates a reader’s emotions; consider how we connect with characters like Holden Caulfield and Harry Potter. After watching the world through their eyes in third-person limited POV, no one can resist feeling for them — even though Holden is a fairly unlikeable character. That intimacy is emotional manipulation at its literary best.
The challenge of the second-person point of view is to manipulate your reader’s thoughts and impressions without forcing feeling and emotion where it doesn’t belong. You want it to feel natural, not kick your reader out of the story by trying too hard.
How do you master this balancing act? By reading great examples of the second-person point of view, testing it in your own writing and sharing your work with others for feedback and advice. A writing accountability partner or group will be invaluable in exploring this POV.
When should you choose the second-person POV?
There isn’t any perfect genre or type of work for a second-person POV story, though author Rebecca Demarest suggests that this perspective works best in short stories or “scattered chapters” of a longer manuscript.
This POV seems to work particularly well when an author is reflecting the Zeitgeist. By speaking in the second person, the author can hold a mirror to society, revealing emotions, actions and particular nuances of the times.
A prime example of this use is Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas by Tom Robbins. He captures the crash of an American dream and the economic wavering of the early 90s:
As far as you are concerned, the real fun stopped back in the eighties. Before your time. In those days, somebody in your position could earn major money. Jumbo money. You read about it, dreamed about it, all through college. How typical of your luck that when you finally arrived in a position to poach your golden eggs, the goose had a hysterectomy.
The majority of audiences can relate to these timely themes, so they’re a good bet for an exploration of character, society and empathy.
Other popular places to use the second-person point of view are poetry, interactive fiction and choose-your-own-adventure stories.
Will you try writing in second person?
Give the second-person POV a try. See what playing with this perspective can do for your writing, whether it’s in a new story or by tweaking the point of view in a story you’ve already written.
It won’t be a fit for every writer or for every story, but you just might find you enjoy writing in the second person.
This is an updated version of a story that was previously published. We update our posts as often as possible to ensure they’re useful for our readers.
Photo via Joyseulay/ Shutterstock
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