Be a Better Writer--2nd person
Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2015 8:45 am
POV—SECOND PERSON
A piece is written in second person POV if the main character is referred to using the pronoun you. Here’s a quick primer of the three POVs (including a preview of next week’s topic):
First person—I heard the cat coughing up a hairball.
Second person—You heard the cat coughing up a hairball.
Third person—Jan heard the cat coughing up a hairball.
(There are variations of tense; I’ll cover those in a bit.)
Second person is used very rarely in fiction. In my several years at FaithWriters, I only recall it in one or two fictional Challenge entries, one of which took a 2nd place in the EC—it was this excellent story by Leigh MacKelvey for the “Christmas Card” topic (several years ago). Pop over and give it a read, please.
See how unusual that is? And how totally cool? Nevertheless, I don’t recommend that you all start submitting second person fiction pieces. Regardless of how well they’re written, it would get wearisome for the judges to read lots of second person fiction pieces, and I suspect they would start to seem gimmicky quite soon. One per year, perhaps, is more than enough, if you wish to experiment.
By the way, publishers aren’t at all interested in second person fiction pieces. There was a brief period in the 1980’s when “Choose Your Own Adventure” books, written in second person, were quite popular, and I believe that there are some on-line genres that use it (fan fiction, for one). But in general—avoid second person in fiction.
There are, however, some legitimate uses of second person POV.
1. Devotionals and sermons, which are usually written in an expository voice, often switch to second person when giving a charge or an exhortation to the readers/listeners.
2. Manuals or instructions are written in the imperative, with the you understood by the reader:
(You) Insert Tab A in Slot B.
Occasionally, I find pieces in this second person imperative POV in the Challenge. I wrote one called Ten Things the Mother of the Bride Needs to Know that has elements of both 1st and 2nd person in it.
3. Those quizzes that are popular on Facebook. Like this:
You find a $20 bill in the pocket of an old jacket. Do you…
a. buy a new book, of course!
b. splurge on pastry and cappuccino at a coffee shop
c. get some gourmet kitty treats
d. donate it to a charity
There is, however, a common use of second person that you should avoid at all costs. I’ll give you an example from a television commercial that always drives me nuts. It’s for some acne product, and the voiceover narration sounds something like this:
I just apply some Acne-Be-Gone before I go to bed, and in the morning, you don’t have any more pimples!
Do you see it there? That’s a pretty absurd example, but you’d be surprised how easy it is to step into that trap. I read sentences like this many, many times:
As I lit the scented candle, my house was filled with the mixture of aromas that reminds you of Christmas at your grandmother’s house.
If you’ve had comments suggesting that you should avoid slipping into second person, that’s probably what they were talking about: You (the writer) have no idea what the smells were in my (the reader) grandmother’s house. Perhaps my grandmother’s house smelled of burnt toast and cigarette smoke, and if that’s the case, I’m now reading your story with entirely the wrong impression. You should have written
As I lit the scented candle, my house was filled with a mixture of aromas that reminded me of Christmas at my grandmother’s house.
Got it?
Finally, as with the other POV’s, 2nd person can be written in either present or past tense. Here’s an example of each:
2nd person, present tense:
You stare at your computer screen for hours, but you’re uninspired and frustrated. You get a peanut butter cookie or six—surely, you think, they’ll help you shake that writer’s block.
2nd person, past tense:
You stared at your computer screen for hours, but you were uninspired and frustrated. You got a peanut butter cookie or six—surely, you thought, they’d help you shake that writer’s block.
HOMEWORK:
1. Write anything you care to write about second person POV, OR
2. Ask a question about anything in this lesson, OR
3. Link to one Challenge entry in which you used second person. If you do this, please tell us a little bit about your writing process.
4. I listed three legitimate uses of 2nd person. Can you think of others?
A piece is written in second person POV if the main character is referred to using the pronoun you. Here’s a quick primer of the three POVs (including a preview of next week’s topic):
First person—I heard the cat coughing up a hairball.
Second person—You heard the cat coughing up a hairball.
Third person—Jan heard the cat coughing up a hairball.
(There are variations of tense; I’ll cover those in a bit.)
Second person is used very rarely in fiction. In my several years at FaithWriters, I only recall it in one or two fictional Challenge entries, one of which took a 2nd place in the EC—it was this excellent story by Leigh MacKelvey for the “Christmas Card” topic (several years ago). Pop over and give it a read, please.
See how unusual that is? And how totally cool? Nevertheless, I don’t recommend that you all start submitting second person fiction pieces. Regardless of how well they’re written, it would get wearisome for the judges to read lots of second person fiction pieces, and I suspect they would start to seem gimmicky quite soon. One per year, perhaps, is more than enough, if you wish to experiment.
By the way, publishers aren’t at all interested in second person fiction pieces. There was a brief period in the 1980’s when “Choose Your Own Adventure” books, written in second person, were quite popular, and I believe that there are some on-line genres that use it (fan fiction, for one). But in general—avoid second person in fiction.
There are, however, some legitimate uses of second person POV.
1. Devotionals and sermons, which are usually written in an expository voice, often switch to second person when giving a charge or an exhortation to the readers/listeners.
2. Manuals or instructions are written in the imperative, with the you understood by the reader:
(You) Insert Tab A in Slot B.
Occasionally, I find pieces in this second person imperative POV in the Challenge. I wrote one called Ten Things the Mother of the Bride Needs to Know that has elements of both 1st and 2nd person in it.
3. Those quizzes that are popular on Facebook. Like this:
You find a $20 bill in the pocket of an old jacket. Do you…
a. buy a new book, of course!
b. splurge on pastry and cappuccino at a coffee shop
c. get some gourmet kitty treats
d. donate it to a charity
There is, however, a common use of second person that you should avoid at all costs. I’ll give you an example from a television commercial that always drives me nuts. It’s for some acne product, and the voiceover narration sounds something like this:
I just apply some Acne-Be-Gone before I go to bed, and in the morning, you don’t have any more pimples!
Do you see it there? That’s a pretty absurd example, but you’d be surprised how easy it is to step into that trap. I read sentences like this many, many times:
As I lit the scented candle, my house was filled with the mixture of aromas that reminds you of Christmas at your grandmother’s house.
If you’ve had comments suggesting that you should avoid slipping into second person, that’s probably what they were talking about: You (the writer) have no idea what the smells were in my (the reader) grandmother’s house. Perhaps my grandmother’s house smelled of burnt toast and cigarette smoke, and if that’s the case, I’m now reading your story with entirely the wrong impression. You should have written
As I lit the scented candle, my house was filled with a mixture of aromas that reminded me of Christmas at my grandmother’s house.
Got it?
Finally, as with the other POV’s, 2nd person can be written in either present or past tense. Here’s an example of each:
2nd person, present tense:
You stare at your computer screen for hours, but you’re uninspired and frustrated. You get a peanut butter cookie or six—surely, you think, they’ll help you shake that writer’s block.
2nd person, past tense:
You stared at your computer screen for hours, but you were uninspired and frustrated. You got a peanut butter cookie or six—surely, you thought, they’d help you shake that writer’s block.
HOMEWORK:
1. Write anything you care to write about second person POV, OR
2. Ask a question about anything in this lesson, OR
3. Link to one Challenge entry in which you used second person. If you do this, please tell us a little bit about your writing process.
4. I listed three legitimate uses of 2nd person. Can you think of others?