Second-Person Point-of-View: You, Your, & Yours

Second-person point-of-view is the least common point-of-view used in fiction, and mostly present in poetry, self-help non-fiction books, educational textbooks, instructional writing, or interactive narratives. It's also the most intimate and immediate, merging the reader with the narrative written text. As there are with first-person, third-person limited, and third-person omniscient, there are certain key points that are important when using this rare particular point-of-view in one's writing. Let's briefly evaluate and go over them below.

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WATCH THE EPISODE

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See episode 3 of season 3 of my Journey of a Christian Writer series, Second-Person Point-of-View: You, Your, & Yours or continue reading the blog post.

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5 KEY POINTS FOR 2ND PERSON POINT-OF-VIEW

Although second-person point-of-view isn't used too much in short stories or novels, it's still possible when a writer ensures they use the proper writing techniques for this point-of-view. Some examples of fiction with the second-person perspective are the psychological thriller "You" by Caroline Kepnes and the novel, "Bright Lights, Big City" by Jay McInerney.

The following are key points when using the 2nd-person perspective:

5 KEY POINTS FOR 2ND PERSON POINT-OF-VIEW

• USE PROPER PRONOUNS

• BE DIRECT AND TALK TO THE READER

• IMMERSE THE READER

• ELIMINATE THE DISTANCE

• INCLUDE SENSORY FOCUS

Okay, let's check out each one of these.

USE PROPER PRONOUNS

Some beginner writers get confused with second-person and think that pronouns like "We" and "Us" are for this perspective. (I know I used to...lol) However, these words are the plural context of first-person point-of-view, as I stated previously from the adventure novel Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss in my first-person post. The proper pronouns for second-person are you, your, yours, and yourself or yourselves, which helps create an urgent and immersive reading experience.

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BE DIRECT AND TALK TO THE READER

When writing in the second-person perspective, writers should take a direct approach and write in a manner where they're talking to the reader rather than at the reader, which influences a sense of immediacy and essentially makes the reader become the protagonist themselves or a participant of the text or fictional narrative.

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IMMERSE THE READER

For the second-person perspective, it's important that writers also immerse readers into the narrative. This will allow readers to feel as though they are experiencing the story events rather than just reading about them in their books. There are two main ways writers can do this, which are eliminating the distance and including sensory focus in the narrative.

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ELIMINATE THE DISTANCE

In second-person point-of-view, unlike in third-person limited or omniscient, the narrative distance is removed, making readers themselves as active participants in the story, which is done from the direct address by the narrator in the text or story. This is commonly used for interactive narrative-driven PC or mobile games, such as hidden object mysteries.

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INCLUDE SENSORY FOCUS

Finally, writers should also zone in on sensory details to pull readers into the scenes of the narrative, using the five senses of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. This is how you create an immersive world that captures readers into the text or fictional storyline.

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CLOSING REMARKS

Second-person works best for educational text or non-fiction books because it ultimately has a persuasive style to this perspective. Nonetheless, it can be used in both fiction and non-fiction. This is because this perspective allows writers to create an illusion of real life, which is how it can be used for fiction; and also lets readers imagine how their lives could be for the better, which is how it can be used for non-fiction. Whichever choice you choose to use second-person point-of-view, it's obviously one of the rarest types, but it can be a really good perspective to use for writing in different creative ways.

🤔Hey, writers, have you ever used second-person point-of-view in a story?

• 👍Yes, but only in non-fiction.
• 👎Nah, it's not my thing.