If you decide to purchase a book after clicking the link, I will receive a small percentage of the sale. Some of the below links are affiliate links. With that in mind, here are a few of the best second person point of view examples and excerpts to help illustrate the concept.

Very few stories really require it – so writers simply choose other points of view.Ħ examples and excerpts of second person point of viewīecause second person point of view in fiction writing is so rare, it can be hard to imagine what it looks like in practice. So a writer has to convince the reader that the second person point of view is necessary to the narrative. They may feel uncomfortable or alienated from events when being told by a narrator that they have acted or spoken in ways that feel far removed from their own real life experience.īecause readers don’t tend to like second person point of view narratives, it’s much harder to convince an agent or publisher that your story has commercial potential.Ī reader will inevitably question this form of storytelling.

And – honestly – writers don’t tend to consider it as one of the narrative formats available to them. It’s rare to come across fiction written in the second person. It’s not something writers or readers are used to. But there are a few good reasons why writers tend to avoid it. We’ve covered the reasons to give second person point of view a go. Why is second person point of view generally avoided? To avoid putting too much pressure on either party, short stories written in the second person provide a good introduction to this mode of storytelling. And an original and intriguing format for a reader. Second person POV is an exciting challenge for a writer. Or perhaps self-talk is central to your narrator's identity. Perhaps the narrator wants to distance themselves from their own narrative because the topic is difficult to think or talk about. This POV can also be used to reinforce the key themes and ideas of the story. The reader is placed at the very centre of the story, which makes for an intense and immersive reader experience. In a second person narrative, the writer casts the reader as the main character. So let’s take a closer look at why a writer might choose to use a second person point of view for their story – and why they might avoid it.Īdvantages of using second person point of view The narrator is addressing another character However, some writers have used the format to great effect (as we’ll see in a few second person point of view examples a little later on).īut – first things first - who is the you in a second person point of view story? There are actually a few different possibilities: In fact, this POV is probably the least utilised of the lot.įirst person, third person limited and third person omniscient points of view are much more familiar to readers – and writers too. We also come across it in poetry and in song lyrics. It’s a point of view that we associate with self-help books and advertising slogans. Second person point of view is written in the second person, using the pronoun you. Here I take a look at why that’s the case and share some excellent examples of second person point of view from fiction writers who chose to go against the grain. They put you – the reader – at the very centre of the action.īut second person isn’t a POV we come across very often in fiction. Those stories are the perfect example of second person point of view fiction writing. Did you ever read those pick-your-path books as a child – the ones where you got to choose how the plot progressed?

Narrator definition for kids