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Stories Written in the Second Person
5 years ago
General
I'm always on the lookout for good stories, be they fan fictions or new original material. While I have come across a wide variety of writing styles, there is one style that 99.9% of the time will make me absolutely despise an author's written work.
I find stories that are written in the second person to be utterly revolting: "You are sitting at dinner with friends, enjoying with them the culmination of your culinary endeavors when suddenly, the door bell rang. Not having expected any delivery or further visitors, you excuse yourself to answer the door. You are greeted by an annoying, pushy salesman whose insincere smile and avid eyes declare to you that this individual will do and say anything to make a sale."
A narrative written in such a way conveys to me that the author presumes to put the reader in the place of the character with no regard to how the reader would actually feel. In almost all cases, I will immediately lose all interest in such a written work. In the rare 0.1% of the time that I will read such a story, it will only be because I could imagine myself in the character's place. Even then, I would prefer that such a story not be written in the second person. If a writer wishes to attain a wider appeal though, he would do better to write it as I describe below.
There should be only two ways that a story be written. One way would be in the third person: "He was sitting at dinner with his friends, enjoying with them the culmination of his culinary endeavors when suddenly, the door bell rang. Not having expected any delivery or further visitors, he excused himself to answer the door. He was greeted by an annoying, pushy salesman whose insincere smile and avid eyes declared to him that this individual would do and say anything to make a sale."
This allows the reader to not feel like he is being forced into the character's point of view in a narrative. Most stories are written in this way and it is perfectly acceptable.
The other way is to write a story in the first person: "I was sitting at dinner with my friends, enjoying with them the culmination of my culinary endeavors when suddenly, the door bell rang. Not having expected any delivery or further visitors, I excused myself to answer the door. I was greeted by an annoying, pushy salesman whose insincere smile and avid eyes declare plainly to me that this individual would do and say anything to make a sale."
This to me is a much better alternative to writing in the second person if the author wishes to tell the story from the character's point of view. In this way, the reader is not forced into the character's shoes, but can still see it through his eyes. It would be like reading someone's journal where they relate their story to the reader.
I find stories that are written in the second person to be utterly revolting: "You are sitting at dinner with friends, enjoying with them the culmination of your culinary endeavors when suddenly, the door bell rang. Not having expected any delivery or further visitors, you excuse yourself to answer the door. You are greeted by an annoying, pushy salesman whose insincere smile and avid eyes declare to you that this individual will do and say anything to make a sale."
A narrative written in such a way conveys to me that the author presumes to put the reader in the place of the character with no regard to how the reader would actually feel. In almost all cases, I will immediately lose all interest in such a written work. In the rare 0.1% of the time that I will read such a story, it will only be because I could imagine myself in the character's place. Even then, I would prefer that such a story not be written in the second person. If a writer wishes to attain a wider appeal though, he would do better to write it as I describe below.
There should be only two ways that a story be written. One way would be in the third person: "He was sitting at dinner with his friends, enjoying with them the culmination of his culinary endeavors when suddenly, the door bell rang. Not having expected any delivery or further visitors, he excused himself to answer the door. He was greeted by an annoying, pushy salesman whose insincere smile and avid eyes declared to him that this individual would do and say anything to make a sale."
This allows the reader to not feel like he is being forced into the character's point of view in a narrative. Most stories are written in this way and it is perfectly acceptable.
The other way is to write a story in the first person: "I was sitting at dinner with my friends, enjoying with them the culmination of my culinary endeavors when suddenly, the door bell rang. Not having expected any delivery or further visitors, I excused myself to answer the door. I was greeted by an annoying, pushy salesman whose insincere smile and avid eyes declare plainly to me that this individual would do and say anything to make a sale."
This to me is a much better alternative to writing in the second person if the author wishes to tell the story from the character's point of view. In this way, the reader is not forced into the character's shoes, but can still see it through his eyes. It would be like reading someone's journal where they relate their story to the reader.
I definitely am picky about my stories, but that's more about quality and subject matter. However, a second person story, is an automatic no. No matter how well written or how close up my alley it is. Nope. Can't do it.
Unfortunately, as you noted, the majority of readers would not think or act in the way the writer presumes they would and merely results in annoyance and frustration. Third person works perfectly fine at drawing in the reader, where they can choose whether to relate to the character or not. Whatever the reader's decision, they will be more likely to enjoy the story.
Just look at comments in regard to second and third person stories. Second person stories might get some 'nice' or 'fun story' comments, while third person stories will have people saying things like 'I can definitely relate to that character' or 'I wish that was me'. I never see a comment to a second person story about the reader feeling as if they were the actual character.
Readers want to make up their own mind if they simply appreciate the events the character experiences, or if they actually relate to that character and their experiences.