2nd Person is Never a Good Idea · 10:53pm Jun 25th, 2012
I don't blog. Don't think this is going to become a thing.
Also, the three four empty beer bottles beside me make me think that, if I DID start blogging, this would not be the right time to do so.
But screw that.
I look at the front page of FiMfiction.net reasonably often, and there are almost always stories that feature the second person as a storytelling device.
WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?
Are you seriously that incapable of creating an original character that you think pretending that a character is "you" is going to create a bond between the reader and the story? Or were you just hoping that making one character "you" would free you of having to develop any kind of internal voice and personality for them and thought that sounded like less work? Or that the reader's wish fulfillment would be so strong they wouldn't care or notice how weird and awkward it is to read?
I noticed! So did anyone on this site with a BAC below the legal driving limit! Those categories do not overlap!
A really, really, good author can make the second person work. You are not that author. Not even you, guy who just thought "You don't know me! I'm an amazing writer! My parents said so and I have, like, a dozen faves on my last story!"
I'm begging anyone who reads this: Prove me wrong! Point me in the direction of a REALLY GOOD 2nd-person fic! Because I haven't found one yet! Otherwise I'm adding "Promises second person" to "Typos in the description" and "Author has an alicorn OC" and "OC in the story has a red-and-black color scheme as well as clearly being the product of an easily available pony generator" to my danger list that red-flags a story as worthless before I even click on it.
TL;DR: Don't write in the second person. Or do drugs. But if you have to choose between writing in the second person and the drugs, choose drugs.
God damn it some day I'm probably going to apply for a security clearance and this is going to end up getting flagged for advocating drug use. So to my future self; Hey dumb-ass! Bet that six pack of Sam Adams doesn't seem like such a good idea now, does it? Also, invent a time machine and send back MLP season 3 on a flash drive or something.
Worth a shot.
This one's actually pretty good.
Mainly because it's someone else, you're just seeing from their point of view.
Well, I actually really hate that it's in second person, but the story's good enough to make up for it.
I wholeheartedly agree, I think the only good second person story I've ever read was a metafiction story that broke so many rules of writing it was surreal.
personally, I stop reading and close the tab if I see the second person form being used outside of conversations. It just feels jarring to me to read "You tell Fluttershy to buzz off," while Fluttershy is My Best Pony. It just makes the story a lot less enjoyable, to constantly run into things the story says I would do, while I never would even consider doing such things.
A good 2nd person fic is "Then You Saw Her" by possiblydominator. it's pretty good.
I have not gotten around to reading them myself, but I understand that Crowley's second person fics are good, or at least are popular.
I never write in second person. Usually, I write in third person. Or, if I am feeling really brave enough, I will write in a first person perspective, like I am doing with my current writing in progress I am currently working on. But never in second person. It just adds zero flavor to the story. For example, if a line reads, "You tell Twilight Sparkle to stop talking so much because she is annoying.".... That right there is a major turn off for me in any story because I would NEVER say something like that to Twilight, let alone think it. How can I imagine myself in place of the "You" in a second person perspective if the author does things that I would not do?
And quite honestly, the entire fun part of creating a good fanfic (or any story, really) IS CREATING YOUR CHARACTERS! I mean, really! There are so many details and ideas and other details to describe your character! The name of the character, its personality, its voice, its physical details, its mental details, on and on and on and on! I swear I enjoy creating my own unique characters more than I do actually writing the story!
EDIT: Well, folks, it looks like I get to go eat my own words posted above. I just found this story in the featured box: Then You Saw Her
This is by far the best second person story I have ever encountered in all of my 21 years of living. I have read this story a total of 7 times since finding it, and I've only managed to fall in love with it more and more. If you want, check it out. I do not think you will be disappointed.
I wish there was a second person tag, so I could put a nice little x into it's box on my searches and avoid it, I already do that with human most of the time.