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Writer's pictureErin Baillie

Second Person POV

The rarest POV in fiction is the second person POV. In the second person POV, the writer uses the pronoun ‘you’ in place of ‘I’, ‘he’ or ‘she’. That makes the reader the main character.


Some readers find second person narration fresh and innovative because it is so rare in fiction and because it really draws in the reader by making them an active participant.


However, second person POVs can be problematic. It’s never entirely clear who the ‘you’ actually is – an individual reader or every reader? There are no characters to identify with, which leaves the reader feeling like they are outside the story, rather than immersed in the story. And readers may object to each and every action if it’s not how that individual feels they would react. Furthermore, many readers just find the second person annoying, and it’s hard to convince someone to read something that annoys him.


I’m not saying that you should avoid second person POV altogether because it can be impactful when used sparingly, but you should be aware of the pitfalls before you use it in your novel. Perhaps experiment with it in a short story first before you decide whether you will use it elsewhere.

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