The second-person narrator is extremely rare, especially in novel-length fiction. The advantage to using this unusual Point of View is that it creates a unique tone in a story-a removed, ironic tone that hints at an underlying bitterness. Probably the most famous example is Jay McInnerny's novel Bright Lights, Big City, which begins as follows:

"You are not the kind of guy who would be at a place like this at this time of morning. But here you are, and you cannot say that the terrain is entirely unfamiliar, although the details are fuzzy."

Basically, the second-person Point of View acts as a kind of chiding conscience, the moral super-ego showing the main character what his life has become. There's usually a hint of condemnation in this, a "how-have-you-sunk-so-low" attitude.

The reason we don't see second person used too often is because it's more difficult for the reader to get involved than with the other Point of View's. One reason is that its rarity makes it less familiar. But more important is that its attraction to the writer-the fact that it allows a remoteness that creates a darker tone-actually repels many readers. They don't mind dark tones, but they don't want to be so far removed from the characters who are experiencing that darkness. This is why second person Point of Views are mostly used in literary fiction and even then usually in short stories.

*From a Fiction Writing Workshop, "The Fundamentals of Writing".

I recently read Book One of the "Oedipus Syndrome" series. In this section of the series, the author deals, in a very, very limited fashion, in the second person Point of View. I found that it enhanced the depth of the main character as he echoes to himself his feelings about himself and comments on the world around him as if he were talking to another person.

You can download FREE Book 1 - Part One, "The Present" in the reading room.

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