Second person is a strange and uncommon point of view. In second person, the narrator is telling you what you are doing, seeing, experiencing, etc. Walking you through the story. Because it's more rare, second person can feel more novel than first or third person. It can also feel more participatory for the reader since the narrators are addressing them directly as an active participant in the story rather than as a passive observer. The audience is implicated in whatever happens in the story, good or bad. There are a few ways to approach storytelling in second person perspective. First, the you in the story might be the proverbial you as in any human. For example, when someone tells a story and they say something like, you'd never know what's going on in someone's head, they don't mean you, you, they just mean in general people don't know. For example, this is often the way instructions are told. First you lay out the bread, you spread jelly on one half, then you spread peanut butter on the other half, etc. Another way to tell the stories is a series of commands to the reader. Lay out the bread, spread the jelly on half, then spread the peanut butter on the other half. But be careful here because not many people like to be told what to do, and if your reader doesn't like the commands you're giving them, they might put your story down. The most common approach to second person perspectives is as a back door first person perspective, in which the narrator offers a hypothetical that tells you a lot more about the narrator themselves. One of my favorite examples of this is Lori Morris How to Become a Writer. As the story progresses, it becomes very clear that the narrator is giving more than just general writing advice, offering very specific details that not everybody could relate to. For example, in this second paragraph, in your high school English class, look at Mr. Killian's face. Decide that faces are important. Write a villain out about pores. Struggle. Write a sign. Count the syllables. Nine, ten, eleven, thirteen. Decide to experiment with fiction. The inclusion of the English teacher's name is telling. This is not the story of a general writer becoming a writer, but rather this writer becoming a writer. You can use the same idea of using tells in your story to show that it's a back door first person narrative. Being unique in rare does not exempt second person from its share of obstacles, however. One potential pitfall of second person is that it can become very repetitive as you start every single sentence with you, you, you. Consider this example. You sit back at the table as the crowd's mill around the food court. You take a sip of your soda and put your glass back down. You wait for the waitress. One easy way to fix this is to just cut out the use altogether, as in this revised version of that example. Sit at the table as crowd's mill around the food court. Sip your soda and place the glass back down. Wait for the waitress. However, as you can see, just straight removing the use can make the tone very commanding. To fix this, all you have to do is experiment with your sentence structure. Find the best way to get the idea across without being too repetitive or without creating a really bossy narrator. The crowd's mill around your table at the food court. Sip your soda and place the glass back down. The waitress takes her time getting to you. In this latest edit, the tone is less commanding and more likely to draw a reader into the story. Sitting at the table becomes a chance to look around. Sipping the soda becomes a stage structure. Waiting for the waitress becomes an observation of a doggling service worker rather than a command. All the same information is there, it's just rearranged to be more engaging. Second-person perspective can be novel and hypnotic, drawing the reader into a story that seems fresh and new. However, it can be a very challenging perspective to master. It's not as widespread or intuitive as the other perspectives, and not every reader is susceptible to its charms. Still, I recommend studying second-person as it can be very enlightening in its challenges. Just like last time, I've left a short reading list in the description if you'd like to read some well-written second-person. This week, continuing our three-part writing prompt from last week, I want you to write the same story again, except this time in second-person. You can try out this prompt as a series of commands or as a backdoor first person. It's up to you. Stay tuned next time when we explore the chameleon behemoth that is third-person perspective. If you like what I do here, please like and subscribe. Otherwise, I'll see you next time, and remember, it doesn't have to be perfect. Just about right.