#306 | Writing in Second Person: A Reading of Short Fiction

🎙 This week, we're taking a slight detour off-script to explore the uniqueness of the second-person point of view. Driven by a narrative perspective I'm playing with for a new project, I look at why the "you" form is so underutilized, how it creates radical intimacy and immediacy, and the fine line between an immersive experience and a jarring style choice. I also break down a few notable examples before sharing an original scene of my own.Inside the Episode:(00:09) The Writer's Sandbox: Why I’ve been practicing random scenes in the second person and wrestling with a perspective that is completely unnatural to how we normally consume prose.(01:39) The Anatomy of "You": Breaking down the three distinct features of second-person narration: placing the reader as the protagonist, creating forced immediacy, and erasing all narrative distance.(04:09) Masters of the Perspective: Looking back at past episodes—from the opening of Ron Currie's The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne to the complete second-person immersion of Jay McInerney's Bright Lights, Big City.(05:35) From Saint-Malo to the MFA: The backstory of an original creative piece tested at a writing workshop in France and read aloud during a recent MFA immersion series.(06:34) Original Fiction: A live reading of a second-person scene.Links & Resources: ✓ (Better) Books: Sign up at BooksforMen.org. 📚 Master Your Craft: AristotleforNovelists.com. ⚡️ Connect: Instagram @douglasvigliotti | DouglasVigliotti.com. 💥 Featured Episodes: #150 Bright Lights, Big City, #153 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and #293 The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne.Life is too short to read sh*tty books. 🫠