Day 18: Unusual POVs with David Abrams & Allison Amend

Two of the more unusual point of view choices, but they can be fun (and necessary) all the same: The Second Person and The First Person Plural (or the snobbier term “Royal We”). What are they? Why experiment with them? What effects can they grant you on the page and what might they take away? Special guests David Abrams and Allison Amend help us find out.Allison Amend, a Chicago native and a diehard Cubs fan, graduated from Stanford University and the Iowa Writer's Workshop. She is the author of the IPPY award-winning short story collection Things That Pass for Love and the novels A Nearly Perfect Copy and Stations West, which was a finalist for the 2011 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature and the Oklahoma Book Award. Her most recent book, Enchanted Islands, was on the longlist for the International Dublin Award. Allison teaches creative writing at Lehman College, in The Bronx, New York.David Abrams is the author of two novels: Brave Deeds and Fobbit, a comedy about the Iraq War that Publishers Weekly called “an instant classic.” It was also a New York Times Notable Book of 2012, an Indie Next pick, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, and a finalist for the L.A. Times’ Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction. David has also been a manuscript consultant for Grub Street for the past four years. He lives in Helena, Montana with his wife and their many cats. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit 7amnovelist.substack.com