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Resources · Glossaries · POV & narration · Second person
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Second person

IntermediatePOV & narrationReference↑Broader term: Broader: Point of view
Narration addressing "you". Intimate or alienating depending on craft.

Narration addressing "you". Intimate or alienating depending on craft. POV choices are contracts about knowledge and voice. Break them deliberately, not accidentally.

As a structure label, it helps you map drafts. Labels serve the story, not the other way around.

This term narrows the broader idea of **point of view**. Keep parent and child roles distinct in outlines.

Why it matters

Second person clarifies narration choices that affect empathy, irony, and what readers can know when.

Common pitfalls

  • Using second person as a label without checking whether the page actually performs the job.
  • Treating child and parent terms as interchangeable in beat sheets.
  • Letting second person crowd out scene goal, conflict, or change at the end of the unit.
See also
  • First person — Narration uses "I", with tight access to one consciousness.
  • Point of view — Who tells the story and how close we feel to their mind.
  • Free indirect discourse — Third-person prose colored by a character's voice without explicit "I thought."
Related constellation
  • This term (this term)
  • First person
  • Point of view
  • Free indirect discourse

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