too often it slips into multiple third limited without any delineation of who is actually telling the story
This is one of the problems I run into when I try to write from that POV.
I've seen it said that it's meant to foster intimacy, putting the reader right there in the character's shoes, but I feel it's a *distancing* technique on the part of the character.
I agree with you there. I've always felt alienated from the piece when it's written in second person. My students will sometimes say of a thing that's written in second person that it's more universal, that the "you" let's the reader put herself in the story. But I just feel left out--"you" feels too big to me most of the time. You who? You everybody? LOL Because there is this ambiguity to "you," I feel much more distant from the character I'm reading about.
It's interesting what you say about the kinds of characters that lend themselves more easily to narration. I think one of the reasons that Xander ends up narrating a lot of Buffyverse fic is that he's rather verbose and not so big on the concealing of his emotions. I like fic very much that manages to get inside one of those characters who is tightly emotionally reined (like Dean) and convincingly show me what that character is thinking--the thought behind the clenched jaw. (And incidentally, man can Jensen Ackles clench a jaw something fierce)
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winterfish
no subject
Date: 2007-03-14 01:27 am (UTC)This is one of the problems I run into when I try to write from that POV.
I've seen it said that it's meant to foster intimacy, putting the reader right there in the character's shoes, but I feel it's a *distancing* technique on the part of the character.
I agree with you there. I've always felt alienated from the piece when it's written in second person. My students will sometimes say of a thing that's written in second person that it's more universal, that the "you" let's the reader put herself in the story. But I just feel left out--"you" feels too big to me most of the time. You who? You everybody? LOL Because there is this ambiguity to "you," I feel much more distant from the character I'm reading about.
It's interesting what you say about the kinds of characters that lend themselves more easily to narration. I think one of the reasons that Xander ends up narrating a lot of Buffyverse fic is that he's rather verbose and not so big on the concealing of his emotions. I like fic very much that manages to get inside one of those characters who is tightly emotionally reined (like Dean) and convincingly show me what that character is thinking--the thought behind the clenched jaw. (And incidentally, man can Jensen Ackles clench a jaw something fierce)