Who remembers the excellent Choose Your Own Adventure book series? Penned in second person, these little books allowed young adult readers to visit space, time travel to the dinosaurs’ last day, battle Bigfoot or even cruise on the Titanic or climb Mt. Everest. As a kid, I loved them—and it’s probably why I love the second person rendering so much today.
We get mail expressing surprise we’re so open to it—there is at least one second person narrative in most of our issues; in some instances, two. While I consider second person akin to the found footage subgenre—you’re either into it, or you’re not—I think the point of second person POV gets misconstrued.
In my opinion, second person POV isn’t meant to put readers in the shoes of the narrator, although that can sometimes occur. It’s to make readers feel uncomfortable in a way other POVs can’t:
Readers are being watched. In a solid piece, it almost feels as though a ghost is talking directly to readers. While it’s been cited this creates distance between readers and the material, on the contrary: this makes readers feel like they’re being watched, adding unwritten tension.
Readers are watching. Enter the found footage aspect. A well-executed second person narrative makes readers feel as though they’re eavesdropping; watching something they shouldn’t. It’s voyeurism at its finest when done right, making them feel guilty yet helpless to resist.
We receive only a handful of second person pieces, and although we love it, it’s a tough sell even for us. While many factors go into choosing a story for publication—and most of the time it’s not due to quality—second person POV is an exception.
For us, the most common reasons a second person narrative falls flat are:
Too long. Second person creates awesome tension—but it can’t be sustained over a too long a text; just like an overly passionate relationship, anything that intense has a shorter burn time. For second person, shorter is better. There can be exceptions to this—we’ve found a couple of longer ones that succeed, and there are probably novels out there that work, too. But on the whole, a good rule to follow is short.
Used as gimmick. Second person has to serve a purpose, meaning it’s being used to evoke a strong emotional response such as paranoia, fear, or transgressionary guilt. If the story would feel the same in first or third person, second person isn’t the thing to use (this is a good litmus test). The risk of using second person as a gimmick is that the story feels thin at best and boring at worst—but either way, it doesn’t engage the reader.
Slow pacing. The whole point of second person is to keep that tension taut, and so the pacing has to move at a good clip. Many times, second person pieces have extraneous scenes or low-temp situations that slow the story down.
An excellent example of expertly-rendered second person is Aura, by Carlos Fuentes. https://www.amazon.com/Aura-English-Spanish-Carlos-Fuentes/dp/0374511713/
Other than that, here’s a list of the second person pieces appearing in our pages:
Tales from a Communion Line, Yash Syedbagheri
Like it’s a Mad Thing – Lee Ann Kostempski
Carrion – Ellen Anderson
Phantom Touches – Amar Benchika
The Days Before – Stephanie Lennon
In the City of Floating Wolves – Tara Campbell
Of Ink and Blood – Kevin M. Casin
Little Red – Paula Weiman
A Cracked Screen – Alice Avoy
Memory Foam – Rowan Hill
The Flute – Ernest O. Ògúnyẹmí
How to Make a Vase – Kieran Thompson
Meeting Mary Bloody Thighs in a Convenience Store in Arkansas—Josie Levin
Keepsake Box – Lynn Wiser
…and look forward to more in 2026 and 2027!
Thanks for reading,
Kristi
I love documentaries about many things—topping the list lately, it’s been urban legends and the paranormal. Recently, I found the The Lady of the Lake, a 2023 documentary hosted by paranormal investigator and historian Amanda D. Paulson, about an infamous murder and ensuing supernatural activity at Lake Crescent in Washington State.
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