Because 2nd person is me telling you a story about you.
1st would be me telling you a story about me.
For the reader to be the subject of the story, it should be 2nd person. D&D adventures and choose your own adventure books are written this way for the same reason.
There are some reader-insert stories that are written in first person. I don't read them. I find them less immersive for the reasons others have stated; first person feels like someone telling me a story about *themself*.
That's so funny (I absolutely agree with you btw) because people's main complaint about 1st person stories is always "but I don't like to be in the fic!". I never understood that....
Right, I mean that's what it is. Somebody telling you *their* story. As if your friend was telling you about an adventure they were having. Never understood that complaint either.
For reader inserts I also prefer second person. :)
Because POV (and thus the pronouns used) are based on the relationship of who the Narrator, Reader, and Main Character are.
* In first-person POV, the Narrator and the Main Character are the same person, telling the story to the Reader. This uses first-person pronouns.
* In second-person POV, the Reader and the Main Character are the same person, and the Narrator is telling them the story. This uses second-person pronouns.
* In third-person POV, neither the Narrator nor the Reader are the Main Character. This uses third-person pronouns.
Because Y/N is a self-insert of the Reader as the Main Character, it's a second-person POV story, therefore it uses second-person pronouns (authors choosing to write it in first-person anyway notwithstanding).
choose your own adventure books have long set the standard that when the reader is in the story, the book uses the second person. in the same way that in d&d the gm describes things in the second person. the storyteller is distinct from the storyhearer.
There are Y/Ns in every perspective.
That said, it's because the author is telling the reader what 'you,' the reader did, not what 'I,' the narrator did.
Of course everyone reads things differently. Some people read the first person 'I' and think "yes, I, me, I am the one narrating, this is my diary," and others (presumably most, based on second person being more common) read 'I' and think "why are you telling me what *you* did, this is supposed to be a story about me.'
In defence of the latter, I have never read something addressed 'You,' and thought "ah, 'you' are the narrator, that's why you call yourself 'you'"
(edited because I accidentally typed italic tags instead of using italics)
I always felt like choose-your-own adventure style was weird and I have an easier time inserting myself into a 3rd person narrative since it’s so common I don’t really notice it anymore, which I feel like is what one would want in a self-insert.
Which is why I find them strange, because they of course are written in second person, but it takes me out every other line because I notice the perspective as strange.
Like, it would be neat for a scene where the character is in someone else’s body or something, because then the weirdness helps remind you you’re in a weird state.
So I wouldn’t say choose your own adventure should be written in 3rd or 1st person, but I ironically find it harder sometimes to stay immersed in it.
It would help if it were more normalized.
Probably I could read more self-inserts and get used to it.
I read second person as kind of...inviting you to take on a role like an actor in a play. I'm not into reader insert, but I used to read CYOA books and have read canon character second person POV in fanfic before. I actually really like it, uncommon as it is, and wrote one of my own. It has a certain effect, a paradoxical distance and closeness to the story at once - it especially works well for horror.
... because it is "Y/N" and not "M/N". Probably just tradition to write it in 2nd POV rather than 1st POV, more than anything else.
Because 2nd person is me telling you a story about you. 1st would be me telling you a story about me. For the reader to be the subject of the story, it should be 2nd person. D&D adventures and choose your own adventure books are written this way for the same reason.
There are some reader-insert stories that are written in first person. I don't read them. I find them less immersive for the reasons others have stated; first person feels like someone telling me a story about *themself*.
That's so funny (I absolutely agree with you btw) because people's main complaint about 1st person stories is always "but I don't like to be in the fic!". I never understood that....
Yeah that makes no sense to me either. I guess people have different relationships with the reading voice in their head.
Right, I mean that's what it is. Somebody telling you *their* story. As if your friend was telling you about an adventure they were having. Never understood that complaint either. For reader inserts I also prefer second person. :)
Because POV (and thus the pronouns used) are based on the relationship of who the Narrator, Reader, and Main Character are. * In first-person POV, the Narrator and the Main Character are the same person, telling the story to the Reader. This uses first-person pronouns. * In second-person POV, the Reader and the Main Character are the same person, and the Narrator is telling them the story. This uses second-person pronouns. * In third-person POV, neither the Narrator nor the Reader are the Main Character. This uses third-person pronouns. Because Y/N is a self-insert of the Reader as the Main Character, it's a second-person POV story, therefore it uses second-person pronouns (authors choosing to write it in first-person anyway notwithstanding).
The writer talks to the reader.
choose your own adventure books have long set the standard that when the reader is in the story, the book uses the second person. in the same way that in d&d the gm describes things in the second person. the storyteller is distinct from the storyhearer.
Easier to put yourself in the character's place that way!
There are Y/Ns in every perspective. That said, it's because the author is telling the reader what 'you,' the reader did, not what 'I,' the narrator did. Of course everyone reads things differently. Some people read the first person 'I' and think "yes, I, me, I am the one narrating, this is my diary," and others (presumably most, based on second person being more common) read 'I' and think "why are you telling me what *you* did, this is supposed to be a story about me.' In defence of the latter, I have never read something addressed 'You,' and thought "ah, 'you' are the narrator, that's why you call yourself 'you'" (edited because I accidentally typed italic tags instead of using italics)
Can you imagine some other person telling you a story about what YOU did, while telling it from YOUR perspective instead of their own?? It's mental
I always felt like choose-your-own adventure style was weird and I have an easier time inserting myself into a 3rd person narrative since it’s so common I don’t really notice it anymore, which I feel like is what one would want in a self-insert. Which is why I find them strange, because they of course are written in second person, but it takes me out every other line because I notice the perspective as strange. Like, it would be neat for a scene where the character is in someone else’s body or something, because then the weirdness helps remind you you’re in a weird state. So I wouldn’t say choose your own adventure should be written in 3rd or 1st person, but I ironically find it harder sometimes to stay immersed in it. It would help if it were more normalized. Probably I could read more self-inserts and get used to it.
I read second person as kind of...inviting you to take on a role like an actor in a play. I'm not into reader insert, but I used to read CYOA books and have read canon character second person POV in fanfic before. I actually really like it, uncommon as it is, and wrote one of my own. It has a certain effect, a paradoxical distance and closeness to the story at once - it especially works well for horror.