Books for Men

#306 | Writing in Second Person: A Reading of 'Gray'

Listen Later

šŸŽ™ This week, we're taking a slight detour off-script to explore the uniqueness of the second-person point of view. Driven by a narrative perspective I'm playing with for a new project, I look at why the "you" form is so underutilized, how it creates radical intimacy and immediacy, and the fine line between an immersive experience and a jarring style choice. I also break down a few notable examples before sharing an original scene of my own.

Inside the Episode:

  • (00:09) The Writer's Sandbox: Why Iā€™ve been practicing random scenes in the second person and wrestling with a perspective that is completely unnatural to how we normally consume prose.
  • (01:39) The Anatomy of "You": Breaking down the three distinct features of second-person narration: placing the reader as the protagonist, creating forced immediacy, and erasing all narrative distance.
  • (04:09) Masters of the Perspective: Looking back at past episodesā€”from the opening of Ron Currie's The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne to the complete second-person immersion of Jay McInerney's Bright Lights, Big City.
  • (05:35) From Saint-Malo to the MFA: The backstory of an original creative piece tested at a writing workshop in France and read aloud during a recent MFA immersion series.
  • (06:34) Original Fiction, Gray: A live reading of a second-person scene tracking a newly ordained, cynical ruler wrestling with power, family resentment, and the haunting memory of a pair of gray eyes.

    • Links & Resources:Ā 

    āœ“ (Better) Books: Sign up at BooksforMen.org.Ā 

    šŸ“š Master Your Craft: AristotleforNovelists.com.Ā 

    āš”ļø Connect: Instagram @douglasvigliotti | DouglasVigliotti.com.Ā 

    šŸ’„ Featured Episodes: #150 Bright Lights, Big City, #153 Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and #293 The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne.

    Life is too short to read sh*tty books. šŸ« Ā 

    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store
    Books for MenBy Douglas Vigliotti
    • 4.8
    • 4.8
    • 4.8
    • 4.8
    • 4.8

    4.8

    22 ratings

    More shows like Books for Men

    View all
    Book Talk On The Old Man And The Sea By Ernest Hemingway by Cheslin Jose

    Book Talk On The Old Man And The Sea By Ernest Hemingway

    0 Listeners