Anyone had any experiences in writing in the second person perspective? I've just started a new project and I started it off addressing the reader in quite a conversationalist tone ("So one day you're just sitting with around a table eating lunch with some people you've taken to hanging out with and then one of them turns into a massive bug creature, with the pincers and everything.") I had originally intended to use it just for the opening chapter to acknowledge the ridiculousness of the inciting incident before moving on to the more character driven and intimate story within this world, but as I moved onto chapter two, I kinda stuck with it and I'm getting to the point where I need to decide if I should go first or second person. The story involves this guy and his friend going on a roadtrip around the country as the world ends picking up their friends for one last adventure. It certainly serves a purpose for the opening but I think it could also make an interesting reading experience; his friends are your friends too, sort of thing. I did some research, found this lady talking about her experiences and she quotes Arthur Plotnik saying “Being rare in fiction, the ‘you’ voice commits the sin of drawing attention to itself—to technique—and away from story and character. To compensate, its execution must be masterly, its purpose clear, its force overriding.” which is bit of a tall order but at the same time." but I'd say you could say the same about any writing. How have people found writing in the second person for an extended piece?
I really like it, as a writer and a reader, but... I don't have a lot of company in that. So I don't write in it much. I do think it's easy to fall into a "telling" trap when writing in 2nd (at least when I write in second) but otherwise I think it's cool.
I like it as well. I've written some of it. It can be done well. Check out Halting State, by Charles Stross. Also, Nick Sagan uses it for one POV in Idylwild.
