I've never tried writing in the first person plural myself, but your post reminded me of an article I read on the topic a while back. It has an interesting discussion of the POV with links to and analyses of some examples. Definitely worth reading if you're interested in experimenting! https://electricliterature.com/read-like-a-writer-first-person-plural-pov/ And EL has a similar article on writing in the second person, to bring the topic back to where it started: https://electricliterature.com/read-like-a-writer-write-in-the-second-person/
I haven't read much second person fiction, and the only novel I can recall in the POV is Jay McInerney's Bright Lights Big City. It's been a few years, but I remember it being decent, though not spectacular. The POV felt natural to me despite the fact that I'm about as far removed from the hard-partying MC as can be; I don't know if it drew me into his perspective more than first person would have, but it certainly didn't detract or alienate me. Maybe it's simply well-written enough to pull off the odd POV (and short enough that it doesn't have time to grate), or maybe I'm just used to faking my way through life as someone else, lol.
I've got another one in second person. It's just sort of the way it came to me so I wrote it that way. I'm pretty happy with it, but I am wondering if I should change the POV before submitting it anywhere. I don't want to go through it and just change the tense it's in and see which is better. That can be a beast and leave me no closer to deciding. I'm not sure why I'm doing this in my writing at times. I don't know, I'm kind of liking this piece in second person. I just know it could be a hard sell if it sells at all. Any more thoughts on this topic, my writer friends?
I sold a story to Apex in first person plural. It was just an experiment to see what that voice was like. I think I had read "Rose for Emily" or something. Seeing an author pull off a trick makes me want to do it too. I still feel bad that House of Leaves has already been claimed. I've had that nightmare many times, of that strange borderless house, and I would have loved to have written that. Yeah, ignoring profits and such, that's the book I wish was mine. Just the craziness that's in the formatting. It's one of a kind. I use second person every now and then just to vary the paragraph. It creates one of those strong-bond sentences because it's so unlike its neighbors. It's good for that, I think. It's a sentence cohesion trick, which is to say it tightens the paragraph. Now, I know I've posted this before, but my favorite 2nd-person story is "Persistence Hunting," which I rate five stars. Its trick is to use an absurdly aggressive narrative voice. That way the narrator is berating you. It's not a matter of being politely told what you did and having a chance to deny it, but more like being hammered into the story. You're forced to participate. You were a mark from the get-go. Age seven: All Mary Ashford had to do was smile. You kicked over your licorice. She skipped away, shared it with that red-headed oaf Mikey Vinson. Rube. Age fourteen: Sarah Miller asked you to the last dance of the year. Why wouldn’t you help her with her algebra homework? An easy down-payment on a guaranteed post-dance make-out session. You even gave Sarah your final exam answers. She passed algebra. She passed on attending the dance. Stomach flu—very sad. She cried on the phone. Two weeks later she went to the final dance at the school across town. With Mikey F—ing Vinson. The rumor mill had them crossing fourth base. In a hot tub. You cursed Mikey Vinson, prayed to God for wolves to snuff the bastard, to disembowel him in a hot tub, a steaming red bowl of Vinson soup. Revenge fantasies waned. You knew the truth. This was on you. You cried yourself to sleep, thinking Sarah Miller would be the last girl you’d ever truly fall for. Chump. "A steaming red bowl of Vinson soup!" That's my favorite part. What I find really interesting is, who is the narrator? I think it's strongly defined as the MC looking back at his life. I suppose it could be some manner of godlike intelligence, a St. Peter at the Gates, but it really feels like the MC.
