An experiment

I had forgotten about the interview with Rick Marlowe. It's definitely worth reading (again). And don't let him fool you - it is not exceedingly tedious (in fact, not even ordinary tedious).

I've written one or two stories in the second person over the years, and I enjoyed it. I wouldn't want to do it all the time, but I'd encourage anyone thinking about writing in such a way to go ahead and try it. What have you got to lose? The big advantage, as I see it, is that you put the reader right in the middle of the story, more so than first or third person.

I feel like what I would want to say in detail will come across as overly critical, so instead, I will just briefly offer my view that "person" is not nearly as important as content The relative novelty of any perspective will not compensate for lack of content ............nor detract from superb content, even if that perspective is quirky. The biggest disadvantage to second person is the insinuation that the main character is the reader, and that the author is speaking for them. This may work in stories with more universal themes, but in a spanking story it is risky. For example, if the main character is nothing like the reader, or in the case of a spanking story has a different orientation, and the author is claiming they're "you", a strong possible reaction might well be: 'no it's not and I can't imagine myself as them either'.

That is a problem. I had to include a brief description of who "you" are in the title because I couldn't find another way set the scene.

I don't consider "You need money" to be one of my finest stories. It's at least the tenth attempt to write in the second person, and the only one that I've been able to finish.

Goodgulf
Yeah, I get it. You can try to explain the "you", but then it becomes a question as to why take that step if the story can just be 1st or 3rd person, and avoid the hassle. It was a noble effort and interesting experiment though.