Writing Excuses · Mary Robinette Kowal, DongWon Song, Erin Roberts, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler
20.16: Second Person
April 20, 2025·27 min·2 clips
Mary Robinette reveals how second person makes readers feel the lack of control in marginalized stories.
As heard by us
A practical guide to when second person helps and when it starts to feel too personal.
The episode treats second person as a matter of distance and control. It breaks the form into reader address, character to character address, and a letter writing mode, then tests each against role playing games and technical manuals.
Why you'd press play
Second person feels risky until you hear how it can aim at the reader, another character, or a letter.
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