CHALLENGES AND SUCCESSES OF WRITING

CHALLENGES AND SUCCESSES OF WRITINGSECOND-PERSON FICTIONAfter writing “Pregnancy and Other Dysfunctions,” I now have a better understanding of the unique features that come from second-person point of view. This project highlighted ways second-person point of view could be used to tell a unique story. I use second-person point of view similarly to first-person, where the narrator focuses solely on the perspective of “you.” With this distance, the point of view could be defined as second-person limited. The “you” even proves to be an unreliable narrator when the protagonist goes into shock on page 33 and 34. Furthermore, the second-person point of view flourishes during the hospital scene because of the sense of detachment second- person point of view inhabits so well, and it brings an interesting perspective to the traumatic experience. This detachment also works well with the way the protagonist distances herself from other characters during her pregnancy. However, second-person point of view presented many challenges as well, mainly involving tense, hypothetical options, and imperatives.I experimented with several tenses before settling on present tense. I found that present and future tenses works well with second-person but past tense is awkward. This awkwardness is apparent when I change a passage from “Pregnancy and Other Dysfunctions” into past tense:The loading bar on your computer screen inched forward, and you tapped your fingernails against your desk in a rapid tempo. “Ten Quick-and-Easy Gluten Free Recipes” didn’t write itself, but you were forced to improve your fingernail solo while your Office Suite installed another update. (17)The verbs draw attention to themselves, pushing the reader out of the story as the readers is forced to reconcile what they are being told and their own recent past. The identification and displacement of the reader into the “you” is unbalanced by past tense, displacing the readers more often than drawing them in.Despite the displacement of past tense, there is one scene where the protagonist slips into past tense on page 27,But your husband has asked you to behave. “She doesn’t have a daughter,” he explained in the taxi on the way over. He stared at you until you agreed, and now, even in the face of such discomfort, you cannot bring yourself to slap her hand away.The line “But your husband has asked you” is the main character reminiscing on a conversation that happened earlier, but on the third line I guide the reader back out of past tense with the “and now” that signifies moving into the present. This line does not push the reader out of the story because it is brief and primarily involves a character other than “you.” In this line he asked and he explained, which does not involve “you” doing anything other than listening. Once “you” moves back into the action, present tense has been reestablished. I chose present tense over future perfect because I did not want to focus on hypothetical characters or potential outcomes.