Sometimes in the narrative of an MC's thoughts I've seen something like this cropping up: 'I've wondered about this before, it's like you know something might not be right, but you can't tell what'.

Who is the MC addressing with the use of 'you'? If it's the reader, then is that breaking the flow of the story by making the reader almost a character in the book? Or is that okay in certain types of story but not others?

I've read comments advising against this use of 'you', and I'll admit to repeating this advice, but I wonder if I'm doing the right thing. I certainly wouldn't want to give the wrong advice simply because I've misunderstood something.

Your comments would be most appreciated.

Regards, Andy

I don't think it's an address - I think it's "you" used as a universal, a bit like saying "one".

Like, I might say in conversation "it's like when you're in the car and you realise halfway through the drive you've no idea what you've been doing for the last ten minutes," - I would say that whether or not the person I was speaking to was a driver. I don't literally mean them, it's just a figure of speech. It could be replaced throughout by "one" and the meaning would be exactly the same.

It's different to saying, "Rick kissed me. I slapped him. Well - what would you have done in my place?"

That is a direct appeal to the reader - it's the narrator looking out of the page. You can't replace it with "one" because it doesn't make sense. Which is not to say it's wrong - I actually really like it when the narrator talks directly to the reader if it's done well. But I don't think it's the same as the example you gave.

I've read two books recently that made a lot of use of direct "you" address. Both were very, very good.

One was a story being told to the unnamed reader, with a lot of direct remarks "and now, because you have been very good, I will tell you..." etc etc.

The other was a sort of novel-letter where one of the characters is talking to the other. The "you" addressed is a character within the novel, and the the narrator is telling her version of events, pitting it against his. "Well, Patrick, I ask you. What was I to have done? What would any nicely brought up young girl have done?"

Both were excellent - truly excellent. And I think this shows that there can be multiple ways to use "you" and that none are wrong, per se. It depends what you are doing and why, and how well you do it.

For me 'you' appears is if MC knows he/she is a character of a novel, and they are talking to the readers.

Or just imagine, any theater actor is acting on the stage and they're making eye contact with audience. And I also wonder what's the motive of Authors using 'You' if it means readers.

<Added>

Oh sorry for the silly mistake "is if " 'As if' supposed to be there.

Thanks Mox, you were up early!

And thanks Flora. My example wasn't very good, you gave a better one with, 'Well - what would you have done in my place?' That's more what I meant. I guess I'm thinking of when it appears out of the blue and it's not used as a regular device in a story and who 'you' is addressing is unclear. I'm trying to be tactful here, but I'm not necessarily referring to published writing, if you see what I mean.

<Added>

Oh, I meant to ask, what were the books you referred to?

Yes I can see if it floats in out of no-where it might be jarring. I think like most things, it has to be done effectively or not at all.

Yes, there are two kinds of "you", grammatically speaking: second person, and "generic you" which is the one when the speaker really means something like "one" or "I".

and in novels, yes, it can be addressed by the writer to the reader.

Come to think about it, I ought to amend my blog-post about it...

Emma

<Added>

Blogpost here - scroll down a bit to "A Word about Second Person Narratives"

http://emmadarwin.typepad.com/thisitchofwriting/2011/10/point-of-view-narrators-4-moving-point-of-view-and-other-stories.html

And thanks very much for starting the thread, Manusha, and making me realise there was a bit missing on my post...

Thanks for the link, Emma, I look forward to giving it a read when I finish work (first day back today... groan!)