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Mon Mar 05, 2012 10:37 pm
Stori says...



If you've ever read Kipling's "Just So Stories", you probably remember him talking directly to you. What I wonder is, can the same be done in a novel?
  





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Wed Mar 07, 2012 8:39 pm
Audy says...



Yes. I mean, I haven't read that work of Kipling's yet. But if you're refering to second-person point of view, I imagine you could.

In fact, when done right it is quite effective. The link I gave isn't quite a novel, but the entire narrative is written in second-person, and it's interesting to note how there is still a character, despite the pov being "you"

There are actually many second-person POV novels out there though, and in some of them you ARE the character. :)
  





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Thu Mar 08, 2012 1:16 am
RacheDrache says...



But in case you're not referring to second-person POV, what you probably mean is a style of third person omniscient that was quite popular in Kipling's time and before that. It's sort of the "dear reader" sort in which the author is more involved as a narrator and your presence is acknowledged as the reader.

Famous examples are numerous, but off the top of my head I think of Les Miserables from Victor Hugo and The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. This style has the "Our story begins here at ____ with _____" sort of feel. You aren't necessarily the character or a stand-in for the character, so it's not a bunch of "you"s instead of "I"s, for instance, but rather a third person with the occasional aside to the reader. Kind of neat! Very story-tale like atmosphere to it.

However, it fell out of style because of a hole bunch of literary movements and world changes, and rather than embarrass myself in front of English majors by attempting to explain it, I'll tell you the gist of it. Basically, the idea of an author as a moral authority fell out of favor, and the reader aside style was often used to pass moral judgment onto a reader.

In answer to your question then, you can absolutely use that in a novel (I haven't read that Kipling work either, so I don't know if we're talking about the same thing) but beware of a) using it to try to convince the reader of right and wrong and anything in between and b) sounding outdated.

Hope this helps!
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