Second person point of view.

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DeagleZ
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Second person point of view.

#1 Post by DeagleZ »

English is not my native language, so i have a question.When narrator speaks, which option is better for second person point of view in the visual novels, past tense or present? I saw both of them and now I can't decide.
For example (just random image):
Image
You opened that chest (He opened that chest) or You open that chest (He opens that chest).

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Empish
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Re: Second person point of view.

#2 Post by Empish »

It's more a question of what style do you like better rather than which is objectively better. Either can work well.

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Rastagong
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Re: Second person point of view.

#3 Post by Rastagong »

I would say that usually, 2nd-person writing is in the present tense, since the whole point is to involve the reader as much as possible, making you the protagonist, right now. 2nd-person writing is less common in visual novels than in (choice-based) interactive fiction though.

That said, there are definitely certain works in the 2nd person which play with the past tense for a certain purpose. I don't have anything specific in mind, but I'm 100% sure there are pieces of interactive fiction which play the protagonist remembering past events, or maybe inventing them.

But as I see it, the present tense is more common in almost all cases!
Read Sylvan Disappearance, a folk horror epistolary mystery visual novel!

DeagleZ
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Re: Second person point of view.

#4 Post by DeagleZ »

Rastagong wrote: Tue Jan 02, 2018 6:51 am I would say that usually, 2nd-person writing is in the present tense, since the whole point is to involve the reader as much as possible, making you the protagonist, right now. 2nd-person writing is less common in visual novels than in (choice-based) interactive fiction though.

That said, there are definitely certain works in the 2nd person which play with the past tense for a certain purpose. I don't have anything specific in mind, but I'm 100% sure there are pieces of interactive fiction which play the protagonist remembering past events, or maybe inventing them.

But as I see it, the present tense is more common in almost all cases!
Thank you for your detailed reply!

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