You’re willing to explore. You’re striving for meaning, and you want interesting experiences.

Well, that’s the second-person point of view (POV) for you: nontraditional, explorative, meaningful and interesting.

It also sounds a bit like an ad for an exaggerated travel agent or a self-help book, doesn’t it? There’s a reason for that, and we’ll get to it later. But first, I have a little riddle for you…

Is this blog post written in the second-person point of view?

By now, you know I use the word “you” quite a lot. In fact, many bloggers address their readers personally as “you.” Does it make our writing fit the second-person POV?

As you may have guessed, the answer is no.

True, I’m addressing you as the audience. But there’s still a protagonist to this story, and it’s me, in the first person. I’m the person behind this post.

What is second-person point of view?

Let’s start with a second-person point of view definition.

In fiction, pure second-person POV uses the perspective of a single character, the protagonist, to tell the story. This character is well-defined, with habits, traits and a unique personality. The reader is simply placed “behind” this character, seeing and experiencing the world through his eyes, body and mind.

Need a second person example? It sounds like this:

Eventually you ascend the stairs to the street. You think of Plato’s pilgrims climbing out of the cave, from the shadow world of appearances toward things as they really are, and you wonder if it is possible to change in this life.

— Jay McInerney, “Bright Lights, Big City”

As you can see, there is no “I” in this second person example. There might be a “he” or “him,” whenever the protagonist is interacting with someone, but your principal pronouns are “you,” “your” and “yours.”

For that reason, it’s a bit hard to create a variety of sentence structure in this POV. Starting every sentence with “you” can quickly grow old.

If you try using the second-person POV, watch out for this issue. You can alternate pronouns by writing about items and other characters in your protagonist’s environment. For example, here’s an excerpt from from Italo Calvino’s “If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler:”

Adjust the light so you won’t strain your eyes. Do it now, because once you’re absorbed in reading there will be no budging you. Make sure the page isn’t in shadow, a clotting of black letters on a gray background, uniform as a pack of mice…

The good and evil of writing in second person

The second-person POV casts the reader as the protagonist. That means she’s “forced” to act and think in ways that might not be authentic for her.

If you, as the writer, pull it off, this POV creates instant, complete empathy between the reader and the protagonist. It makes every thought and action her own and evokes emotional responses from her gut.

If you aren’t successful, though, reading in this POV can be a highly annoying experience for your audience.

Writing in the second person means treading a fine line. When you write in this POV, you’re very clearly attempting to manipulate the reader’s thoughts and emotions. Not all readers will take well to this strategy.

But that’s OK! All good writing manipulates a reader’s emotions; consider how we connect with characters like Holden Caulfield and Harry Potter. After watching the world through their eyes in third-person limited POV, no one can resist feeling for them — even though Holden is a fairly unlikeable character. That intimacy is emotional manipulation at its literary best.

The challenge of the second-person point of view is to manipulate your reader’s thoughts and impressions without forcing feeling and emotion where it doesn’t belong. You want it to feel natural, not kick your reader out of the story by trying too hard.

How do you master this balancing act? By reading great examples of the second-person point of view, testing it in your own writing and sharing your work with others for feedback and advice. A writing accountability partner or group will be invaluable in exploring this POV.

When should you choose the second-person POV?

There isn’t any perfect genre or type of work for a second-person POV story, though author Rebecca Demarest suggests that this perspective works best in short stories or “scattered chapters” of a longer manuscript.

This POV seems to work particularly well when an author is reflecting the Zeitgeist. By speaking in the second person, the author can hold a mirror to society, revealing emotions, actions and particular nuances of the times.

A prime example of this use is “Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas” by Tom Robbins. He captures the crash of an American dream and the economic wavering of the early 90s:

As far as you are concerned, the real fun stopped back in the eighties. Before your time. In those days, somebody in your position could earn major money. Jumbo money. You read about it, dreamed about it, all through college. How typical of your luck that when you finally arrived in a position to poach your golden eggs, the goose had a hysterectomy.

The majority of audiences can relate to these timely themes, so they’re a good bet for an exploration of character, society and empathy.

Other popular places to use the second-person point of view are poetry, interactive fiction and choose-your-own-adventure stories.

Will you try writing in second person?

Give the second-person POV a try. See what playing with this perspective can do for your writing, whether it’s in a new story or by tweaking the point of view in a story you’ve already written.

It won’t be a fit for every writer or for every story, but you just might find you enjoy writing in the second person.

This is an updated version of a story that was previously published. We update our posts as often as possible to ensure they’re useful for our readers.

Photo via Joyseulay/ Shutterstock 

But there are certainly more than seven or 20 original stories circulating about. And as a writer, it’s your job to tell them.

But what’s the key to telling a great tale? How do you learn how to write a story?

How to write a story

In this post, we’ll cover the difference between plot and story, boil down plots, and then use plot mutation to come up with a good story.

Here’s how come up with an interesting plot and write a story.

1. Know the difference between plot and story

E.M. Forster defined “story” as the chronological sequence of events, and “plot” as the causal sequence of events.

As he puts it, “The king died and then the queen died” is a story. “The king died and then the queen died of grief” is a plot.

But then, “The king died and then the queen died because she ate the same poisoned soup” is also a plot. So is, “The king died and then the queen died because she felt remorse at having killed him.”

Same story. Three completely different plots.

This gap between story and plot is the key to successfully mutating plots into a wealth of original ideas.

2. Boil your novel down to a sentence

You may have heard of the “elevator pitch” of a novel, where you have to convince someone to read your novel within 30 seconds.

This exercise is different.

An elevator pitch celebrates everything unique and exciting about your book. Here, we’re trying to get to the bottom of a given plot, to its common, unadorned story.

As an example, let’s have a look at the first book of the Harry Potter series.

Wikipedia sums up the plot in 1,943 words.

Amazon goes for a much less detailed version, recapping the book (without spoiling the end) at 103 words.

We can further boil down the novel into a single sentence. For example: “Boy reclaims his birthright.”

Actually, that’s a bit too concise for our purpose here, so we’ll dial it back and add some details: “In a quiet English town, a boy grows up unaware of his heritage until something opens his eyes to it, and then he reclaims his birthright.”

So far so good?

But hang on, isn’t that the plot of King Arthur? Or David Edding’s series, The Belgariad? Or a countless number of other novels?

Yes, it is.

And herein begins the magic of creating plot from plot.

3. Win at plot mutation

A successful plot mutation is completed in four steps:

1. Choose a novel you love.
2. Boil it down to a single paragraph.
3. Make a simple but profound change.
4. Follow through.

Let’s go over these steps in detail.

Choose a novel you love

We’ll stick with the first book of Harry Potter for this example.

Boil it down to a single paragraph

Make sure you cut out all names and actual places until you’re left with a generic summary. Do include a phrase about the settings (e.g. “In a fantasy world,” “In the Wild West,” “In Victorian England,” and so on).

How do you know if it’s boiled down just right? Well, it should allow you to easily recognize the novel you’ve started out with (enough details), but it should also remind you of some other novels (enough free play).

Make a simple but profound change

Start with underlining the elements that can be swapped. These will usually be the settings, the protagonist, the object of the protagonist’s desire, and the main obstacle in his or her path. In our Harry Potter example, we have “quiet English town,” “boy,” and “heritage/birthright.”

Now begins the fun. Try taking an underlined element and changing it. Instead of “quiet English town,” for example, let’s make it “ancient Japan.”

This alone is enough to completely transform the story, but you can go on changing other elements. Instead of “heritage/birthright,” we can have “a treasure,” or “a special power.” Instead of “boy,” we can choose “hardened assassin.”

Because we’re working with a big-picture summary, every minor variation creates a whole new story. Now all that’s left is to…

Follow through

If you skip this important stage, you’ll end up with a cheap Japanese Harry Potter knock-off.

What you really want is to dig deep into how every change you’ve made affects the story. Don’t stop at the superficial level.

If you’ve changed the settings, spell out how a new settings affect your protagonist.

What new cultural elements do you have to work with? What impact do they have on your protagonist’s desire? What in this new environment would stand in your protagonist’s way?

If you’ve changed the protagonist’s desire, follow through on what a different person it makes your protagonist, what it says about the settings, and so on.

It’s in these little details that true originality comes to play. Revel in the details. Let them lead you to new worlds and stories. And most of all, have fun.

4. Use plot mutation for your own story

Choose a novel, boil it down, change a key factor, and follow through.

Master these four steps of plot mutation, and you’re well on your way to an endless source of original story ideas. And that puts you on the right track for how to write a story.

This is an updated version of a story that was previously published. We update our posts as often as possible to ensure they’re useful for our readers.

Photo via fizkes / Shutterstock 

Nada. Zilch.

At most the moldy remains of an idea you had in seventh grade.

I’ve been there time and again, until by chance I attended a panel led by Orson Scott Card.

A strategy for developing good story ideas

In that panel, he opened my eyes to what a good story idea looks like, and how to generate story ideas without any effort.

With time, I’ve included my own little twist on his method. The result? A five-element story idea generator that will rarely fail you.

Here’s how to come up with good story ideas.

The First Element: Character

A story cannot take place without creating complex characters. The character might be a chair (I wrote one like that!), but it has to be there.

If you don’t have a specific idea for a character, make one up randomly. Choose the following:

• Race (e.g. human, alien, salt shaker)
• Gender (if applicable–and isn’t that a story idea in itself!)
• Age (from toddler to elder and even eternal)
• Marital status (single, married, divorced, three-year marriage contract…)
• Family status (parents, brothers, pets, etc. but also nationality and ethnicity)
• Circumstances (profession, work)
• And, of course, creative character names.

Interesting combinations make for richer stories, so keep that in mind as you fill out your character’s background.

The Second Element: Desire

Your character must have some desires in life. What drives her? What makes her get out of bed in the morning?

It can be an active desire, like running a marathon or getting a promotion. It can be a less active desire, like wanting to be left alone.

But it has to be a specific, attainable desire that will move your character throughout your story.

Can’t think of a good desire? Re-read your character’s background, try to get into that person’s shoes and think of what you would have wanted in her stead.

The Third Element: Resistance

If your character wanted something and got it right off the bat, you wouldn’t have a story, would you?

So the next critical element is the roadblock that stands in your character’s way.

It can be physical, emotional, spiritual or cultural. It can be another person or a group of people.

It can be a question of legality or consensus. It can be the very elements of nature.

Whatever it is, make sure the resistance matches the character. If you have a strong character, you will need a powerful obstacle to stand in her way — otherwise, the reader won’t be convinced that the struggle is real and desperate.

With these three elements, Orson Scott Card claimed at that panel, you have a solid story idea that can be developed into any media and length.

I like to add two more elements to the mix.

The Fourth Element: Change

A story is all about the character’s journey, and that journey is all about change. If the protagonist is the same at the end as she’d been in the beginning, something is missing.

For short stories, the change can be as simple as a single trait:

• A shy man overcomes his shyness in order to pursue true love.
• A skeptic woman must learn to believe before she can attain the career of her dreams.
• A haughty salt shaker must learn humility in order to find peace in its life.

And so on. The longer the story, the more scope you have to mold your character in new ways.

The Fifth Element: Settings

The settings of a story are more than a backdrop. It is often a character in and of itself. It impacts the way your protagonist thinks, feels, and behaves.

Choose an interesting backdrop that will really challenge your protagonist or highlight her journey.

For example, if your protagonist is on a journey of inner and outer peace, why not paint her story against a background of war, strife, or unrest?

Character, desire, resistance, change and settings. Pick them deliberately or randomize them completely; either way, you’re sure to get some interesting story ideas.

How’s that for your very own story idea generator? Now go make up some good story ideas and write!

This is an updated version of a story that was previously published. We update our posts as often as possible to ensure they’re useful for our readers.

Most writers struggle to find the time, energy and discipline to write.

This productivity tool will catapult you toward your writing goals in the best way possible: By gamifying your life.

Meet Habitica.

Habitica, formerly HabitRPG, is a free online game that revolves around you and your productivity in life.

It rewards you for achieving the goals you set.

It punishes you for skipping daily chores or tasks you entered.

And it has built-in community features that help you stay accountable.

How Habitica works

When you sign up for the game, you  create an avatar. You can choose skin color, hair style, glasses, background and even a wheelchair if you’re so inclined.

Now, armed with your avatar, you begin to define your goals.

There are three types of goals: habits, dailies, and to-dos.

1. Habits: Create a habit when you’re trying to encourage yourself to do an activity on a loose schedule. You can hit the habit’s plus button to give yourself a reward.

2. Dailies: These tasks must be completed every day. If you miss a daily, you will be penalized by losing health points (HP). Don’t worry, though — there are ways to heal, especially by leveling up.

3. To-Dos: This is the home of your non-daily tasks, which may or may not have a deadline.

When you complete your habit, check off a daily or complete a task, you will be rewarded with experience points (XP). The more XP you have, the closer you are to leveling up. The higher your level, the more you get when you complete a task or daily, and so on.

There are more features, which unlock when you reach level 10, but the basics remain the same: You get rewarded for doing what you consider worthy, and penalized when you shirk your duties.

Habitica’s armor, weapons and other rewards

When you complete a task, you receive some in-game money. That money can be spent on getting better armor and weapons, which enhance your in-game abilities.

But.

If rewards like armor and weapons don’t make you drool, you can define your own awards and set their prices.

For example:

• 10 gold coins for taking a 10-minute break.
• 25 gold coins for writing at a cafe instead of at home.
• 50 gold coins for half an hour of reading whatever you want.
• 100 gold coins for buying a book off your Amazon Wishlist.

Guilds and groups

Form an accountability group with your friends, and fight monsters together! Each task you complete will harm the monster, and any incomplete dailies will hurt not only you, but the rest of your team as well.

Talk about peer pressure!

Join the Wordsmiths or Writers guild, and pick up some accountability and inspiration challenges! The Wordsmiths guild has an “Accountability Club”, where you declare your weekly goal before the entire group, and a week later report back on how well you did. Follow through the challenge for an entire month (even if you don’t achieve your set goals), and you might win some in-game gems, as well, for those extra-special prizes!

Socializing on Habitica adds a whole new aspect to the game, and it’s much more fun than playing alone. (Though the latter is definitely an option, if you’re so inclined.)

Recommended settings

Include “Writing” as a habit you want to encourage. Click the plus button whenever you manage to write, and click the minus button if you haven’t written all day. Habitica will track for you how many times you’ve clicked each button.

Include “Procrastination” as a habit you wish to root out. Every day you procrastinate, hit the minus button to (moderately) punish yourself.

Set yourself a daily writing task of X words, but keep it sane and doable.See how long you can keep a positive streak — Habitica tracks that, too!

Join the Wordsmiths or Writers guild, and browse their challenges.

Create tasks for special writing milestones: completing 10k words of your novel, 20k words, and so on. There are challenges such as the Wordsmiths’ “Writing Across Middle Earth” that help you set such goals in a creative, fun way.

Back from a long break? Try the “Write, Kid!” challenge to get you back into the habit of writing.

Here’s the caveat

It’s tempting to start managing your entire life on Habitica. It helps to keep your head clear about your goals and dailies.

But.

Many people report that when they track everything in Habitica, writing becomes a secondary goal and suffers for it. Because playing Habitica upgrades the priority of whatever it is you have to do — for example, cleaning the kitchen — you will find yourself doing all the cleaning dailies in time, but writing less.

Keep Habitica dedicated to the things that really matter: writing, editing, and getting published.

Just don’t forget to eat simply because there’s no daily for it!

Habitica has turned my life into one big game, one in which I’m definitely the winner.

I thought I was productive before I tried it. Now I know what true productivity means. With a writing habit, a daily word count, and some overall writing goals, I’m working on my novel more than I had in the last three months put together.

May it help you write more, write better and write true. See you there!

• Helping new customers find you
• Impressing clients you find elsewhere

A professional website says you’re taking your business seriously, and people appreciate that in a freelancer.

The good news is that you can create a professional website on a shoestring budget, with humble technical skills.

Let’s see how.

Building the base

The easiest, cheapest option for a professional website is using the WordPress platform.

Luckily, The Write Life has provided a detailed, step-by-step guide on putting together a blog using WordPress.

But wait, aren’t we talking about a website here, not a blog?

What’s the difference, anyway?

First, anything displayed on the internet is a website. Blogs are displayed on the internet, hence, blogs are also websites. The difference is that a blog focuses on releasing a routine stream of new content, commonly displayed from newest backwards. A general website’s focus is more on static content.

WordPress allows you to do both, so The Write Life’s guide to installing WordPress will serve as a good base for a professional freelance writer website. Go ahead and follow it.

Your website theme

A WordPress theme is the design layer that you apply to your content. It often dictates not only design, but also the layout of the page.

When it comes to selecting your website look-and-feel, don’t hesitate to invest in a good-looking, professional theme.

Choose a theme that matches the services you offer. For example, if you ghostwrite Science Fiction or Fantasy for a living, choose a theme that resonates with those genres. For most forms of nonfiction writing, choose something classic and elegant. Beware overcrowded or noisy themes — they will only distract your potential clients instead of impressing them.

A final caveat: Always, always make sure the theme you choose is responsive (fits mobile as well as desktop). Google penalizes websites that do not load well on a mobile, and you want your website to gain the highest Google rank possible.

The basic pages

Once you have WordPress installed, you can use it to add pages. Here are the common pages you’ll need.

1. Services

I recommend creating a separate page for every service you offer.

Why? Because different services have different target audiences, and you want to appeal to each target audience in its own words. It will also make it easier for people to find you on search engines.

2. Portfolio

If you have some writing examples that you own the digital rights to, include them here. Alternatively, link to your articles on various websites.

If all your work is ghostwritten, and you can’t claim it as yours, consider writing a sample article, story or copy to demonstrate your abilities.

3. Testimonials

Make a page for all the positive feedback you’ve received from clients.

If possible, quote with a full name and even an image to give each testimonial credibility. Always ask your satisfied clients for testimonials; there’s no such thing as too many.

4. About

People need to connect with you on a personal level. This is where it happens. List your credentials and what makes you a great writer, but entwine it with a humorous voice and include some irrelevant personal bit.

5. Pricing

There’s a huge controversy about whether or not to include pricing.

I’m in favor of doing it. Why?

Because it prevents the usual frustration that comes with not finding prices, and it gives potential clients some idea of what you’ll charge. That way, those who can’t afford you will not contact you and waste your time.

6. Contact

Allow people to contact you by form, by email and even by phone. Not hiding behind an internet facade gives you more credibility and makes you more approachable. Different clients prefer different contact options.

7. Front page

In a blog, this page would feature your latest posts. In a website, something different is needed. This is the place to give your potential client a taste of all the other pages, and links to read more. On the front page you’ll also want to include a signup form for your newsletter, which we’ll discuss in a moment.

A note about your website content: Make it shine. This is the first impression potential clients will have of your writing, and if the website is written sloppily or unattractively, it won’t matter how much your portfolio shines. Bring your most engaging language to the table. And don’t be afraid to promote yourself and your services and skills.

Mailing list and lead magnet

Every business needs a mailing list, yours included. A mailing list (aka a newsletter) allows you to get in touch with all your clients at once, to keep them engaged with the business, and to spur them to hire you again and again.

Now comes the lead magnet’s turn. A lead magnet is a little gift you deliver to people who sign up to your mailing list. It encourages people to sign up. As a freelance writer, you can offer something along the lines of “Eleven Most Common Writing Mistakes,” “The Three Core Principles of Copywriting,” and so on.

Choose something that connects well with your flagship service.

Ready to go!

Now all you have to do is promote your website on every platform available to you. May it bring you a lot of business and repeat clients!

Share your proud website in the comments!