[Listen]
[Intro music plays]
[Woman’s Voice]
This is Behind the Cut with Christopher Gronlund. The companion show to Not About Lumberjacks.
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Christopher Gronlund:
Behind the Cut is an in-depth look at the latest episode of Not About Lumberjacks and likely contains spoilers of the most recent story. You’ve been warned…
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Second-person present tense point of view is strange to me. On one hand, I’ve been using it since 1979, when a friend introduced me to Dungeons and Dragons when I was 10. Using “You”—as in, “You hear the sound of small, wooden wheels rolling across damp cobbles. You trace the lonely sound to a hunched figure bundled in rags, pushing a rickety wooden cart through the fog.”—puts the players right there in the scene. For the game, it’s second nature to me.
But while I grew up in the time of Choose Your Own Adventure books, known for their second person point of view, I preferred reading the books my older sister, mom, and stepdad read instead of books written for me and my age at the time.
I’ve never written a story using the point of view until writing the recent Not About Lumberjacks story, “Old Growth.”
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Originally, the protagonist for “Old Growth” was going to be a female lumberjack trapped on the side of a mountain with some kind of creature. The story idea came to be when my wife told me she watched a TV show about the Ape Canyon Bigfoot attack on miners in 1924. It was not a big leap from, “Miners under attack on Mount St. Helens,” to “Something’s attacking lumberjacks in an old growth forest in the Pacific Northwest.”
Of course, I had to run with that. So, I made a female lumberjack and couldn’t wait to get started.
Along the way, though, I saw author John Green reading an excerpt from his latest novel-in-progress. It was in second person.
“That’s what I should do for ‘Old Growth!’” I thought. “Put the listener or reader right there, like it’s happening to them!”
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Obviously, Not About Lumberjacks stories are about things that mean something to me. Perhaps the biggest recurring theme is work/life balance or finding time for your dreams despite a world that makes many demands in opposition of those things. It’s no secret that I’d rather do this show full time than be a technical writer, but…being a technical writer isn’t so bad, especially when it allows me the security to write whatever I want, here, with no regard to financial considerations. But I like to think Not About Lumberjacks stories aren’t preachy, even when they are a bit more focused on topics dear to me.
Disguised (or maybe not) in September’s story, “Lakeview Estates,” is commentary about the housing crisis in the United States—how even if one can afford a house, depending where they live, they now have to bid against multi-national conglomerates running property management companies. “Old Growth” is an obvious statement about environmental destruction at the hands of humans, and probably as in-your-face as I’ll ever get. (And even then, I wanted the story to be more entertaining than anything.)
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Choosing to use “You” instead of a character name worked with what I hoped to do with “Old Growth” before I even knew what it would really be about. I knew I wanted to rely on the sounds to create an experience, while of course being interesting enough for those who read Not About Lumberjacks stories instead of listening. People loved the sounds in “Rockbiters,” and I wanted to put in that kind of effort again.
Knowing I wanted to put a bit more than usual into the sounds of “Old Growth,” once I made that decision, opting for a second person point of view only made sense. It’s a story with a message, so the combination of sounds drawing you in and speaking directly to you…it seemed like it would carry more weight. At the very least, be a bit creepier since it’s happening to “you” and not just some random character.
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While “Old Growth” is the first second-person point of view story I’ve written, I’ve thought about using it with another episode I’ve not yet done. Around the time of the release of “Godspeed, Crazy Mike,” I ordered a couple “Choose Your Own Adventure” books for research. I toyed with the idea of a father reading that kind of tale to his son, with some options resulting in a much stranger story. Maybe even releasing a separate PDF where YOU could be led through a story of your own choosing.
Beyond that, I don’t see writing other stories using that point of view. I have nothing against it, but when I mentioned it to Cynthia, she said, “When you do the usual content advisory for ‘Old Growth,’ you might want to mention it’s a bit of a departure with the point of view.”
She was not the only one to mention the departure.
Depending what you read, second person is maybe not common, but also not uncommon. Sci-Fi and Fantasy use it to great effect. The third book in Jeff Vandermeer’s Southern Reach trilogy, Acceptance, is in second person. N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season shifts points of view in the same novel—and she’s uses it in other works as well. But second person isn’t reserved for only sci-fi and fantasy: Jay McInerney’s Bright Lights, Big City addresses “You” directly, a so-called “serious work” in second-person.
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When I set out to write “Old Growth,” I thought writing in second-person would be as simple as replacing “I” or a character’s name with “You.” And in many ways, it was.
As I worked on the story, though, considering the point of view made me think about the protagonist and what they felt and saw a bit more than usual. The story felt more personal than it would have, had I chosen a third- or first-person point of view. It was easier to think about what I wanted listeners and readers to hear and feel.
I usually write from my gut and always do give thought to what I want people to feel. Still, using “Lakeview Estates” as an example: I wanted you to feel for the characters and the situations they faced, but there’s still a layer of separation when reading about characters you don’t personally know.
With “Old Growth,” I wanted the story to feel more personal, like it was happening to YOU!
I hope YOU enjoyed it…
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Thank you for listening to Not About Lumberjacks and Behind the Cut. Theme music for Behind the Cut is a tune called “Reaper” by Razen. Visit nolumberjacks.com for information about the music, the episodes, and voice talent.
Also, for as little as a dollar a month, you can have access to a bigger behind-the-scenes look at Not About Lumberjacks on Patreon. Check out patreon.com/cgronlund if that sounds like your kinda thing.
In December, it’s the annual Christmas episode. That means you get a handful of very short short stories, and at least one bigger story tied directly to the holiday season.
Until next time: be mighty, and keep your axes sharp!
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