I think it can work very well, but as with anything else, a bad writer can mess it up completely. It’s a useful technique, though, and can get the reader right into the middle of the goings-on and start showing them who the characters are and what they’re into, more quickly and easily than a paragraph of description.
“You wanna see nuts?” he bellowed, his eyes bulging. “Oh, I’ll show you nuts.”
As a hook, dialogue can be just as effective as narrative. But like anything else, you can screw it up, too. No one thought that writing in second person was such a good idea until Chuck Palahniuk did it–and very effectively. But unless you’re the Hitchcock of your genre, I wouldn’t make a habit out of it either. After a while, it would become stale and predictable.
I think it can work very well, but as with anything else, a bad writer can mess it up completely. It’s a useful technique, though, and can get the reader right into the middle of the goings-on and start showing them who the characters are and what they’re into, more quickly and easily than a paragraph of description.
Angie
“You wanna see nuts?” he bellowed, his eyes bulging. “Oh, I’ll show you nuts.”
As a hook, dialogue can be just as effective as narrative. But like anything else, you can screw it up, too. No one thought that writing in second person was such a good idea until Chuck Palahniuk did it–and very effectively. But unless you’re the Hitchcock of your genre, I wouldn’t make a habit out of it either. After a while, it would become stale and predictable.