A Post-it Punch Please

[Addison]

Can someone, meaning anyone and everyone, give me a quick-post punch to the head?

While revising my WiP and feeling an un-nameable drag the cure popped into my head. the cure is to change the character's gender. Ah, ha! No!....Maybe. This is where I need a right hook to the temple.

I admit there are places and scenes where a female POV would be better. But there are just as many scenes where a male is better. Scenes where I see a hero and others where I see a heroine.

I have sat on my WIP itself for years. The first draft was female, but all the others have been male. But now, with the final revision chapters from being done, the muse is blow-horning to change the hero to heroine.

Help!
Save My Sanity!

Thank you.

 

[Ireth]

I'm curious, what is it about your character that would make a switch of gender have such an impact? Are male and female POVs really that different, or is it a matter of the physical gender that necessitates a change?

 

[Addison]

I'm not really sure what it is. I think it's the general perspective (and sometimes I see a scene play out in my head where it's a girl but when I try for boy it gets sketchy). For example after a guy makes a dumb joke or does a typical guy thing you can't have your character, a guy, roll his eyes and say "Men." with a sigh.

I don't know what the h*!! is wrong with me. But advice to get rid of the voice, whether or not the gender is changed, will be very useful and most grateful.

 

[Ireth]

Is there any way you could compromise? Maybe your gender-swapping character really needs to be two, a male and a female. Or the genderswapping could be part of who they are, whether they only see themselves as pansexual, transsexual, or what have you, OR if it's a magical thing that makes them swap back and forth, at random or at will.

 

[Weaver]

I'm not really sure what it is. I think it's the general perspective (and sometimes I see a scene play out in my head where it's a girl but when I try for boy it gets sketchy). For example after a guy makes a dumb joke or does a typical guy thing you can't have your character, a guy, roll his eyes and say "Men." with a sigh.

You could have your character, a guy, roll his eyes and say something else that is still a kind of 'well, what else do you expect from people like this?' reaction. Just a thought...

 

[LadyCass]

I can't imagine being done and then changing the lead's gender. It would change just about every relationship they have wouldn't it?

 

[Addison]

Yes. It would. That's why it's driving me crazy.

The good news is I can clearly see the physical characteristics of my heroine.

The problem, the characteristics were clear about my hero.

See the problem here people?

How-do-I-FIX IT!!



Okay here's a thought, after I did shock-therapy like treatment around my character, what if the female I'm thinking about is another character intruding on my main character? Then all I have to do is beat her up and everything's clear again.

 

[Spider]

I agree with Ireth. Maybe you could have two main characters, a male and a female. They could be twins, and each chapter can switch between their PoVs.

 

[Penpilot]

What's been mentioned are options that could work.

Maybe you're trying too hard to make your character too many things, so instead of being one solid character, it's fragments of two characters trying to exist in one body.

IMHO make two versions of the story one where the character is male and one where they're female, then decide on which you like more. Part of me wonders if part of the problem is that you still don't know the character enough, so that's why they're so malleable in your thoughts.

 

[CupofJoe]

Could your MC just be comparatively more refined and enlightened
Without wishing to start a bigger argument/debate, it could be that societal influence could differ personal opinions one from another.
If your hero had a liberal upbringing his views on actions and situations will differ markedly from that seen as conservative or regressive.
To use an historical cliché/trope/stereotype - A rough-tough western cowboy might well react differently to an eastern educated soft city boy.
Could your MC just be comparatively more refined and enlightened?
[I don't mean to use loaded words but almost any word is loaded in this context]
[Somewhere in the back of my head I have the characters from "Fraiser" Niles & Fraiser on one side Martin and Bulldog on the other]

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Is there any way you could compromise? Maybe your gender-swapping character really needs to be two, a male and a female. Or the genderswapping could be part of who they are, whether they only see themselves as pansexual, transsexual, or what have you, OR if it's a magical thing that makes them swap back and forth, at random or at will.

Or, maybe Ireth has hit it right on the head here. Maybe you've stumbled into a pansexual character.

 

[Addison]

My protagonist is no pansexual.

The only thing I've been able to accomplish in the twenty four hours without this site is discover and create dimensions for the other characters. True I've found the dimensions for my protag, but while the others have had their appearance become clear an concise, my hero just got less blurry yet is still a blur.

In each chart of characters I covered five areas: Personality, Family, Cherished Belongings, Life and Magic. (it is a fantasy after all) As my scanner is busted I'll just have to type it up fancy. I know that certain traits and such don't scream or differentiate between boy and girl, but maybe my showing you could clear it up for me and/or you could give your opinion.

Character name: It

Personality:
Fit and skinny figure.
Shy, intelligent, strong and brave
Short and Long goal: Short term goal is to survive the boring summer. Long term goal is to get out of the hick town and really live.
Short and long Need: Short term needs are chocolate and rest. Long term needs are books and dreams.
Strength: Thinks outside the box in all dynamics.
Weakness: Keeps much inside and keeps others out.
Quirk: Often smirks or quirks eyebrows.

Cherished Belongings:
Fairy Tale books
Drawings
Late Father's Jacket
Pet Dragon

Family:
A living mom who's rarely there.
Step father is a slave driver (figuratively)
Older step-brother is a selfish, sloth
Younger energetic step brother.
Toddler step-sister
No memories of biologic father.

Life:
Life is hard. Protag has no fiends (never saw what they were good for) Has endless work on the farm for which receives no appreciation. His mother moved them to the farm to live with his new step-father who was a friend of late father. But neither adult ever talks about him. Aside from working the land and animals Protag must also take care of the house and the younger siblings while keeping some time to care for itself. If mother or step-father found out he kept fantasy books, made up magic tales for kids, it would be grounded until death.

Magic: Protag is most skilled in the following magics:
Incantations
Potions and Cauldron spells
Wand magic
Crafts
(Glitch is that Protag has yet to find and control the emotional switches so It can't master the magic as quickly as the others, resulting in it falling behind.)

 

[skip.knox]

Here's one possible cure, or at least a treatment (a mere six weeks at our summer retreat, discounts for writers!)

Ask yourself: is this a needed change or is this a sly attempt at procrastination? The Procrastination Demon is known to imitate the Muse, with devastating effect on the unwary. In fact, I have a WIP about the Procrastination Demon (WIP here stands for Work In Procrastination).


A second possible treatment (offered for free, limited time only) is to finish the damn story the way it is. Tell your Muse you promise you will then, and only then, undertake a rewrite from a different POV. If she's really your Muse, she'll understand. Otherwise, this may unmask her as the Never Finish Harpy (who was never Finnish). If that happens, I recommend you cover your eyes.

-= Skip =-

 

[Penpilot]

Looking at your list of things, some of them don't seem specific enough. Fairy tale books... which ones? Sleeping beauty? Little Red Riding Hood? Peter Pan? Drawings.... of what? If they cherish drawings of birds, it can say one thing about the character. If they cherish drawings of flaming demons, it says something else.

Also ask the question "Why?" about everything that it can be applied to on that list. Why is the father a slave driver? Why is X among her cherished possessions? Why does she want to get out of this 'hick' town, and what does she plan on doing once out? Does she want to join the circus? Does she want to go to university to become X?


Basically, if you haven't already done so, dig deeper into the specifics of things even if they don't appear in the book. You knowing will guide you.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

I'm a girl. As a child, my favorite book were Robin Hood, King Arthur, and Otto of the Silver Hand. Ask yourself very carefully why your character suddenly needs new genitals.

 

[Ireth]

I'm a girl. As a child, my favorite book were Robin Hood, King Arthur, and Otto of the Silver Hand. Ask yourself very carefully why your character suddenly needs new genitals.

Agreed. One of my RPing characters is a cross-dressing gay man, whom I once tried to change into a girl for another plot. He was adamant that he was physically male, despite his orientation and behavior.

 

[Penpilot]

I'm a girl. As a child, my favorite book were Robin Hood, King Arthur, and Otto of the Silver Hand. Ask yourself very carefully why your character suddenly needs new genitals.

Ok I can't help but think this was directed at my post being dismissive of it.

 

[Addison]

Thanks for all the help guys. I think I'm cured, at least a vaccination is kicking in. I'm going to just keep writing the story as it is and hopefully I'll be cured.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

Ok I can't help but think this was directed at my post being dismissive of it.

Oh, honey, please don't think that! I would never be dismissive. It's just that gender swapping means changing many things on many very deep levels, and I'm just saying you should think carefully when you are this deeply invested into a project before doing so.