I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I'm an aspiring author. I really like writing supernatural fiction, and I'm hoping to get something published eventually. I just found myself writing one character as FTM (post-transition). He's part of an old family who are sort of a vampire/werewolf combination. They're werewolves (or wereravens) before death, and after they die they come back as vampires with some ability to shapeshift. Once they come back as vampires, their physical appearance is determined by their body image. So if they're trans, their body changes to match their gender identity. (They can also look like any age up until the age they died, and some of their powers increase the older they were at death.) My protagonist had no idea becoming a vampire would turn him physically male, but his dysphoria was so bad he decided to kill himself. His plan was to make sure he didn't come back as a vampire, but he screwed that part up, and then realized he'd solved his problem anyway. Unfortunately, his family is really freaked out. They're a matriarchy with pretty strict gender roles, so having one of their daughters become a man was a big disappointment. Plus, they're mad that he didn't produce an heir before he died, because vampires can't reproduce. And they have absolutely no understanding of trans people - they basically think he's nuts, and if he manages to work out his issues, he'll turn back female. (If he somehow changed his gender identity to female, he would turn physically female, but that's never going to happen.) So he's mostly estranged from his family. And then his sister shows up at his place to tell him that something's killed his uncle, and she wants his help finding the killer. (Main plot.) So, any advice?
What sort of advice are you asking? It sounds like you've got things pretty well figured out. It's a little late now, but I would be VERY careful writing about vampires and were-things. It's extremely tired territory after Twilight and its knockoffs have brought those tropes back into vogue (honorable mention to Underworld because it was awesome) and I hope you are really confident that you have a great story. That's not to say you shouldn't write it, because you should. But there's a lot of it, so publishing chances are probably fairly low. Good luck though. I do have one question for you: How does the FtM-guy's tension with his matriarchal family fit in/add to the main plot? If you can get that part to click, it'll make for a very good sub-plot and a compelling character.
I think it would be great if someone released a very successful novel in which one of the characters happened to be trans.
I'm not exactly sure what you're asking. I'm planning it to be a challenge for him. He has to figure out who killed his uncle, and protect the rest of his family (the killer's going to turn out to be a vampire hunter who knows his family's secret). But in trying to protect them from this danger, he's going to have to face their attitudes about him. He's been kind of trying to pretend his family doesn't exist. Plus he's going to have to deal with his memories of when his dysphoria was really bad. I'll see how it goes as I write it, but my feeling is he's going to shift from trying to pretend he was born male to seeing being trans as something to be proud of - a journey that has shaped his character.
I'm also an aspiring author, I've got a lot of FtM characters in various projects, but I do want to try writing a MtF. And I think the personal journey alongside the main plot sounds brilliant
I study demonology, so... naturally I think that would be awesome! I read a lot of occult books. Vampires and werewolves aren't quite my forte. But I digress. I'm ftm and I could never be proud of it. It makes me feel like a freak. When I think about my younger self before I was out... it's as if that is another person. I know logically it was me and yet it doesn't click. I'm only proud that I'm tough and got on with life. I'm uncomfortable when I see something from the past. I try to hide this discomfort from others. Some guys do see being trans as a journey, not me though. Trans guys vary so much. It's important to convey that being trans is only one trait of your character. You seem to have a decent plan already.
There are somethings to consider when dealing with gender and sexuality in non-contemporary/drama literature. First, just because character's orientation might have had a substantial effect on their identity and experiences doesn't mean that it would automatically be justified in having a substantial effect on the overall story. For instance, I am a transgender character entering the hunger games. Now, outside of the hunger games, I might have been plagued by effects of dysphoria and those can be referenced slightly in my dreams while sleeping during the games, but am I genuinely going to be obsessing over my struggles as a transgender individual while knives and arrows are whisking past my head? No. Identity is a crucial aspect to crafting a well-rounded character, but prioritizing identity and acceptance struggles as prominently as they appear in our lives as in the lives of characters who are in a constant battle for mere survival will result in extremely poor characterization and give your character a much more weak and juvenile appearance to the readers. There were a few more things that I wanted to say, but I lost them as I was writing the first... Hopefully, I'll remember and post again in a bit.
I totally agree. When I first got the idea for this character, I was really struggling to come up with a story, because I knew the plot had to have nothing to do with his gender.
I'm into writing as well, if you ever need any general advice I can provide it. As far as this specific issue goes, there isn't much I can say that hasn't been said already. So first thing, to be honest, all I could think when reading this is, "vampires don't work like that" >_> I have many pet peeves and one of them is when mythical creatures are misrepresented in popular media. Don't even get me started on the whole zombie craze that's going on right now.... HOWEVER, I do like the concept you've come up with here. I think if you simply ditch the word 'vampire' entirely and make then their own original race, it would be a lot better. And you would have more freedom to give them other traits and not have to try and stick with making them vampiric... not that people do anyway <_< And, as has been mentioned, vampires have some very negative opinions about them after the release of... certain works that will remain nameless. But that's just my opinion and you can ignore it if you choose. I will say that we need more transgendered characters that aren't used solely for comedy at their expense.
Yeah, they mostly call themselves strigoi, not vampires. In this world, there are two types of creatures which are often called 'vampires' by other people. The strigoi are the ones who were originally called vampires, historically. But then during the time of the Roman Empire, some magician turned himself into the first of a new race of blood-drinking immortal beings, and now they're mostly what characters in this world mean when they say 'vampire'. (I have several other stories set in this world.) The other kind of vampires are way more common than strigoi, because they can turn people instead of needing to be born into it. They're also less powerful and have more weaknesses - they burn in sunlight, usually sleep very deeply during the day and don't cast a reflection. Whereas strigoi are weaker but functional in sunlight, sleep no deeper than a regular human and cast a reflection. Plus they can shapeshift and have a very limited kind of hypnosis that basically just encourages people to like them slightly more than they otherwise would. They really don't have much in common besides being nocturnal, drinking blood and not aging. And the few scientists who study the supernatural know that strigoi and standard vampires are actually not closely related physiologically, either. (Kind of like the cat-like marsupials compared to actual cats.) Most msgical powers comes from manipulating one of the fundamental forces in physics, and strigoi manipulate the strong nuclear force (in order to shapeshift) while common vampires are electromagnetic (which is why UV light messes them up, and they don't have reflections). I've done a lot of worldbuilding. This is one of my favorite settings to put stories into, because most mythological creatures I can think of work in this world.
I like that. That's good. Well my primary concern has been addressed, I don't have much else to say. Just be very, very careful. This is delicate subject matter and can very easily go horribly wrong. In this case, might I direct your attention to one of my personal favorites... Just have to throw that out. Skin-walkers are seriously underrepresented in fiction ^^ EDIT: screwed up the link, it's fixed now.
