This may be a bit late for the NaNoWriMo, but the writing itch has me firmly in its grasp, and I feel the need to actually commit to the story I was going to write in '07. While I have so little to go on at the moment, the story revolves around a romance between a vampire and a bookish transsexual girl.
What I'm really looking for are opinions on how to handle the sex scenes mostly, though inspiration of any sort would be wonderful. While I'm not exactly lacking in experience as a transsexual myself in the realm of romance, I would like a little perspective.
Any help would be appreciated. How would you all possibly handle this? And is there any modern fantasy trans fiction even out there?
----------
121,522 / 50,000
Jun 29, 2008 - 18 20
You know, I've made a hobby of reading and reviewing queer fantasy and I can only come up with a handful of books...
Diane Duane's old Tales of the Four series has a transgendered fire elemental (The Door Into Fire, The Door Into Sunset, and The Door Into Shadow) though s/he's never a POV character.
Delia Sherman's Through a Brazen Mirror is based on a transvestite character, though again it isn't told from his POV.
Clive Barker's Imajica has a trangendered character, but can you guess, it's not told from hir perspective.
Gael Baudino's Dragonsword and Dragon Death have a subplot involving men who are unwillingly transformed into women, but it didn't have as thorough an examination of the consequences as I'd hoped.
Lythande by Marion Zimmer Bradley is told from the perspective of a transvestite mage.
None of these are erotica, though a few have some nice sex scenes. I can name some sci-fi if you want more titles. I'm such a book nerd I've got my own site for reviewing these kinds of books. :-)
If you're still looking for inspiration you might want to check out some of the intriguing titles offered by Circlet Press. I've read the three in their Ultraviolet Library, but there are others on my list including their transgendered erotica collection.
I don't have any advice for writing transsexual erotica, unfortunately. My first NaNovel in 2004 had a transsexual protagonist because I wanted to write a book from hir perspective since so much of the fiction I'd read seemed to revolve around how other people see these characters instead of how they see themselves. I wrote a couple of kissy scenes, but nothing naughtier. ;-)
I hope you've found at least one or two points of interest in this post! And good luck with your novel.
----------Moderator: Newbies Forum
8,484 / 50,000
Jul 2, 2008 - 13 18
Thanks much for the list! And yes, I'd love to get the sci-fi stuff too, maybe there will be something there to kickstart my brain. Here's hoping I can find inspiration somewhere.
121,522 / 50,000
Jul 10, 2008 - 21 41
Sure thing. :-) Let's see...
Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis series has an alien species with three genders; absolutely the best books I've ever read. Fascinating and horrifying all at once.
The protagonist in Samuel Delany's Trouble on Triton ends up having a sex change. Brilliant narrative about a whole slew of things including gender and feminism.
James Alan Gardner's Commitment Hour involves a third gender.
Carolyn Ives Gilman's Halfway Human might be tough to track down, but it's one of the best novel's I've ever read and tells the story of a transgendered person's self-development in its own words (the character uses 'it' for a pronoun). Heartbreaking and riveting all at once.
Ursula Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness is a classic, though it isn't told from a transgendered point of view.
Dark Water's Embrace by Stephen Leigh is one I read recently and was surprised at how good it was. It's about a human colony stranded on an alien planet that's starting to influence them genetically.
Mission Child by Maureen F. McHugh (one of my favorite writers) is deeply moving and told from a transgendered woman's perspective as she slowly transforms her gender. Brutal sometimes, but beautifully told.
Even Isaac Asimov wrote a little-known sci-fi novel with a three-gendered alien species (The Gods Themselves). I normally dislike Asimov, but the half of this book written from the aliens' perspective is just outstanding. Really mind-bending stuff.
Those are just the ones I've reviewed on my website, but there are plenty more out there. Reading can be so inspiring. Good luck!
----------Moderator: Newbies Forum
50,042 / 50,000
Aug 5, 2008 - 03 36
First off, are we referring to an MTF (transsexual girl) or an FTM (transsexual boy)? A lot of non-transsexuals seem to forget that, since we refer to ourselves with our preferred gender, we are considered by our preferred gender; therefore, a girl who wants to be a boy is a transboy, while a boy who wants to be a girl is a transgirl. ETA, on this note: Unless the character is post-op, you'd be more accurate in calling them "transgender". This is also the more PC/accepted term, since we aren't worried so much about the sexual matter as the gender one. Unless you're referring to a person who is both transgender and homosexual (in their preferred gender), in which case "transsexual" pretty much covers your bases pretty definitively.
And, I've got to say, writing a sex scene for either is going to be hard. http://s2b2.livejournal.com/48664.html <--this is a link to a story I wrote with a transboy and his lesbian girlfriend, which contains a sex scene toward the end. It took me the better half of the month I had left to write it in just to write that scene, which is completely ridiculous since I've experienced sex like that.
My advise: write the trans-person as their preferred gender, and when it comes time for sex, make it vague, sexy, but also awkward. Trans-people are awkward with their non-preferred bodies, even given many years to get used to them, so sex is going to be awkward and embarrassing.
----------Screnzy'08
Title: People Get Made
Genre: Drama