#writing trans

[sometimesraven]

TDoV - How I Write Transgender Characters

Let’s trans up our writing! Making Transness the Focus An important part of writing trans characters, major or minor, is the decision on whether to make that part of their identity a focus of their story. I think the most important way to answer that is to figure out the main overarching story first. What is the genre of your story? Do you already have an overarching plot? How abut subplots? A…

[asexual-means-no-attraction]

do you have any tips for writing trans characters? I'm an author interested in doing so but I don't have any trans friends I can ask. Aside from the obvious to write them as people and not tokens, what are certain things you think writers should keep in mind? Experience-wise, things to look out for, things that you shouldn't do at all, stuff like that. If you have any tips on how to research further on my own that'd be great too! Thank you!

Random advice for writing trans characters from a trans man that does not speak for the whole community but who cares:

-just go for it. I can't stress this enough. Just write it. Even if it's bad. You can always go back and change it, fix it, rewrite it. But you gotta start first.

-what age is the character? Minors don't generally medically transition beyond possibly hormone blockers. But it does happen depending on the case. I know someone who started stuff in high school.

-you can do a lot with their voice. Once your voice drops you can't change it. There are a lot of voice exercises I've seen for trans women to help raise it. Trans men when they first start hrt will have their voices squeak like teenage boys.

-consider how this affects their relationship with their family. Supportive, unsupportive? Maybe the parents are supportive but the character didn't realize their gender till adulthood, leading the parents to thing they made their child feel unsafe growing up (this happened to me). You can do a lot of stuff with family dynamics beyond just being terrible or amazing. My gf's mom is supportive but asks a lot of personal and inappropriate questions cuz she didn't know any better. Could easy come off bad despite the best intentions.

-location. I live next to an amazing hospital system that has an entire department for LGBT care. It's made medically transitioning super easy and simple. Not everyone is going to have that. Where do they live? What resources do they have access to?

-when did they realize they're trans? Adulthood, childhood? 21? 56? These change a lot about ones personal experiences and their personal journey.

-other health issues? There are a lot of health issues, mental illness, medical conditions, that can make realizing, accepting, getting medical treatment, and getting accepted a lot harder. Many autistic people find it hard to get people to take them serious for example. Someone with a health issue might not be able to bind (cause too much breathing issues), or get onto hrt. Maybe they can't handle specific surgeries.

-what step in their transition are they. Not every trans personal does every single medical transition they can, if they do any at all. I don't have a dick, but I can understand why a trans women would be scared to get rid of hers even if she doesn't want it. Surgery is scary. Needles are scary. I did a gel packet for hrt for my first two years because I didn't like needles. I'm still not over my fear of needles, but I can at least give myself a shot once a week.

-body type. What is their body type. This changes how well they can pass, how the Dr's treat them when they try to medically transition, how other people treat them for being trans, etc. Same thing goes for disability and what not. What other factors are they dealing with outside of being trans?

-how did they come off before and after coming out? I used to come off as a very masculine women. I was seen as a butch lesbian through and through. But then after transitioning I started getting people thinking I was an overly feminine man. I have had people think I was gay and my gf was my beard before. I have not changed my personality at all. I have the same interests, I act the same way, I have not changed at all beyond my outward appearance and being more comfortable in my body. But the way people view me has changed drastically. I went from masculine to feminine (despite going from female to male), curvey to bulky, etc etc. How have people's views of them changed? How does that effect them?

-economic status? It's harder to pay for shit if you don't got money. It's easy for rich parents to hold money over their kids heads to control them as they become adults.

-sexuality? Being trans brings a new experience to dating and especially finding a partner.

-in terms for things to avoid. I know fandom culture will tell you otherwise, but I don't have much for you here. Beyond making sure they actually speak like a normal person. People don't just introduce themselves in class or to coworkers like "hi I'm [name]! I used to be [dead name]. Let's get along!" Ya know? Most people don't tend to bring up they're trans unless it's relevant or they feel safe. There are a lot of ways you can reveal a character is trans that actually feel realistic.

Stuff to research:

-passing techniques for pre-medically transitioning. Binding, tucking, baggy clothes, hair cuts, voice practice, etc etc.

-what kind of care is out there for the characters location and time period. You don't have to be super accurate here. As a reader I won't notice. But it's good to have a feel for what is within the realm of possibility. You aren't going to give a midevil peasant top surgery of the same quality we have in the modern day.

-read articles where trans people talk about how they realized they were trans. How they describe it. It'll help with figuring out how your character might of come to realize things. For example, I cried when I was a child because I wanted to be a boy. But I couldn't explain why. My parents explained I could do anything a boy can while being a girl with the exception of peeing standing up (which got a whole nother tantrum outta me lol). I eventually accepted this and the idea of being male took a back burner. It wasn't important to me. I was so used to the uncomfortableness I felt that I was able to ignore it completely. Until college when I did a drag show as a drag king and felt like myself in a way I never had before. For the most post, I find many trans people had signs growing up that were ignored (whether for good or bad reason. I don't blame my parents at all. I think they made the right call making me feel like I could do anything I wanted to) and then come to actually realize things later on in life. You don't need to show how your character realized things. But them realizing when their 15 vs 22 vs 35 will effect their character. So it'd be good to have some idea of when they realized things.

That's all I can thing of right now. Might add more later. If anyone wants to add more feel free. Hope that helps anon.

[thedeadflag]

Do you think there's a way to actually correctly write an in denial, trans woman, who pretends to be okay with 'being a guy'? Like, I wrote an in the closet trans woman before, who knows who she was and hid it from the world (outside transphobia) before, but wondering if you think the issue of hiding it from yourself (internal transphobia/denial) can be done in a non-harmful way?

I'm trans (ftm) myself and talked myself out of it for a long time, so I assume it could be the same on the other side?

I'm just wondering if you can foresee any pitfalls one might fall into that would be transphobic or fetishize trans women?

I write trans women in my fic bc I want to write something in contrast to all of the g!p that claims rep, and put something better into the fandom. (I think I did a good job, thanks to your help before. Thank you so much).

Do I think it's a feasible concept? Sure, yeah, it's doable. I'd trust trans woman authors to do that, since it'd need to draw on transmisogyny and experiences of transfemininity pretty deeply. Like, even with those who only realized and came out later in their lives, there's pretty much always things they noticed retroactively that were particularly telling and explained/illuminated sources of discomfort and disparity that they'd generalized and made efforts to ignore/move past. And for those who know they're trans but are fighting that truth, and/or are just deep in the closet and struggling with not knowing when or if it'll be safe to be themselves (and therefore need to fight to present as a boy/man), that's a complicated experience. Having to combine that with writing the social environment that fostered their situation and how they processed that messaging and reacted to that messaging, how they succeeded and failed to reproduce various elements of that gender performance...it's tough to navigate those seas and not end up taking on water even if you are familiar with the experiences.

A story that placed any real focus on that would need to be an authentic read if it was to have any merit, so yeah, that's a narrative arc I'd think trans women would need to tell because others would probably get it wrong. Not out of ill intent, necessarily, but I think there's too many knowledge gaps for others to traverse, and a more general take on the experience likely wouldn't sufficiently engage with the experiences, leading to a shallower arc as a whole, and that's not really what you're looking for in the kind of story that would focus on this, since you're most likely within the realm of the 'character study' sort of material than anything else, and running shallow in that respect sort of defeats the purpose.

So yeah, I think the best outcome would be a trans woman author handling that subject material. Could someone else manage it? Possibly, with enough commitment to sensitivity writers/editors and a willingness to walk back on and rewrite whole swaths of the resulting work if it's not hitting the mark authentically.

[who-canceled-roger-rabbit]

Some spins on the "mostly male team with a token woman" trope:

The woman is trans and stayed in her old circle of bros even after transition

The woman is the only one in her circle of "girls" who didn't turn out to be a trans man

[ukrainian-groove-metal]

I love the "came back wrong" trope but from the opposite side.

Imagine you are dead. And then you are RIPPED from the embrace of decay into the world of the living again. Your memories are hazy and you don't recognize any of these people, but they act like they're close to you? Like they love you? So you try to get your memories back, to act like you belong here, but everybody tries to forget you died. And you can't. It is omnipresent. And just trying to grapple with that fact pushes the people who "love" you away, and they're incapable of understanding, and they're so confused, what's wrong N̶̄̀O̶͛͗T̷̉́ ̷͋͝Y̴̎̌Ȍ̴̈U̸̓R NÄM̴̃͑E̵̾̇? And you just need them to understand, you aren't that person! You aren't! You don't know who that person is! You don't know why any of this is happening, but they're unwilling to bend, they keep insisting you are that person, your memories will come back, everything will be normal again, and you want to scream and cry and claw yourself open to show them you're different. Your existence as a being wholly separate from whoever you "used to be" is a sin unto itself. All you can do is scrabble for life and to them, you're killing whoever they loved to do it.

just. lots of fun in that concept, you know?

[genderqueerdykes]

people who can't pass credit checks still need housing. people who don't have credit at all still need housing. people who can't pass criminal background checks still need housing. people who have been evicted before still need housing. people with past unpaid rent still need housing. people who can't take out loans still need housing. people who can't pay off their mountains of debt still need housing. people who don't or can't work still deserve housing. housing is not an "investment". housing is not the act of "borrowing" property from someone else.

housing is necessary for human survival, no matter how poor, disabled, addicted, insane, or bad with money someone is. every single person on this planet requires housing. everyone. money does not belong in the affairs of housing. housing does not wait for money to come. housing is a human right, that EVERY human deserves, regardless of how much money they make, if any.

[a-teacup-of-golden-cracks]

I'm incredibly hot and I use this power almost solely to fulfill my ultimate fetish

[6love6bites6]

Does anyone want to bite down into my shoulder while they fuck me? I promise I'll whimper and moan about it.

[master-xochimilli]

I need to get fucked, bred, just be pounded with my face pressed against a pillow, ass up, cock pounding and thrusting stupidly into my dripping cunt, hearing their moans match with mine~

Yanking on my leash and making me choke and whimper as I feel them go faster, rougher, harder clenching around them, feeling how their cock throbs inside me as they tell me not to cum yet. Feeling them press their pretty mouth against my back as I cry and beg, as they bite me and mark me as there own

Telling me what a good girl I am as they unload themselves inside, as they fill me up. Calling me a slut and a pervert and the prettiest pet cumdump they've ever seen I sob into the pillow as they start fucking me again~

(This post is about queer t4t sex!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

[nekhcore]

HEY YOU!

Yeah, you! Are you trans? Do you like reading books? Or watching movies?

Do you like media about trans men/transmasculine characters but don't know where to find it?

That's sooo crazy because I have this little spreadsheet I'm working on where I'm trying to document all media with protagonists/major characters who are FTM or transmasculine.

The spreadsheet currently has 300+ entries spread across the following categories:

Books

Manga

Memoirs and non-fiction

Movies

TV Shows

Graphic novels / Comics

Webcomics

Audio dramas

Books and movies are also sorted by:

Which character is trans (MC, love interest, antagonist, etc)

If the trans character is POC

The trans character's sexuality (Because I saw lots of transhet guys sad about only being able to find gay romances)

If the author/actor is also trans (if we know for sure)

It's free to use, and free to add to as well! Editing permissions are on, and I check on the spreadsheet every now and then to make sure everything is in order and to clean up.

If you know something that isn't on the list, please add it! You don't have to fill in every single column, but fill it to the best of your abilities.

If you don't want to use the big ass long link below, you can also use: bit.ly/FTM-protags

I made this because I want it to be a community resource. So even if you're not a trans guy or transmasculine person, please reblog!

[orcaking]

My body is a collection of all the parts that came before! 🌱🌱🌱

[Image ID: A drawing of a trans masculine person, nude except for underwear. The figure has top surgery scars, and no head, the bottom of a jaw bone with plants growing from it floating above the neck. There are flowers, mushrooms, and stars surrounding the figure, and a bird flying to the left of the canvas. /. End ID]

[fairybasketsxo]

guys will be like this edible’s not hitting :/ and then five mins later be bent over panting writhing moaning squirming begging rutting whimpering groaning humping grinding shuddering trembling

[androgynealienfemme]

"I know what butch is. Butches are not beginner FTMs, except that sometimes they are, but it's not a continuum except when it is. Butch is not a trans identity unless the butch in question says it is, in which case it is, unless the tranny in question says it isn't, in which case it's not. There is no such thing as butch flight, no matter what the femmes or elders say, unless saying that invalidates the opinions of femmes in a sexist fashion or the opinions of elders in an ageist fashion. Or if they're right. But they are not, because butch and transgender are the same thing with different names, except that butch is not a trans identity, unless it is; see above."

-"I KNOW WHAT BUTCH IS", Butch is a Noun, Essays by S. Bear Bergman (2006)

[puppyboibutch]

Oh, you actually like when I’m a little bit mean to you? Aren’t you just pathetic! It’s adorable, really, how desperate you are for me to bully you. Come on, say it. Tell me how much you want— need— me to bully you. How much it affects you. You need it to get off, don’t you? How absolutely pathetic. Need a big, scary butch to remind you how weak you are? Awww, then beg.

[genderqueerdykes]

the solution for taking care of "unsightly" homeless people is to house us. that is the only solution. if you can't stand the look of someone living on the sidewalk, you shouldn't stand for them being put into that situation to begin with. housing us is the only answer.