I’m almost finished writing a story, and as a minor twist at the end i’m going to have my protagonist turn out to be female.
Setting up for this had to be done very carefully. Everything is done to try and get the reader to assume the characters is male - she has a wife and a kid, whose adoption is a sort of minor plot (i’m hoping people will think, ah, that explains these things, without reading too much into "but why would she have an adopted kid?) and, while many of the other characters refer to her and being male, I’ve been careful to never use gender-specific pronouns when talking about her from the reader’s/my point of view (which was difficult, because it’s easy to go too far and make people think “hang on… he’s not using male pronouns, here” or to make it give off an “odd” vibe and suggest something’s up).
So i’d like to “reveal” this at the end, but having set up the story in that style so far, I don’t really want to suddenly go from that into using “she” or “her” for the last part. And I really don’t want other characters (only the wife and kid know she’s female) having a big conversation at the end about how surprised they all were.
Here’s where I need help, then; how can I make clear to the reader that she’s female without totally changing the style i’ve used for the rest of the story? So far i’ve though of-
Having her called by an obviously female real name, which would work, I guess. I’m not too happy with that solution though.
Having some kind of description of her body that gives it away, but it’s difficult to slip in a mention of her more female features without sounding like it’s ending in erotica - I can’t just say “oh yeah, she has breasts” randomly at the end.
She could have her period.
She could have to queue for the ladies toilets in a nightclub.
She could complain about high heels.
She could be wolf-whistled at while passing a building site.
I would love to read this story, btw. Sounds very intriguing.
Both would work. Neither I think i’d like to write.
She doesn’t wear them. It might be a bit of a giveaway…
Good one, actually. But i’m afraid it’s in a future setting (not really a sci-fi story, though) and there aren’t really building sites.
Thanks. I may post a link, if I get enough positive feedback to assuage my self-doubt.
I don’t think so. Like I said, I had to be careful in writing the whole story because of not being able to use gender pronouns for her when narrating, and to make it not look odd, and I did have that idea in mind from the beginning - but really, in terms of the story, it’s pretty inconsequential. I could leave out the “big reveal”, leave her assumed as being male, and nothing would change in the story. It makes sense from what we know of her character that she’d choose to hide it (and foster belief in others that she’s male), but really if I left it out the story isn’t affected.
Its been done. There was an Asimov story, I don’t remember the title, written in first person by an unnamed protagonist. At one point the narrator makes a passing reference to “my husband,” the only indication of her sex in the story.
Even better: Johanna Russ’s “The Mystery of the Young Gentleman” in which the mystery is whether the young gentleman is male or female. The story can be interpreted either way.
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro had a story where all the characters could be either male or female. I can’t remember the name, but it was in her collection Cautionary Tales.
BTW, I like, “Oh yeah. She has breasts.” It’s direct and simple. You just have to be careful that the reader doesn’t miss it. Maybe put “breasts” in 48-point type. Seriously, though, I don’t see how you can do it without having her undress. It doesn’t have to be pronographic. If she’s impersonating a man, you can refer to her untaping her breasts, say, and not go too much further.
How old is the kid? He could have a nightmare and need to be comforted with an “It’s okay, mommy’s here.”
I had a similar problem and it worked itself out. I realized one of the characters introduced at the end knew her gender and would simply use the right pronouns.
It was funny to read articles about Jaye Davidson right after The Crying Game came out and they were still keeping it secret. You could almost see the furrowed brows of the journalists trying to write about someone with gender-free language, avoiding pronouns.
RealityChuck, I would expect no less of Joanna Russ, author of The Female Man.
