Pronouns in TG fiction

[madmaddy]

To me, this is a mine littered subject just because of how hurtful misgendering in real life can be.  But as a writer, I have trouble with them because of how they influence the mental image the reader has of the character, as well as how to deal with them when the character themselves are confused (Which happens a lot in my fiction.  Write what you know, they say)

I generally swap pronouns after the change is physically complete in my magical TG stories.  It makes sense to me for a variety of narrative reasons, but I'm worried that it might be offensive.  I mean, I'm sitting here on my trans girl butt getting the euphoria buzz every time I get called "She/Her", is it totally hypocritical for me to impose gender on my own characters?

Eh, late morning overthinking.  I think I need some dog and horse time before I hit the keyboard again.

Writerly yours,

Maddy

[Tanya]

Interesting point.
I don't generally get mired in this because I write from a first person viewpoint.
When I wrote Giving It All, which is from a cis man's viewpoint I had the narrator misgender the TG character at the start to try and capture their confusion over their transition.
I suppose if you're doing the misgendering in good faith as part of the story you aren't causing offence.
However, some folk enjoy prete8offencw at anything!

[madmaddy]

Mar 11, 2021 21:24:51 GMT Tanya said:

Interesting point.
I don't generally get mired in this because I write from a first person viewpoint.

I used to do that for all my (mostly unpublished) TG stories.  Takes the misgendering guilt off me, puts it on the characters

[Tanya]

When It Ends was a new for me because I went for a third person viewpoint, but have referred to Donna as she all the way through, even when she is presenting as male.
Try reading Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, if you like science fiction. In her universe everyone is referred to with female pronouns. Odd at first, but great when you get used to it and it makes all the characters somehow more individual.

[jessica]

To me, it's how the character perceives himself/herself, regardless of outward presentation. A big burly character can be she if that's how she perceives herself.

[superhellkitten]

I'm my book, Finneas Awakes I use male pronouns when he's Finn. Then as he completes dressing as Erin I start using female pronouns as that's how she starts thinking about herself.



Kat

[liamslade]

My unwritten rule is to use the character's sense of self, much as we do in real life. If I happen to be writing in the third person (which I think is underrated but even I don't tend to do it too much these days) I will refer to males-transformed-into-females as "him," even if they are functionally living as females outwardly, until such a point where they would say to themselves "I am female."

When Jay and I would communicate behind the scenes regarding the Trading Post, this was more or less the habit. The character who started out as Tyler was a "he" to me for many years until she had become very much embedded in her life as Valerie and felt comfortable acknowledging who she was.

It's not a hard and fast rule -- sometimes you want to wring comedy out of the narrator fumbling over things, or acknowledge that it's not cut and dried (I'm not a fan of extensive he/her and very much prefer "they" if it's meant to be invisible). My main instinct is to pick a lane and stay there as long as it works.