A Question for Readers Regarding Trans Topics · 9:10pm Sep 26th, 2020
This blog has spoilers for, uh, most of my stories. Primarily the main storyline. If you don't want those, go find another neat blog to click on.
[Sauce]
Hi y'all! I was looking over some notes for future stories and parts of old stories on the revisions-yet-to-happen list. It got me thinking about some stuff that's going to be pretty relevant in future stories. From my interactions with my readers, I know that most of y'all aren't trans, and that's not meant to be anything demeaning. Seriously, it's only an observation. However, the stories I have that feature trans characters are some of my more popular ones. Clearly, y'all like reading about trans characters, or just my stories in general, and I really like that. I've noticed that a lot of stories about trans characters on the site tend to be directed to people who are probably already trans themselves in order to cater to that niche. As a result, they're primarily about trans topics from a trans perspective... and primarily targeted to trans readers who are already in the know, so to say.
That's alienating as all shit if you have no idea what kind of a story you've stumbled across. Maybe it becomes hard to relate to because you don't know the right questions to ask, or if you should. Or, perhaps by some mistake the characters just feel alien to cisgender readers, like watching a foreign film and trying to make sense of it without subtitles. You know it's a thing, that it's language, or something that people experience, but as soon as it becomes the spotlight or sole focus, it can be hard to read (for perfectly understandable reasons).
Many writers on the site who enjoy writing about LGBT topics don't usually keep it as a secondary focus or sub-plot like I tend to. This isn't true of every story of mine (Song of Myself, Euphoria, Robbed, and a lot of stories from the Enigmatic collection) since I have written my fair share of stories that feature these kinds of topics as extremely central to the story. However, I know that most stories of mine (for example, Luna being asexual in Favorable Alignment, Blueblood having to deal with coming out related self-esteem in stories, or Coco's trans status in Halfway Mare) don't have these in the foreground.
This has been the case with Sombra for a while in my stories overall. The main storyline has had lots of build-up and smaller dives into the fact that Sombra is transgender (specifically non-binary/agender). I'm going to work on making these stronger in the revisions, though still foreshadowing and more latent in the parts where they ought to be in accordance with the story timeline. You can bet your face-masks (haha because it's 2020 geddit) that this is only going to become more relevant in future stories, even if there isn't a story about Sombra Being Trans in the same way there is for Lune when I wrote Song of Myself. But, it's going to be discussed, explicit, and much more relevant. So, yes, this is a spoiler for future stories: Sombra won't be as reluctant or uncertain to admit that. Demon horse is gonna come out. When it's time, I'll definitely be addressing all this Trans Goodness (and complications) in the main storyline.
What I want to know is how to make this more readily understood to my non-trans readers. What is it that helps you 'click' with trans-specific topics when you read/watch/see 'em? What is it that is extra confusing? How can I avoid those things?
[Note: Before you comment on something about Sombra's pronouns or if there will be medical/magical transitioning, those are things that would be addressed by me as an author. I'm wondering what makes this way more understandable to cisgender readers, especially in a story that is centered around a character's transness even if one of the primary characters is trans and will have transition-related answers provided.]
I can't give you a perspective of a cis reader, of course, but as a trans writer who writes trans stories, I find one of the most effective things I've done is have a cis character who is supportive but doesn't understand on any personal level. It forces you to see through that character's eyes and maybe explain things to them, which in turn involves explaining things to the cis readers. And as for the trans niche, most trans people genuinely love seeing cis allies like that willing to learn and expand their horizons, so it's a good move for both your trans and cis readers to have that.
Honestly, authors don't need to hold their readers' hand for every detail. Write what flows naturally and if someone is confused, they can ask.
...and then I said, "Oatmeal? Are you crazy?"
I can't claim to speak for every trans person out there, and I've neither read many stories about trans characters nor written any.
But I'd imagine that, in general, their perspective wouldn't be totally alien to cisgender people so much as it'd be applying feelings that cisgender people know, understand and experience, just in different ways.
For example: my guess is that it'd be fairly common amongst trans people to be self-conscious about how they look, how they sound, how other people are perceiving them, things like that. Just a guess. There are probably situations where they might feel uncomfortable in a particular group because they feel out of place. But those're people things, not just trans people things. The contexts where a trans person has those feelings might differ, and the details and nuances they fixate on might be different, but I'd like to think that the core feelings at work there aren't so different from things cisgender people have experienced as well. And, if a trans character is an actual, you know, character, there are probably things they feel and want that aren't necessarily tied to them being trans, so that's another opportunity to ground them.
So, in short, I'd guess that the thing to focus on the most is much the same as with any character. If you establish early on what they worry about, what's important to them, what they want from their life, things like that, and you're consistent with it, there's probably going to be stuff that people of any gender can relate to and understand.
Something something authenticity? <:B
5364760
This is kind of what's likely to happen, considering Sombra has a cisgender goth wifey in Luna, though I've had it said that she knows enough about what trans is that I don't think it'll throw readers for another loop.
5364773
I definitely don't want to be the writer who does That (tm). Though, I don't want to leave readers feeling totally confused in that regard. I think it's something to consider that for a cisgender reader who hasn't read a story about a trans character before that they might not understand what's up in a fundamental way, as opposed to still having questions about smaller details.
5364776
Believe it or not, Filly, I have a lot of cis readers. Shocking, eh?
5364820
This was pretty much how I was thinking to handle things since readers are already very familiar with Sombra and Sombra's various tics. I've had this backfire sometimes, though. Usually, it's not from writing, but offline stuff. I'm the first trans person a lot of my university peers have met and sometimes even when I answer certain questions or do certain things ("Why are you so worried about your hair? It looks good; lots of dudes have long hair." "You're not that short, I'm not that much taller than you and I was born a guy." etc etc) it can still confuse people. I don't want folks to feel the same way about my horse words, since that's not nearly as direct a form of communication as me using the Universal Language that is Memes to bridge the gap between Trans and Cis.
5364825
This is correct.
I don't even know what I could say here because even though I'm cis, and I'm sure there are plenty of things I'd get confused about, I'm not actually sure what sort of advice to put here. All I could ever say is 'Write what you wanna write'
and never ask for my opinion because that's where the confusion comes in.Nonbinary/transgender Sombra is something that's always been an idea I liked though, so much in fact that I'm actually the person who requested the above drawing... Anonymously, of course.
So, whatever way you go, I'll still be reading.
5365568
I had no idea! I just found it on DA since a friend linked it to me. Art request blogs are very friendly, but I've only ever found a couple and had a request selected once. Such is life.
I don't know what makes me click. I don't factor or care about gender or classification or anything like that. What I care about is good writing, and you most certainly have that. I found your stuff through random links under similar and also liked in different stories, and have liked your work from the start. I think the first one I read was something with Lune, but I'm not sure. Still, you're a great writer, and that's why I love your stuff. Keep up the good work.
5365739
Thank you so much! It's good to hear that I probably won't need to be doing anything special in order to accomplish what I need to, but feedback from my readers always helps.