Seeking input

[rivkat]

I have an abiding interest in cliches/standard plots, because they distill so much of what I love about fan fiction into more concentrated form. So now, I seek your assistance in brainstorming. What scenes/events/tropes/whatever do you like to see in a genderswap story? (Obviously, if you don't like those stories, that's cool; feel free to suggest a scene you would like to see in such stories but somehow never do, or even to tell me what's wrong with genderswap stories, or just to skip merrily on by.) Thus: X wakes up and is suddenly a girl. What should happen to him?

Comments

Not related to anything.

[thornsilver]

I love your icon! (With burning luv of a thousand suns.)

Re: Not related to anything.

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I thought the picture was pretty awesome. I like that Miss Piggy is rarely ashamed to be herself, though I wish she wouldn't so often define herself by reference to a man -- er, a frog.

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

Um, masturbation is a classic for a reason.

[giandujakiss.livejournal.com]

A few genderswap stories are realistic in the sense that they are tragic - someone just lost his or her identity. More commonly they're a bit comic. The guy discovers the awesomeness of female orgasm and generally isn't that upset. Which, from women writers, is understandable. Lots of enjoyment of female clothing.

Mary Sueish elements too. The other half of the pairing is enchanted, lustful,jealous of other men. The "woman" gets hersel into physical trouble and is protected or at least cooed over by the OTP.

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

i've spent so much time thinking about genderswap lately, I don't even know where to start :) [i just sent off an abstract for an essay and spent a lot of time rereading and thinking about this..]

it depends for me if it's a story just reveling in tropes and examining what it means to be female (i.e., here I like especially the different body as not all negative, i.e., different physical abilities and how others suddenly perceive him differently) or if it's a story addressing queer and/or trans issues.

as i'm going through my favorites, though, they're all different, so i'm not even sure what it is...

[bagheera-san.livejournal.com]

I think the physical aspects (omg, I have boobies! sex with another guy, cramps, pregnancy, whatever) have been done almost to death. What I might like to see is X experimenting with lesbian sex instead of immediately embracing his switched heterosexuality.

I'd love to see more of the social aspects, though. Particularly some interaction between X and his female relatives/friends. Also, in case X has enemies/rivals, I'd love to see interaction with them.

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

I'm going to send you something which may illuminate my reasons for asking. I am interested in filling in the gaps. Um, so to speak.

Re: Not related to anything.

[thornsilver]

Yes, but she doesn't want just *any* frog. She wants *that* one. Not quite the same. :P

[cryptoxin.livejournal.com]

I don't know the fanfic genre, but I'd love to see an initial period where X tries to hide the genderswap from other people and continue to pass as male-bodied. Sort of along the lines of Shakespeare comedies et al.

[ladyagnew.livejournal.com]

One thing which I always like in genderswap stories is X wakes up as a girl and learns a kind of physical confidence in their body. Not just sexual -- though that is nice -- but gendered. Up to and including a sense of, 'this is not so bad; being stuck like this would have its benefits'.

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

That sounds really cool. I can't actually think of any genderswap stories where a character tries that (beyond the standard "hiding in the bathroom for the first couple of hours") but I bet it happened, at least in bandslash.

[wearemany.livejournal.com]

this story (http://brushstrokes.livejournal.com/9075.html) has ruined me in the best way possible for genderswap. i, uh, can't exactly figure out how to say why (and fully answer your question) w/o giving away a major ending thing, so if bandslash/rps isn't your thing and you want me to tell you, let me know.

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

So true.

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

So which, if any, of these *work* for you? Jealousy is of course another opportunity to adore the pretty object. Do you want to see rescues? Or the discovery of new privileges?

[wearemany.livejournal.com]

i have absolutely read a couple of those in bandslash -- along the lines of ryan (usually) not looking different enough to prevent him from continuing to play shows and wear his same clothes, even. i'm blanking on specific stories -- but here are all the possibilities (http://del.icio.us/wearemany/genderfuck), tagged.

[amandajane5.livejournal.com]

Guys always talk about how if they had breasts they'd play with them all day, except for that really, that wouldn't be fun at all - I'd love to see a guy discover that!

[giandujakiss.livejournal.com]

Very little of it works for me personally. If I'm interested in exploring genderfucks in a 'verse I vastly prefer "was always a girl" to "changed into one.". The change and exploration doesn't interest me. What interests me is how the same traits look on a female character.

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

Enemies! What a great idea.

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

You are a slightly scary awesome resource.

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

Yes! Thanks.

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

... goes off to read.

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

Heh. There does seem to be an abiding interest in what it feels like for a boy/girl.

[chase820.livejournal.com]

Well, there's the inevitable texting of subtext when guy's best friend with whom he's always had a charged relationship becomes irresistibly attracted to female him. Some good Supernatural Sam/Dean fics play with this. (Those also encompass incest issues but that's another kettle o' tropes.)

This way, one gets to have one's slash and one's het at the same time. Beautiful, really. But what do you call it? 'Slet'? 'Hash'?

I like 'Hash.'

Of course, I may just be flashing back to your Clex story (whose title escapes me for some odd reason) where Clark turns into a really, really hot chick and ends up moving into Luthor manor, and in the end when he switches back he realizes Lex always knew it was him because Lex is just that damn good. Man, I love that story.

[wearemany.livejournal.com]

i wish i had a better/older collection -- i really skew far more towards enjoying things that would qualify as genderfuck than swap, and have written somewhat accordingly. bandslash has had a couple of fics that are more about cross-dressing than swapping that i just adore -- they're both on that page, the one at the top where pete picks up a cross-dressed ryan and is a little sad he's got boyparts but also thrilled. and then one towards the bottom, which is this adolescent cross-dressing thing the likes of which i haven't seen much elsewhere. (corinna wrote that one lex/clark AU where lex was a drag queen at stonewall, which is the only other thing that comes to mind.)

[wearemany.livejournal.com]

oh good! would love to hear what you think.