So, for the last week or so I\'ve been kicking around an idea for a romance story. I\'ve got it mostly settled, but I\'m not quite set on the ending yet. I have a couple of options, but there\'s pros and cons to both of the options I\'ve come up with. That and, I simply don\'t have a lot of experience with the genderqueer or nonbinary experience. So it\'s entirely possible that some of what I have planned may be offensive—or one option may simply leap out as much more favourable to someone in a situation fundamentally similar to it, and I wanted to run them past some other people to see if I could get some opinions.
The core premise of the story is that the protagonist was, for whatever reason, born with moderate shapeshifting powers. I have some ideas how to justify that, but I might not even bother—stuff like The Time Traveler\'s Wife can get away with random magic, after all. The shapeshifting is enough that the protagonist can change most general features at will, ie. height, weight, muscle and—most importantly for the story—physical sex.
The protagonist starts a relationship with a guy and lets him in on the secret fairly quickly (Since they met as both guys first, the protagonist felt bad about possibly misleading a guy who knew them in multiple ways). It proceeds well for a while, but the longer it goes on the more a hitch is apparent: The guy in question is dead straight. The protagonist was born with their powers and has a gender identity that encompasses both sexes, and wouldn\'t feel comfortable remaining female on anything resembling a permanent basis, but the guy just... isn\'t attracted to the protagonist as a male. They can be close friends, the sexual vibe just isn\'t there.
So all of that I feel relatively solid on, but I\'m not sure how to ultimately resolve it. As I can think of it now, I see two significant possibilities:
A) The love interest realizes he does love the protagonist as a man—just not sexually. He still cares deeply about him and realizes that the protagonist never really \'switched\'. He was always the same person the love interest fell in love with at the core, he just looked different. Nobody loves every single thing about their partner in the exact same way to the exact same degree, but what\'s important is that the caring is still there. They resolve that, even if the relationship is difficult, they can make things work out.
B) They struggle with it for a while, but eventually come to the conclusion that the relationship isn\'t going to work out, and resolve to end it before it damages what they do have. The protagonist deserves someone who can love all of what they are, and there are people out there who fit that bill. It might take some time to find, but in the meantime that protagonist has friends—and \'friend\' isn\'t a runner-up for \'lover\', after all. They agree to take some time apart to let things resolve, but eventually get back together as friends.
I think that both possibilities have their merits, both in terms of narrative and in terms of overall themes. Both the ideas of \'You don\'t have to love them 100%, 100% of the time\' and \'friendship is not a runner-up\', and I feel like they\'d take roughly equal effort to not misrepresent their themes as encouraging settling/sticking it out for an impossibly perfect partner. So they\'re weighing roughly equal in my mind.
So, any thoughts or input anyone could offer would be much appreciated!
So, for the last week or so I\'ve been kicking around an idea for a romance story. I\'ve got it mostly settled, but I\'m not quite set on the ending yet. I have a couple of options, but there\'s pros and cons to both of the options I\'ve come up with. That and, I simply don\'t have a lot of experience with the genderqueer or nonbinary experience. So it\'s entirely possible that some of what I have planned may be offensive—or one option may simply leap out as much more favourable to someone in a situation fundamentally similar to it, and I wanted to run them past some other people to see if I could get some opinions.
The core premise of the story is that the protagonist was, for whatever reason, born with moderate shapeshifting powers. I have some ideas how to justify that, but I might not even bother—stuff like The Time Traveler\'s Wife can get away with random magic, after all. The shapeshifting is enough that the protagonist can change most general features at will, ie. height, weight, muscle and—most importantly for the story—physical sex.
The protagonist starts a relationship with a guy and lets him in on the secret fairly quickly (Since they met as both guys first, the protagonist felt bad about possibly misleading a guy who knew them in multiple ways). It proceeds well for a while, but the longer it goes on the more a hitch is apparent: The guy in question is dead straight. The protagonist was born with their powers and has a gender identity that encompasses both sexes, and wouldn\'t feel comfortable remaining female on anything resembling a permanent basis, but the guy just... isn\'t attracted to the protagonist as a male. They can be close friends, the sexual vibe just isn\'t there.
So all of that I feel relatively solid on, but I\'m not sure how to ultimately resolve it. As I can think of it now, I see two significant possibilities:
A) The love interest realizes he does love the protagonist as a man—just not sexually. He still cares deeply about him and realizes that the protagonist never really \'switched\'. He was always the same person the love interest fell in love with at the core, he just looked different. Nobody loves every single thing about their partner in the exact same way to the exact same degree, but what\'s important is that the caring is still there. They resolve that, even if the relationship is difficult, they can make things work out.
B) They struggle with it for a while, but eventually come to the conclusion that the relationship isn\'t going to work out, and resolve to end it before it damages what they do have. The protagonist deserves someone who can love all of what they are, and there are people out there who fit that bill. It might take some time to find, but in the meantime that protagonist has friends—and \'friend\' isn\'t a runner-up for \'lover\', after all. They agree to take some time apart to let things resolve, but eventually get back together as friends.
I think that both possibilities have their merits, both in terms of narrative and in terms of overall themes. Both the ideas of \'You don\'t have to love them 100%, 100% of the time\' and \'friendship is not a runner-up\', and I feel like they\'d take roughly equal effort to not misrepresent their themes as encouraging settling/sticking it out for an impossibly perfect partner. So they\'re weighing roughly equal in my mind.
So, any thoughts or input anyone could offer would be much appreciated!
Birthright: an original web novel about Dragons, the Burdens of Leadership, and Mangoes.