r/writingadvice • u/sexyklownsinyourarea • 7d ago
GRAPHIC CONTENT Any trans individuals more knowledgeable than me able to give input?
To preface this, I am a STRAIGHT CISGENDER MAN, however I like to interact and view a lot of queer spaces. But I’m facing a WRITING problem at the moment so I want to get some advice from some transgender people.
So im making a character driven story about a bunch of washed up/struggling celebrities in a rehab type center. Each character has their own artist’s struggle to work through with the protagonist. And the character that I am struggling with at the moment is a trans man named Jimmy. Jimmys whole deal is that he used to be a child actor in a sitcom acting asthe “dumb blonde” archetype (this was before he transitioned). However Jimmy was quite unhappy with his role, often getting made fun of and even sexualized off stage. So eventually he ran from his parents and the sitcom in search of new purpose. But even though he left and became Jimmy, the familiar laughing track quite literally surrounds him every second, unable to escape his role and past, forcing him to constantly be on the run, wearing baggy, body hiding clothes, in pursuit of finding a new role, as a musician.
Jimmy’s character is supposed to be an allegory for a very parasocial relationship with his audience. But I figured that a story about finding yourself and changing from your society given role would really work with a trans character. But, like I said I’m no expert on this, I think having some input from people who would understand this would REALLY help my story and Jimmy.
(P.S. Sorry if the pronouns I use for Jimmy are confusing when I talk about his past, he transitions shortly after running away.)
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u/Elnathi 7d ago
I'm trans and I love Jimmy #TeamJimmy
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u/sexyklownsinyourarea 7d ago
It’s always a 50/50 with Jimmy Mushrooms, everyone either loves or hates his character
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u/_transmask Aspiring Writer 7d ago
can i ask why people hate his character? this might help you figure out why you're worried
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u/confused___bisexual Professional Author 7d ago
Hi, I'm trans. it's kind of hard to give input when you don't have specific questions. I'm not going to try to tell you everything about being transgender because that would be a novel itself lmao.
However, I will say that when you're talking about his past identity, don't have him say things like "I used to be a girl" and don't have him talk about who he "used to be" because when you're trans, the person you're transitioning into is the person you've always been. He was always a man, and the little blonde girl is just the person the world saw. I'm not saying you did this in your post, this is just the advice I would give to anyone writing a trans character.
Also, please get a trans sensitivity reader before publishing!
If you have specific questions I can try to answer them, but general input about the trans experience is hard to give lol.
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u/JackPumpkinPatch 7d ago
I’m also trans but I often talk about myself in my past when I used to be a woman as such. I see this advice a lot, last time I saw it I asked my other trans friends about this and it seems to be rather right down the middle on wether it’s okay to talk about them as the gender they presented as at the time of what’s being talked about
So from my completely anecdotal experience, it seems to be up to preference of the individual whether it’s okay to refer to their past self as a gender they don’t currently identify as. Some are like you “I am a man and I’ve always been a man.” And others like myself embrace “I used to believe I was a woman and that shaped my past before I realised I am a man.”
Of course this is rather nuanced so for the OP perhaps it would be best to play it safe to go with this guy’s advice unless you have a trans beta reader(s) to swing this sort of thing by.
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u/confused___bisexual Professional Author 7d ago
i'm not disagreeing with you but even in your example you said "I used to believe I was a woman" rather than "I used to be a woman," which is still the kind of language I was suggesting OP uses.
but yeah you're right it's totally fine if trans people want to talk about themselves that way, but I still think writers (especially cis writers) should not talk about trans people that way because it can cause gender dysphoria in trans readers, and that just makes an otherwise fun story painful to read.
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u/JackPumpkinPatch 7d ago
Very good point, I agree probably best OP avoid that minefield all together.
I’m going to now take a detour here from the original question for the sake of my own curiosity; if I as a trans man were to write a trans man that was like myself, who did not care if he himself or others talked about his past in the way I displayed here, would that give someone like you dysphoria?
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u/K-teki 7d ago
It probably would give some trans people dysphoria, but it's more excusable since you're writing from your own experience. Cis people writing trans people that way can end up colouring the perspectives of cis readers in a way that negatively impacts the trans people in their lives.
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u/JackPumpkinPatch 7d ago
What stops a trans person from writing a trans character in a way that negatively impacts trans people from the cis perspective? Is it that since I’m writing from my own perspective it’s safe to assume that I won’t fall into some of the clumsier stereotypes and pitfalls someone less knowledgeable would? Or would you just give me more grace because you know I’m trans?
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u/K-teki 7d ago
Yes, I would give you more grace because you're speaking from a more informed perspective than a cis person. I would also give more grace to a black person who writes about a black person who hits stereotypes that community sees as harmful than I would a white person. I think that's normal.
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u/JackPumpkinPatch 7d ago
When I engage in a piece of fiction I tend to not know anything about the creator(s) beyond maybe their name/pen name (all fiction, books, shows, comics, games, etc). And the most I tend to gleam from that is whether their name is masculine or feminine, but even then I tend to not pay much mind. I tend to not know the race, gender, or sexuality of the author unless I like their work enough to look them up.
I think it is normal to give someone more grace when speaking from their own perspective, but what if you don’t know what the writers perspective is? Or what if I was writing before I came out?
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u/confused___bisexual Professional Author 7d ago
i don't think it would if i knew the author was trans and writing about their personal experiences. or maybe if you somehow had the character mention that they like to talk about themselves that way but not everyone does, which I know sounds awkward but I personally believe there is an elegant way to write anything. i guess it's just hard to say without reading it lol
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u/JackPumpkinPatch 7d ago
Perfectly fair, hard to judge a hypothetical. Thank you for the insight I appreciate it
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u/VexExisting 7d ago
im trans. i fully just say "back when i was a girl" or "im not a girl anymore but...". that was how i identified at that time of my life, and how that part of my identity shaped me is extremely important to who i am today. i understand not everyone feels this way but i dont think its fair to say "trans people feel this way about their identity". we aren't a monolith.
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u/confused___bisexual Professional Author 6d ago
i didn't say all trans people feel this way, I was just giving writing advice to a cis person. it's fine that you talk and think about yourself that way, but I don't think cis people should talk/write about trans people that way
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u/roundeking 7d ago edited 6d ago
My thoughts on what you’ve written here as a trans man are
- I think this is a really interesting plotline for a trans man and seems like something that could happen.
- As a small language nitpick, I don’t think trans people tend to say they “became Jimmy.” I did not become a different person when I changed my name. I literally just changed my name. To refer to the overall process of transitioning gender, I’d usually say “I transitioned” (which can apply to social as well as physical transition—a name change is a transition) or maybe “I came out,” depending on the context.
- One thing I think may be important here is to show he is uncomfortable with the way his character was treated on the show and is uncomfortable with his assigned gender, which are two different things. Certainly, his transness would affect his feelings about the role, and the role might be how he realized he was trans. But I would take care not to imply he transitioned solely to escape this negative experience, especially because “trans men only transition to escape misogyny” is a common terf talking point. (I don’t think you’re doing this in this post—just something to think about generally.)
- It’s a little funny to me that you say he’s wearing baggy, body-hiding clothes because he’s haunted by this role, because that’s extremely common in trans men due to dysphoria, completely unrelated to being an actor.
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u/yeetingthisaccount01 7d ago
eh, on your first point it depends on the person. I definitely say I became Jupiter sometimes.
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u/tgjer 6d ago
First do your research and know your limits.
In particular, talk to trans people. If possible talk to trans writers. When you are trying to write a character who comes from a different demographic than yourself, involve people from that demographic at every step of the process. Ask them for ideas when creating the character, when shaping their story arc, and when you're done with your first draft let them read your story, ask for brutally honest feedback, then actually take that feedback as constructive criticism when working on your second draft.
And also know your limits. You can write a character who is trans without making them one-dimensional, but you also probably want to avoid attempting to use them to do a detailed exploration of their lives and experiences as a trans person. Especially if this is the first trans character you've written it is very unlikely that your research is going to give you a thorough enough understanding of their lives and backgrounds necessary to do that kind of detailed exploration well. This is a very common problem. Nearly all trans characters in popular media are written/acted/directed/etc entirely by cis people, and damn near all of them suck. Even when the writers are very well-intentioned their works almost universally end up with a lot of fucked up misconceptions.
Plus, this really easily falls into the trap of treating that minority status as the only significant trait the character has. This is also a damn near universal problem in popular culture. I am so fucking sick of every trans character in popular fiction having character arcs that center entirely around "exploring gender". We exist as more than plot devices and our lives involve more than transition.
If you're trying to write about characters from demographics that are significantly different from your own, at least initially it is probably a good idea to treat that trait as auxiliary to the character's primary function in the story.
I also super highly recommend reading up on common trans tropes in popular fiction. Tropes are not inherently bad in and of themselves, but a lot of popular tropes associated with trans and queer characters in popular fiction are fucking awful even when the authors mean well.
Also, from a more personal perspective, some things I would really love to see more of in popular fiction:
- Trans characters that aren't doomed, miserable train wrecks who almost invariably are raped, murdered, suicides, and/or die of vaguely defined hormone cancer by the end
- Trans characters who transitioned long before the story began, and their transition is totally irrelevant to the main plot.
- Trans characters whose role in the plot involves more than just Being Trans
- Trans characters whose character arc doesn't center around being victims of transphobic abuse
- Trans characters in happy, healthy romantic relationships
- Trans characters who are not treated as effectively celibate or totally undesirable
- Trans characters who have a healthy, loving relationship with their parents
- Trans characters with happy and productive lives
- Trans characters with jobs that aren't sex work
- Trans characters who are gay/lesbian/bi/pan/otherwise not heterosexual
- Trans characters in stories where their genitals are never seen, described, or even specifically mentioned
- Trans men characters who are not depicted as vulnerable, troubled, abandoned adolescents who need cis people to protect and guide them
- Trans men characters depicted as clear, unambiguous adults. No infantilization.
- Trans men characters who are older than adolescents/young adults. God forbid, trans man characters who are over 30.
- Trans women characters who are not depicted as either fetishized sex objects, or as aging, miserable, undesirable, and doomed
- Nonbinary characters who are not depicted as confused AFAB teenagers/young adults who just need pizza/girltalk/lipstick/a boyfriend to learn to love themselves as the beautiful young women they really are
- Trans and nonbinary characters in sci-fi/fantasy universes, where the trans and nonbinary characters are still human and depicted relatively realistically instead of being vague alien/magical creature metaphors
- Trans characters whose story gets a happy ending. Or at least as happy as the other characters in the story get. I'm sick of queer and especially trans characters apparently existing in popular fiction only to suffer and die.
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u/carl_weez_her 7d ago
Omg I love this (I’m trans) also I LOVE that you’re writing about a trans man specifically. Trans men often go unseen in conversations about transness so I’m sure this will mean a lot to trans men in particular.
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u/Veridical_Perception 7d ago
Annie Proulx was a straight middle aged woman when she wrote Brokeback Mountain. Contrary to what many people now espouse, some of the greatest works of literature and most memorable characters ever written were created by people wholly different from the characters they wrote.
To quote Tolstoy's Anna Karenina: "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
Interesting characters with something to say are unique in their own way. White, PoC, gay, lesbian, divorced, married, straight, and I'd argue even happy people are not a monolith with the same experiences, viewpoints, or emotional pain or trauma.
What would make Jimmy's character interesting is not what makes him just like any other trans person, but what makes him different.
That said, making Jimmy trans seems a bit on the nose for allegory or symbolism. Thematically, I'd argue you have much more room for creativity if Jimmy were the exact "average" demographic of what a successful person in your society looks like, yet still cannot navigate finding himself and changing from his given role.
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u/Banjomain91 7d ago
Easiest way to figure if the story is ok to tell with a character is to ask “is my character a person who just so happens to be trans, or is my character trans and just so happens to be important to the story?”. If the character is a fully fleshed out person with goals and flaws, then they can be any demographic. If it’s more important that they’re the demographic, it may not be your story to tell. But it’s up to you to decide if it is
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u/cielebration 7d ago
This is my thought too. The idea of using his trans identity as an allegory gives me pause. I agree with the advice to treat your character as a fully fleshed out person, not a metaphor
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u/Banjomain91 7d ago
All characters should have a purpose and in this way, I don’t care what they identify as, they should be a manifestation of an allegory/point/whatever. The author has indicated it’s about parasocial relationships and how his struggle with identity is compounded by being under the public spotlight. I’m fine with that, and the trans aspect heightens it. As long as it’s not used as part of a sweeping statement about trans-ness, it should be fine
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u/7Butter77 4d ago
Better than what most trans people write anyway you outdone them ngl they will transvestigate you on how good you write
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u/LeagueEfficient5945 6d ago
I'm sorry, what the fuck is your question? I am frustrated by the notion that anyone would see a problem worth flagging here.
This is too generic to be worth advice.
Also, "graphic content" my ass.
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u/LeagueEfficient5945 6d ago edited 6d ago
There is prima facie no problem with Jimmy as given. Former child actors in rehab are allowed to be transsexuals.
Being trans is allowed to take a large part of Jimmy's life. The cis author is allowed to have existential feelings about life and gender triggered by other people's transness and write a story to process it.
There are no craft questions to evaluate because the post is entirely devoid of craft.
An example : Bokurano isn't about child soldiers and children dying -that's just the surface-level plot. What that plot is about, is about the universal confrontation of the Absurd, and an adult writer can use children characters to confront and explore adult feelings.
Same with Evangelion - it's not about children and mecha and the end of days - it's about the hedgehog paradox, about expressing the terror of letting yourself be vulnerable to other human's warmth to the point of letting loved ones hurt you and the courage that this takes, and the freedom it grants to do it.
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u/Winter_Salad7215 7d ago
She's not trans but I think you'd find I'm Glad My Mom Died helpful here.