General Notes:

Much of the details of this story I will explain in the chapter by chapter commentary, but I want to tell here how this story and the shared universe of "Undesirable Classes" came to be.

At the time I wrote the story I was a little obsessed with stories that use games and RPG's as meta influence. I had the desire to write my own. However, unlike others, I wanted to highlight the often illogical rules within such worlds. The "Undesirable Classes" world was to generally focus on how restrictive it would be for a person to be defined by one class. To do this, I planned the world to be broken from the start with unbalanced rules inspired by games and their tropes.

Natural Affection was intended to specifically highlight the broken romance logic in RPG games and dating sim games. Throw gifts at them and they will love you. Sure. Expanding from that I thought it would be nice to have a class that could carve at the same topic. What better than a Succubus for this type of work?

Fun fact: Valerie's class name "Empusa" is copied (in other words stolen ... psst don't tell) from the game Disgaea. It is one of the unlockable variants of the Succubus classes there. Valerie's Empusa class and the one from Disgaea share the ability to drain health points from an enemy.

A chapter by chapter commentary:

Chapter 1,
was the typical meet the hero part. Here I tried to underline that Walter was boring and quite happily so. He has no big aspirations as he already achieved all that he wanted in life. We also get a few first details of the world he lives in.
"Walter logged out of his workstation." became also a much-hated sentence by me. Every time I opened the document this sentence greeted me. It was a reminder that I still wasn't done with the story. I imagined quite a few times to change that sentence, but I guess I would have hated the replacement sentence soon too.

Chapter 2,
was more details about Walter but also introduced his wife and daughter. They play a very big role in the story and have character development of their own. Therefore it was important to me that certain details, in turn, open to the reader early on. Bethany as a loving wife. Content to let her husband make big decisions. Sarah the perfect daughter caught in the middle of a huge change in her life and world.

This part also introduced the reader to the Affection stat and how broken the rules surrounding it are. I wanted to highlight early on that this world was not balanced and fair. That there could be abuse and people willing to do it.

Chapter 3,
was the first major plot point. The fight leading up to Walter's switch to Valerie and his genderbending. I purposely tried to keep the first part peaceful so the reader would be equally surprised by the sudden escalation as Walter and his family are.

A little fun fact is that I gave the story up to this point to a few friends. One of them didn't get the detail that it was a work in progress. She flat out told me it was very mean to end the story on such a cliffhanger.

Chapter 4,
was hard to write. First I tried the "OMG I AM A GIRL !!!" approach, but quickly dismissed it. I felt it was not in line with Walter's character. Instead, I tried to leave him in a state of shock, but also with his most important priority on the foreground: concern for his family.

We also have the courtroom scene. Highlighting what happens to their attackers and how wicked the class is that he now is stuck in. One of the details, that might be overlooked, is that the attacking Empusa got no name. Internally I never gave her one as it was part of my imagined backstory. She died so often that she literally lost so many memories that she doesn't even who she is. That, in turn, fuels her desperation to change classes.

Chapter 5,
is rather short and is meant to not only highlight how $%§#ed Walter is but also to show the reader the overlaying theme of the shared universe I wish to create.
As I have plotted out most of the future stories I was able to sneak in a little foreshadowing of a future story. Quite a few such foreshadowings made it into the story.

Chapter 6,
expanded on what the reader learned in chapter 5 about Empusas. To this day I fear it is a little too heavy of an information dump. I also tried to highlight how Walter started to cope with his new body. Not well, as he mainly is being passive about it.

Chapter 7,
was the typical "first time to buy clothes of the other gender" chapter. However, we have here also a small role reversal. Normally it is Walter in the family who takes charge. In this scene it is Bethany and Walter again takes on a passive stance. A theme to continue further in the story. We also have the naming of his female self. I needed a while to decide on Valerie as I first tried to come up with a fitting name starting with W.

At the end is also the first clue that the changed body of Walter might split him apart from Bethany as the rules of the world are starting to act.

The description of the clothes is mostly glossed over at this point. This was on purpose as I feared going into too much detail would slow down the overall story pacing.

Chapter 8,
is short and meant to reinforce some information gained by chapter 7. Giving also Sarah a small moment of character development.

Chapter 9,
picks up the speed of the timeline. Clueing the reader in how Walter is coping with his new body and the resulting changes in his life. I tried the low-key approach to reinforcing the fact that Walter/Valerie is mostly reacting instead of acting. That he/she acts if it is a short-term situation and therefore tries to stick to his normal view of the world.
it also introduces new characters. Janet as a strict, but fair boss. Gary, a person I loathed to write but included him because he was important to the plot. However, I hoped that by this point that Gary stuck in the reader's mind, but not as a character to watch out for. And at last Hank. I planned him as a one-off throwaway character, but later found an additional use for him.

Chapter 10,
brought a small character development opportunity. In this chapter, I resolved most of the "sexual harassment at work" plot point of the story. However, by flipping the accusation to indicate it was Valerie doing the harassment I tried to for one to do something unexpected to the reader and highlighting some of the biased view people in that world have that differ from ours.
We have Valerie for the first time proactively doing something about her day to day situation.
Also, we have a conclusion to the plot involving Gary. A fake conclusion that I hope fouled some readers.

Chapter 11,
further shifts the dynamic in Valerie's household. This time we have Sarah stepping up. On a smaller part, it also tells the reader that Bethany is the one now researching a solution to the class problem. Again leaving Valerie on the passive side.

Chapter 12,
deepens the change and how Sarah takes up a more dominant role in the relationship to her father/new-mother. We also learn new details on how Valerie's class works. Slowly shifting the perception of the reader from an unmanageable class to one that one could at least bargained with. At least that is what I hoped to accomplish.

Chapter 13,
doesn't fulfill as much of a plot point as it is to give the reader how Valerie's new typical workday is or shaping up to be. We have a foreshadowing peek at Gary just to remind the reader that the character exists. The chapter ends on the positive note of Janet's compliment. Mostly to set up chapter 14.

Chapter 14,
was a hard chapter to write. I even hated myself a little for putting Valerie through the ordeal. However, this scene is there for an explicit reason. As mentioned before Valerie acted mostly passive to the changes around before and others took the initiative. Most of her adjustments can be traced back to Sarah or Bethany. I needed something to break Valerie's passive behavior. The resulting chapter 14 is the pivot-point to shift Valerie's behavior to a more active one.

As with chapter 3, I started with a deception to the reader. The busy day prior to the garage scene was to lull the reader into thinking this was the main plot point of the chapter.
While clearly in the victim role we have Valerie reacting in a few active ways. Using her intelligence to plot a way out of the situation. To actively use some of the learned knowledge since her change.
That this is not a 100% success is on purpose. Near the end, we have a scene where Valerie faces the real possibility of dying. In this world, it means losing memory. In other words, losing her past accomplishments as Valerie.

While numb from the encounter we also have the short moment when Valerie insists on giving a statement. This was to hint at what was to come. The shift inside her to change from reacting to actively doing something to move forward. To not cling to the past and face the challenges ahead.

Chapter 15,
shows Sarah coming to the rescue. Once again showing her more dominant. This chapter is a little more than just showing off Sarah's class and ability. At first, we have Valerie very passive. I think very understandable to the reader, given what happened in chapter 14. But here she is given an opportunity to improve herself. Not as Walter, but as Valerie. It marks the low-key moment when Valerie sees her new body not as something to get rid off, but also as something to protect and care for.

Chapter 16,
brings Brad Cooper back. Oh, that poor sucker. We will encounter him a few times in the story. While he is in part running gag and comedic relief he also is there to bring back the memory of the affection rules ( and how broken they are). It also gives Valerie the opportunity to show off a bit of her newfound active role.

Going into the introduction of the new teacher and learning to dance is in part to deepen the chapter as comedic relief and lighten the mood after the previous grave chapters.

Chapter 17,
is meant for the reader in part to show off how Valerie further starts to act on her own. On the other end, it is still mostly light-hearted.

Chapter 18,
starts with another big plot point to resolve. The decline of Bethany's affection for Valerie. By showing off a happy couple I tried to contrast the current relationship of Valerie and Bethany. We also have Hank again. For a former one-off character, he pops up surprisingly often.

Chapter 19,
is another big one resolving a plot point and I imagine quite a few readers dismissed it as fan service or smut.

For one we have Bethany take the initiative. Quite strongly too. Further cementing a shift in their relationship. It used to be Walter who resolves family problems. Now as Valerie she takes a step back and lets Bethany supply the solution. I see it not as Valerie falling back into passive mode. Rather she actively chooses to let this change happen.

Next, we have the gratuitous week of pure sex. it is a little more than just smut or fan service. The story is highlighting broken rules of games and I needed something to break the broken rules of the world. A glitch so to speak. I tried other approaches but settled on this one because it is so strong and extreme. To highlight how much is needed to cheat the system.
It also has the added benefit of Valerie finally acknowledging an aspect of her body she so far ignored. Not only is her defense on this torn down. It is literally obliterated by Bethany. It marks the point where Valerie stops thinking of something to be tolerated and starts seeing the advantages.

Chapter 20,
was another break from the main plots to provide a little comedic relief. We also get another clue on the Empusa class's real potential.

Chapter 21,
starts pretty low-key. It, of course, foreshadows some action later. By now I hope this tactic didn't become too obvious to the reader.

I originally needed a chapter to explain how the "evil" Empusa and Gary escaped the prison. It quickly ballooned out to throwing Valerie right into the middle of a fight. Letting me show off how much she learned in her combat training. It also gave me a good moment to clue the reader in on the "concentrated health" trait of an Empusa.

On a very very low-key note, we also see Valerie's affection changing aura/pheromones work in a non-sexual way. Meaning she takes on a leading role in the defense and how others look up to her as a leader.

Chapter 22,
sees again Bethany taking charge. Resolving another big drawback of the Empusa class. It also provides a bit fetish-centric fan service.

Surprisingly the hardest part of the chapter was naming the class Bethany changed into. I tried several names based on cows or minotaurs. None made it click and in the end, I used the name "Heylin". Created by randomly sticking letters together. How professional ...

Chapter 23,
provided mostly comedic relief and prepared Bethany for the big boss fight at the end. No deep plot here.

Chapter 24,
was to set up chapter 25. I didn't want to spring the big company BBQ on the reader without warning. It also gave me the opportunity to remind the reader of the advantage of the Heylin class in a comedic way.

Chapter 25,
is a big conclusion. Valerie has learned the details of her class and started to master them. In order to highlight those, she is thrown into a fight alongside with her family.

It doesn't really resolve a lot of plot points but is meant as something to tie all the previous experiences together.
We have Gary who gets a face full of a spear and a small revenge for Valerie. We see Valerie once again take charge and in return how her work life might improve in the future.

The big bad is the other Empusa. She is not only a focus of Valerie's anger. She represents a lot of the fears Valerie had in regards to her new class. The "evil" Empusa is cut off from meaningful social contact and mostly reduced to her "sexy" image. Lost to the disadvantages to the class. In the end, Valerie gives the other Empusa a class stone. One might interpret this as the other Empusa winning as she succeeds in her goal. However, for Valerie, it is to make peace with the embodiment of the negative aspects of her class. Showing in turn part of her personal growth.

One of the biggest hurdles in this chapter was to give Valerie a reasonable opportunity for her one on one duel at the end. I did go through a few iterations why the police needed so long to storm the last room. I settled on spread thin troops and barricaded doors. Still, I view this plot convenience as pretty weak. Not a plot hole, but maybe a frayed patch of plot fabric.
The other big weakness is the passive behavior of the thugs after their boss died. I wish I could have resolved this better.

Chapter 26 / The Epilogue,
is the customary happy ending. Here we see Valerie's new resolve and finally embracing her new class and sex. I tried here to resolve every last open plot point, which hopefully I managed.

Oh, there is Brad Cooper again. I wonder when we will read about him next...