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One of my first story ideas I came up with was one with the novel idea to follow along a meeting of gender benders who try to overcome their addiction. It offered the fun opportunity to moonlight some tropes. However, the idea gathered dust as I never could figure out a plot.
I was developing another story idea about a fertility goddess priestess and suddenly it made a click for me. Remembering the older idea I combined both. Sadly the moonlighting of tropes fell a bit short.
I couldn't help myself to include another fun little idea. Namely a cameo of myself. I guess most would have figured out that Cassandra - the FM/TBC writer in the story - was me. If you didn't then now you know. Sadly I don't live in a universe with rampant gender-bending.
Which brings me to the next point. I was asked in reviews if the story plays in an existing universe. No. Not intentionally and given the details, it is not very probable that it could fit into an existing universe.
Let's see. We have magic and it is openly known that it exists. That rules out the SRU universe for sure. We have technic enabled devices. So much that the government has watchlists for specific parts.
Speaking of government. They not only know about gender-bending and magic. They passed laws concerning them and have some kind of reaction planned for worst case scenarios. If you know a universe that has all these aspects: please do tell!
I also have to correct a little mistake in the future when I update the story. I wanted to include another person in the epilog. Some might remember that Susan's anger management therapist was gender bend and Susan promised to turn him back. With Susan stuck as a male I imagine the therapist still waits for it.
Originally my writing started with a focus on person-to-object transformations. After so many gender-bending stories I decided to return to my roots for a little.
Of course, my old habit to avoid downtrodden paths caught up again. Bras, panties, stockings, and heels. All done and a staple of the genre. I needed something else. One object transformation that had always intrigued me was that of becoming a candle, slowly burning away.
After choosing my target transformation I had to come up with a plot. As candles aren't very common in modern age I looked in the past and thought a folklore or fable-like story might fit best.
I kind of like the end product as in a way it has a bad and a happy ending. Overall it might be a bad ending. Radovan gets kidnapped by the old man and his friend is about to join the fate. On the other hand, Tereza is quite happy now. For her, it is a happy ending.
Paula Girl brought up the topic that I might have miscategorized the story by adding "identity death"(on Fictionmania). I think that is debatable. Yes, Tereza keeps her memories, but her personality twists so much that she loses connection to them. The moment she chooses to not warn her old friend she chooses her new reality over the sentimentality rooted in her memories.
Some might have wondered why Tereza was fitted with brass to fix her to her lantern while other candle girls were free within their lantern. Originally I planned the story to end in an additional scene. Tereza outside of the house in her lantern while another storm was tearing through the landscape. It would have made the story come full circle as it would now be her to lure in lost wanderers. But I liked the scene where she "betrays" her friend so much, I decided to omit the addition as it would subtract from it.
Fun fact: This was the first story after finding a name generator that could output names based on country. For this story, I used names originating in Croatia. I liked the idea to fish in a new and less established pool of names. I think for this story it worked quite well. However, it doesn't necessarily mean the story plays in Croatia.
What a fun little story. Especially since I wrote it with one goal in mind. I think my writing of smut and more importantly sex scenes are lacking. The best way to chance it is training it. Hence this story was my practice and playground. I think it turned out alright.
You might be wondering why I wrote "The end?" yet marked the story as complete. I think this part is pretty complete as a story about the change itself and the immediate reaction to it. However, I plan to revisit Ricky and Amanda in two years. Hopefully in story time and not real-life time.
I think the sequel will deal with how they settled in their new life and how they found a way to exploit Ricky's unique curse/blessing. To tie it all up maybe Sallie finally makes an entrance and offers to undo the curse. How will Ricky react? Of course, there is always the possibility of bigger garments springing forth of Ricky's imagination.
Originally I planned to start the story with Richard and Sallie on their date. However, I came to the conclusion that it might slow the story pace too much in the beginning. I think the chosen start to recap the date in a talk with Amanda is satisfactory and helps to build up Amanda's character more.
A fun little tidbit: One of my test readers had an immediate question. "I heard latex quickly takes on smells. Does every latex garment Ricky makes smell like her sex?" I have no clue how to answer that one. Maybe one of you dares to try?
"Whissies" started out with a fun little thought experiment of mine. If Sissies had their own magic how would it work? What would be the effects and mechanics?
Given that Sissies are predisposed to take in body fluids (cum) the idea that it was needed for their spells wasn't too far off. From there the mechanic of passing spells in turn to each other wasn't so far fetched either.
That gave way to the idea that they would need to chain themselves in a way and that in turn gave me the basic plot point of Whissies.
A story I that was surprisingly a lot of fun to write.
While I think of this story as done and over, I sometimes think about just how it would play out if two or more Whissie covens would go to war with each other.
For fun, I'll answer Daphne Xu's question here that she posted in a review:
"The Whissies are an underworld secret in a world with overt witches and warlocks?"
- I imagine they aren't a really a secret, but shunned or belittled by witches and warlocks. I imagined magic in the world more like a hobby for most. Instead of making a bowling team with your co-workers they do spells in the moonlight.
"I'm wondering, is this a sane world or a crap sack world? "
I imagine from our point of view there are a few insane aspects of the world and its people. Of course, they would say the same about us.
"I guess that since the guards were able to repel the chasers, there are at least islands of sanity. On the other hand, if it was impossible to call a cab after 5 PM, then..."
Oh no, someone found a plot hole! To be honest, that mistake might be because I don't own a mobile phone myself, so that might be the reason why Arnold hadn't thought about it himself. Why didn't he called a cab at work? I call lapse of judgment.
The story might be a little confusing. The Reason is that it was in part an experiment and writers exercise. My goal was to write a compelling story, that takes place inside a world that did not make much sense and where not everyone acts logically. Many parts of the world building are unreasonable or hidden. Not just to the reader, but also to the characters living in this world.
To be honest, even I don't know all the details in the world. Which is part of the challenge. I probably could have explained the soul chips better. Think casino like chips that function as trading cards. Each unique and linked to a person. They "spawn" at obelisks and use the corresponding person as a template for the zombies. Acquired by summoners they act as a focus to summon the corresponding person. Flicking a soul chip is an ability of a summoner to "sell" a soul chip to gain a currency summoners use.
I tried to explore the world through the eyes of Damien and since his understanding is flawed, so is the view the reader gets. He tries the same as the reader to make sense of this world.
I had a lot of fun writing Zoey as she doesn't make much sense. There is not a lot of logical reasoning behind her actions and this sets her apart from the characters I usually write. Now, each time I start a new story, I wonder if I can somehow add a screwball character like her.
Normally I tend to write stories with happy endings. Not in this case. It was an attempt to write a bad ending. Nothing beats landing in hell as the bad ending, right? However, midway through writing, I came up with a lot more of possible content. Chronicling the long journey for Tiffy through this hell finding redemption and rebirth at the end. In the end, I decided against it and did go with my initial story plan and length. Mostly because why should a bad guy get a happy end? Even if it would take an eternity or two to reach it.
Two reviewers mentioned that Andrew/Tiffy is accepting too fast her new body and role. I think they might have missed a point here. Giving Andrew a female name and forcing his mind to think of himself as a female does not mean he is accepting his role. It was meant as another insult to him, as he can't even live in denial about his new body and gender. He was an "alpha male" in his mind and to be forced to be a woman is the worst for him. It is ... hell.
And since I am commenting on reviewers here I might as well say: I have no clue why someone might think it is a sci-fi story.
"The other self" had a specific idea as its core. To flip a low-key trope most gender-bending stories followed: We have one change or a series of changes that transition a character from a starting body and personality to another. In my story, I tried to write the other extreme: the constant changing of one's body so much that the mind got used to it, but wished the change would stop.
The "be careful what you wish for" is a big part of the story and I quite liked toying with the reader into thinking "the bad ending happened".
Here is a quick summary for those who couldn't follow the base premise:
In reality A it is a girls body. In reality B it is a boys body.
Day 1: Soul A in Reality A; Soul B in Reality B
Day 2: Soul B in Reality A; Soul A in Reality B
Day 3: Soul A in Reality A; Soul B in Reality B
Day 4: Soul B in Reality A; Soul A in Reality B
and so on and so forth .. till the ritual
After Ritual: Soul A and soul B in Reality C
Another story that was very fun to write and was based on a simple idea: imagine a totalitarian society that actually fulfills very wish of you. Even the ones most hidden.
To highlight how ridiculous it is I tried to make the main protagonist (Roman/Maureen) a little contradictory. I mean he writes male on male smut but is really attracted to woman. While not impossible it is a bit hard to believe and that was my intention.
I don't really think a sequel is necessary. Maureen's story is done for me. But recently I got a few ideas of other strange people with strange needs that could end up in the totalitarian society they will love.
"There Is Always Space For Another Exhibit"
This story was based on a suggestion of a friend and as she was a devoted test reader I decided to write this story as a little reward. In the process, the story evolved a lot beyond its usual scope.
The original idea was that of a traveling spaceship museum using modern technic to "hide" refugees in order to smuggle them past customs. In order to add plot I came up with the betrayal part and the one being sold to a new owner. The first draft wasn't even 2000 words long. It missed the curating scene on the spaceship and cut off after the delivery to Sverre (the new owner).
My friend had several good suggestions after reading the first draft. For one the museum part or that Juliska was displayed fell short. Prompting me to add the curating scene and influencing the two new closing scenes.
Number two was the idea for the control implants that would pose Juliska before she returned to "statue mode".
Her last gripe was with me adding the Zeraphian race aspect. She called bullshit and pointed out the many plot holes surrounding it. Of course, I accepted the challenge. Time to do some pseudo-science. This quickly grew into the longer version the story is now. I don't think it was quite that what my friend had in mind for the story, but it was too late. My mind was made up. XD
Names: Again I used a name generator. If I remember correctly Juliska and Lucinda originated in Hungary and Alma and Sverre are based on Norwegian names.
Another thought experiment gone wrong (or right?). For most of us, it is clear that Sissies are feminized men. Most often forcefully so. As consequence it is clear that it only can happen to men, right? This fact/trope I wanted to subvert. I needed to find a way that works to get women transformed into Sissies.
However, there was another (small) trope I tried to subvert. Namely the ghost that genderbends men into women. While at it I couldn't help, but moonlight the trope too.
Sadly, to make the story work, the mental part of being a Sissie was a little ignored by me. If I ever continue writing in this universe (and about Mabel and Kristine) then I have to correct this.
