Oddbean

@6e9427cf @b2ab0244 @ebd90c48 “it might mean that your gut reaction about where the plot needs to go will have to be carefully examined. Writers have reflexes, too!” I’d most like to write a book as usual, then click a button and have every pronoun switch, and see how that affects the story.

@e8c684dc @b2ab0244 @ebd90c48 "I’d most like to write a book as usual, then click a button and have every pronoun switch, and see how that affects the story." Character tags (little bits of description or telling action attributed to the character) are subtle bits of subtext that we use to make a story flow transparently. In my /Mask/ story, for example, the character "wipes unexpected hot tears" after being shot down. Feminine, right? Wrong. Men will react privately, or unconsciously, or if they haven't bought into guy-culture, easily. But without pronouns and gender subtext-ing, the statement becomes fodder for the reader deciding not on "what" but "does it actually matter?" My removal of the few gendering words didn't change the character, except in the reader's mind. Yep. Caveat, very short story. My bet is switching "she" to "he" globally will be less jarring than vice-versa (make-up and dresses notwithstanding, maybe.) These days masculine behavior in women is much more accepted still than the other way around. In the end, your result depends on how you write your characters. I-POV makes a big difference, of course.

@6e9427cf @b2ab0244 @ebd90c48 true, that’s why it’d be such an interesting experiment. I feel like I write relatively gender-neutral characters but we’re all so seeped in our respective cultures’ gender markers that it’d be sure to trip me over my own subconscious biases and that would be valuable.

@e8c684dc @6e9427cf @ebd90c48 That's indeed an interesting experiment. I know that I am lacking a certain kind of femininity in my characters because it puts me off IRL (trauma induced, not subject to discussion) and working towards fixing that, but otherwise I think most of my stories would still work, except perhaps one or two sex scenes. Usually, I don't get explicit, so most should work. But agreed, I would like to have that switch in my software, just for checking I managed okay.