You're probably not familiar with Aiden, the protagonist of "A Hundred Suns"; that's fine. The point is, "he" was a girl all the time and took me by surprise. Now I want to know- should I reveal her gender to the reader and the other characters at the same time, or tell the reader first? And how do I pull off the latter option?
Does anybody here know Metroid? Anyways, I think you should tell the readers first. Nonetheless, don't be so direct in telling them the secret. See, the secret is suspenseful! Why not keep it that way until the end of the story? But in that keeping, try to give some hints and nuances around; nobody likes a revelation without any explanation! Try not to be too shocking in revealing. I think the better goals is to make them say this:
"Ha! I knew that! I told you so!" a reader jumping up and down in surprise and confidence, gloating to another reader who thought Aiden WAS male.
Well, something like that. I think it would be more exciting if readers have something to debate for, you know. And how to hint? Just give away instances where the character does girly things. Like urinating. Sorry for that, but that's the first thing that popped out of my imagination. Well, you get the idea
Hope I helped!
Your pal, Al
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Well, how will revealing her gender affect her in-story? Does she live in a society where outing this about herself with potentially harm her? Will she be outcast? Or will she be accepted, like it makes no difference what her gender is?
Also, it probably matters a whole lot why Aiden was hiding her gender to begin with (I'm assuming she knows that she's actually a girl? Unless it's not a physical gender thing but a psychological gender thing like "I identify as a female, but am physically/medically a male"). Or why you, as the writer, are keeping it hidden from us, as the readers.
Not knowing the answers to a lot of these questions, there are a few ways I think you could go with this: 1. Rewrite the beginning in a way that tells the reader upfront that Adrian is a girl masquerading as a boy, and then reveal this information to the characters when it becomes necessary and meaningful to do so. 2. Reveal to the reader before the characters, when it becomes necessary and meaningful for the reader to gain this information. 3. Reveal to both the characters and the readers at the same time, when it becomes necessary and meaningful for both to gain this information.
It all depends on your intentions for the story, really!
Thank you, Lauren! As for her reasons, they're as follows. She's an orphan, and pretended to be male up till now to avoid being bullied or abused. It seems she has to set the record straight when Joanna expresses feelings for her.
You're very welcome! And that sounds super interesting!
In case you're interested in my follow-up thoughts, it seems like you can either choose to tell the reader right up front, or at the same time as Joanna then (but of course when you do this, the reader should be able to look back and see the SUBTLE HINTS and realize that it couldn't have been any other way all along). Just depends on what shenanigans you're looking to put the reader through.
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