I feel I have stumbled upon something. I've decided to change the sex of a character in one of my stories. It was one of those "What If" moments you have when your thinking about a story while driving around. I have a story with 3 guys and 1 girl. Basically 2 guys are helping one guy get the girl. In the end the guy is thrown in jail for the endeavor. This leads to a total rejection from the girl. She basically views him as a lost cause, waste of time, delinquent, etc. That was pretty much the end of the story. Then I started to mull around some ideas about those women who write letters to inmates. Then I researched websites for Meeting inmates....anyway. Now I'm thinking of changing one of the two guys into girl. A girl drawn to delinquents. Has anyone changed a sex of a character when their story was essentially completed? I feel like that is what I'm doing. The thing is it creates more conflict, betrayal, depth and humor.
Basically, you're scrapping the story and starting over. It's possible to regender a character without a complete rewrite, but you're talking about changing all the relationship dynamics as a result. Yes, I have scrapped essentially completed stories and started over. Sometimes it falls flat, sometimes it breathes new life into the story. Ya pays your money, 'n ya takes your choice It will be an entirely different story, no doubt about it.
I would agree that it is a rewrite. I wouldn't say it was a complete scrapping of the story. The majority of the story would remain the same. Some of the relationship dynamics would change and I've also thought of introducing additional characters. These characters will be used to further develop the MC and supporting characters. I just found it interesting how much additional material can be discovered just by changing the sex of one character.
