I don't know how the werewolf transformations in my story should work. I've seen werewolf transformations occur in a variety of ways. Some are slow and painful, some are instantaneous and painless, others are magical. I was toying with making the werewolf origins be that they used to be pagan practitioners of magic who traded their magic a long time ago in exchange for the powers of a werewolf so their transformations into a wolf are quick and when they change back to humans they retain their clothing. I was also thinking of making the transformation quick, but physical, so they would be naked when they change back to humans. I dislike the last idea a bit because that causes a lot of technical problems such as where do they hide their clothes before a fight and the whole issue with the girls being naked in front of the boys and whatnot. Which idea do you like better? Which one do you see more?
Whatever works best for the story. I think the most important thing, when writing characters with powers, is to limit their power in some way -- i.e. they have to pay each time they transform. Not that it necessarily has to be overly painful, but there should be some kind of drawback. Otherwise, if it's too convenient, it's easy to just use as a plot device and weaken any type of suspense or danger the characters could be in, and that's lame. As far as the nudity thing goes, if they're used to that aspect of the transformation, and they transform together a lot, they're likely to see nudity different than we do and not care about it that much in that context (when among other werewolves, at least). That's how it was in Rachel Vincent's werecat series.
Hi, It may just be me, but I've always hated the whole changing back with his clothing still on thing. It made no sense for the Incredible hulk, and it's straining the bounds of credulity even in a magical setting. Let em get down and nasty and when the movie comes along hope like hell they get Angelina Jolie in it! Cheers, Greg.
When do the werewolves need to transform? That will have a big affect on what their transformation should be. If they plan it ahead of time, they could have plenty of time to hide their clothes. If they need to transform quickly before a fight, what happens to their clothing will be the least of their worries. Personally, I never liked the transformations which keep the clothes intact. If you're writing for adults, there's nothing wrong with adding nudity. Keep in mind- not all nudity is sexual by nature. It's not as if the reader can see it, anyway. If you're writing for younger ages, you may want to keep the clothes on- but that isn't even a requirement, because you don't need to describe nudity in detail, and, as said, the reader can't see it.
I don't think nudity is essential, I mean it is magic after all. Clothing spontaneously disappearing or morphing into fur makes about as much sense as the other monumental transformations that would need to take place to turn a human into something resembling a wolf and back. Of course symbolically it's quite powerful, showing both the primal nature of the transformation and also the sense of physical and emotional vulnerability on returning to human form. It also might make the work seem more 'mature' add some sex appeal for the reader, even if it isn't sexual for most of the characters. But yeah, it all depends what you want to do with the story. Conventionally, werewolf stories are about the horrific struggle against the 'inner beast' as a metaphor for resisting temptation and insanity (hence the connection to the moon, which was associated with madness). If you make the transformation something casual then it takes away a lot of the drama and basically negates the metaphorical power of the theme. But if all you want is a story about some guys that turn into wolves sometimes, then that's not a problem.
