inter-sexed detective

I don't know... Depends. How is this person going to feel? Is he/she going to have a powerful, captivating personality as he/she struggles emotionally with his/her physical appearance? If the person makes you feel for him/her maybe, but otherwise I don't know how interested I'd be. It sounds cool, I guess, and is definitely unique but I think you're trying too hard...
Could just be me, though.

I think that'd be very interesting! Would definitely want to read it whether it was a struggle or not for the MC.

I think it would be interesting too, but you'd have to handle it sensitively. And you'd still need to come up with a compelling mystery, and make sure the MC's condition wasn't just a gimmick.

Depends. How well is the book written?

Add me to the "it depends" pile. If it's done just to be different, then meh. If the story is well-written and the character is a good one, then I'm in.

If you write the book as a frame for intersex issues, I'll put it back on the shelf.

If you write a damn good detective story that also talks about intersex issues, I'll buy it.

Story trumps all.

mirandashell said:

If you write the book as a frame for intersex issues, I'll put it back on the shelf.

If you write a damn good detective story that also talks about intersex issues, I'll buy it.

Story trumps all.

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Rinse and repeat this. The more whacky your character, the more you risk the potential reader thinking you're using your novel as a vehicle to preach. Either that or be gimmicky. But if the story comes first, incorporating this issue, it could be fascinating.

It seems apparent that I'm one of the few who doesn't know what you mean by 'inter-sexed detective'. Are there characteristics of both genders? Is he (or she...or it) totally genderless? Can this individual be either gender?

Not a clue.

lbender said:

It seems apparent that I'm one of the few who doesn't know what you mean by 'inter-sexed detective'.

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Or who's willing to admit it. I Googled it--had some idea, like you, but wanted to be sure. You're not alone!

lbender said:

It seems apparent that I'm one of the few who doesn't know what you mean by 'inter-sexed detective'. Are there characteristics of both genders? Is he (or she...or it) totally genderless? Can this individual be either gender?

Not a clue.

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Intersex.

Count me among those who'd be interested if it's a good story (oh, and not spectacularly offensive).

scarletpeaches said:

Depends. How well is the book written?

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this.



done well, you have a unique angle. done poorly, you have a gimmick.

I think it depends on why someone reads novels. An intersex character would be a certain no buy for me, but who knows how many readers feel this way?

A big part of the answer may lie in why you want to write a crime novel than has such a protagonist? If it's to show that intersex people are just like everyone else, but with their own set of troubles, and you know enough about it to blend it all in correctly, it might work, if the crime novel part is also done well enough.

If you want to do it because you thought, "Hey, no one has done this yet. What a great hook", it probably won't work.

I know a lady (now) who is a hermaphrodite. When she lived as a man, he was a private detective. Quite the coincidence?

I'm in the I don't know pool. It really would have to be more about the story than the issue. Right away I thought of "Pat" the character from Saturday Night Live

If you write a good story that happens to have a respectfully done intersex character, that'd be awesome. Big emphasis on "respectfully done." And accurate.

Making it the central theme of your story? Probably not. It's just a character trait and isn't enough to make the book worth reading on its own. (For example, I'm transsexual, which is a similar condition, but I'm not going to read a crappy book just because it happens to have a trans hero.)

Of course, you're going to get people who won't read novels with intersex characters, black characters, female characters, Jewish characters, gay characters, or all that. But generally, those readers aren't worth bothering with.

Jamesaritchie said:

I think it depends on why someone reads novels. An intersex character would be a certain no buy for me, but who knows how many readers feel this way?

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That's really sad that an actual writer feels this way

Domino Derval said:

That's really sad that an actual writer feels this way

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Yeah, I was about to say the same thing.

All great detective novels (or any novels) have a main character with an internal conflict of some kind. I see no reason why having an inter-sexed detecive would weaken a plot. It would add to tension if it was, like, pulled off right.

I would really like to read a story with an intersex main character IF this was actually developed through the main character's introspection and relationship(s). On the other hand I'm not a huge fan of detective novels unless they are funny and not too dark/gross/tragic. Bonus points if they are fantasy, science fiction, or historical instead of modern.

> Making it the central theme of your story? Probably not.

Why not? Imagine a detective agency - say "Cagney & Lacey" - where both Cagney and Lacey are the same person, different sexual identities, and each catering to different clienteles. It's a character trait that could become a big weakness once both detectives end up at opposite ends of what becomes the same case.

It's how this character will struggle to make both ends meet that makes this kind of story interesting, not the character trait in itself.

-cb

Domino Derval said:

That's really sad that an actual writer feels this way

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What's sad abut it? I simply have no interest in reading about fifty types of protagonists, and life is way the hell too short to read any book because someone else thinks I should. I think you finding it sad that I don't want to read about an intersex character is far sadder than me not wanting to read about it.

I don't want to read about a metrosexual protagonist, either, Is this also sad? I tried reading a couple of books with a female protagonist who could outfight, outshoot, and outrun any man, too, and I have no desire to read about such a protagonist ever again. Guess that's sad, too.

It's a sad world when you believe there's something wrong with being disagreed with, when you think everyone else should share your taste in fiction, in morality, in politics, or anything else.

It's an even sadder world when you think being a writer means you should think like everyone else, and read some book with an intersexual, metrosexual, homosexual, or heterosexual protagonist because someone else thinks this is what writers and readers should do to show oh how very understanding and politically correct they are.

I read books primarily because I enjoy getting carried away on an adventure with a protagonist I can relate to, that I can become for the duration of the story, or with a female protagonist I'd like to have a relationship with, were such a thing possible.

You like intersexual, metrosexual, or homosexual protagonists, fine, read to your heart's content. Being a writer does not change my moral values, does not make me politically correct, and certainly does not make me want to read about a protagonist I simply don't and can't relate to, and there's nothing sad about it.

I don't care who writer a book with protagonist I don't want to read about, and I don't care who reads such books. Good for them, I hope they love them to death. But being a writer damned sure doesn't mean I have to read about such a protagonist, and damned sure doesn't mean my moral, religious,and political views change, or that my plain old taste in fiction has to change.

Seriously, it makes no more sense thinking my not wanting to read about an intersexual protagonist is sad than it would be if I thought it was sad that you didn't want to read a book with a protagonist who's violently homophobic.

Good grief, being a writer is now supposed to mean that I throw everything I like and don't like out the window, read books I have no interest in, just because someone thinks that's what writers are supposed to do?

Have you ever been in a house with a shelf full of "literature" that the folks who live there have never actually read? I have a sister like this. She just wants the neighbors to think she's... I don't know, whatever she thinks owning the books implies. Replace "literature" with "whatever kind of book you want to point your nose up at" and the situation is the same.

She does read. But she reads the stuff she likes. As do most folks, I'd bet. That ought to be enough.

Mama's MOD HAT is on:

Stop calling out personal stuff. OP wants to know if you would read about an inter-sexed detective. Answer that question, speculate on whether it would sell, or whatever, but please DO NOT make this personal.

Thank you.

cbenoi1 said:

Why not? Imagine a detective agency - say "Cagney & Lacey" - where both Cagney and Lacey are the same person, different sexual identities, and each catering to different clienteles. It's a character trait that could become a big weakness once both detectives end up at opposite ends of what becomes the same case.

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having one of the several intersex conditions doesn't give you a magical ability to pass as either sex.