Indistinct gender

Exir · Sep 28, 2009

The narrator meets a person who he doesn't know the gender to. For a little while (a few paragraphs) it is important the gender is kept indistinct. How should I refer to the person? He, She, The Person, The Guy, or what?

Parametric · Sep 28, 2009

Purists hate the use of "they" as a non-gender-specific pronoun, but it's good enough for me.

Shady Lane · Sep 28, 2009

I'd assign a temporary name--Blue Shirt or Dirty Fingernails or Chain Smoker or something descriptive.

veinglory · Sep 28, 2009

The situation is likely to be awkward, so I think a slightly awkward referent (the person etc) would be fine for a few paragraphs.

ishtar'sgate · Sep 28, 2009

'He', 'she' and 'the guy' are gender specific. 'They', 'it', 'the person', etc. keep the gender of the individual unclear. I usually use 'they' and description of body movement or facial mobility until I'm ready to let the reader in on the gender.

Terie · Sep 28, 2009

Believe it or not, I have a friend who wrote an entire novel where the first-person POV narrator's gender remains unknown. (And some reviewer actually speculated whether it was on purpose.) The narrator sleeps with characters of both genders, has mannerisms of both genders, and so on. To this day, the author says he doesn't actually know the gender of the character! It was amazingly artfully done.

My copy is packed away, so I can't remember all the strategies the author used. Of course, no one ever referred to the narrator using a pronoun. The narrator's brother's nickname for the narrator is 'Sib' (for sibling).

Of course, you can always use the plural pronoun, which, like Parametric, I don't have a problem with in fiction, but if this one place is the only place the narrator does that, it might stand out as being problemmatic. If the narrator does it all the time, then no worries. Or have your POV character refer to the other character a non-gender-specific descriptor, like Shady Lane suggests.

maestrowork · Sep 28, 2009

To this day, the author says he doesn't actually know the gender of the character! It was amazingly artfully done.

That would drive me crazy, especially when the author uses every trick in the world to not disclose the character's gender.

Exir · Sep 28, 2009

Hmmm... thanks for all the replies. I don't know what's turning me off "they" and "it" and even "the person" -- maybe because "they" isn't normally meant for one person, "it" makes the person sound like an animal, and "the person" is not invisible like other pronouns so it could seem awkward.

and description of body movement or facial mobility until I'm ready to let the reader in on the gender.

I'm curious -- could you give an example?

I'd assign a temporary name--Blue Shirt or Dirty Fingernails or Chain Smoker or something descriptive.

Good idea! I'd sprinkle it here and there.

Terie · Sep 28, 2009

maestrowork said:
That would drive me crazy, especially when the author uses every trick in the world to not disclose the character's gender.

Actually, when you read it, it wasn't bothersome at all. Every single sentence read perfectly naturally. That's why I chose the word 'artful'.

Exir · Sep 28, 2009

The situation is likely to be awkward, so I think a slightly awkward referent (the person etc) would be fine for a few paragraphs.

Ha -- good idea to make the handicap work in favor of the mood of the scene.

Exir · Sep 28, 2009

The situation is likely to be awkward, so I think a slightly awkward referent (the person etc) would be fine for a few paragraphs.

Ha -- good idea to make the handicap work in favor of the mood of the scene.

maestrowork · Sep 28, 2009

Terie said:
Actually, when you read it, it wasn't bothersome at all. Every single sentence read perfectly naturally. That's why I chose the word 'artful'.

I'm sure it's artfully done, but as a reader, that would bother me. That's just me, I suppose.

Shady Lane · Sep 28, 2009

maestrowork said:
I'm sure it's artfully done, but as a reader, that would bother me. That's just me, I suppose.

I feel the same way when I read a book with an unnamed first person narrator. Just stop that shit and tell me his name.

I actually had an idea for a book when I was nine where the MC is named Jordan, and the entire time you think it's a boy, and at the end it's revealed she's a girl.

I was nine, though, so it doesn't count that I thought such evil evil things, I hope.

aadams73 · Sep 28, 2009

I want to know if they're male or female. Otherwise I'll get frustrated and stop reading. I need to connect--and I can't do that unless I know.

Lady Ice · Sep 28, 2009

There is a book like that I think, in 1st POV, which makes it a bit easier because you can call them 'I'.

Also picking a name that could be either gender- Sam, Jordan, Cody...

Tepelus · Sep 28, 2009

The Hungarian language doesn't even use words like "he" or "she". I knew of a Hungarian lady who often confused her he's and she's when speaking English. I guess this was just something I wanted to share.

Exir · Sep 28, 2009

There is a book like that I think, in 1st POV, which makes it a bit easier because you can call them 'I'.

Also picking a name that could be either gender- Sam, Jordan, Cody...

Thanks! To clarify -- the gender-unspecific character is NOT the main character (who is also the narrator) but another character.

veinglory · Sep 28, 2009

Indeed. The POV character can be a glyph/every(wo)man because the are the one describing, not the one being described. Describing a person of unknown gender is rather harder.

NicoleMD · Sep 28, 2009

Maybe have the narrator guess the gender but be unsure, or even switch between pronouns as he tries to figure it out. Does it bother your narrator that he can't put this person into a box? If so, his discomfort and reaction to the situation would be good character development.

Nicole

PeterL · Sep 28, 2009

I think that Shady Lane's idea was the best so far, assign a term to the character.

I once heard someone talk about the person with whom she lived for about twenty minutes without revealing that person's se. She used the given name, which was indefinite, whenever she had to use something to refer directly to that person. I was mildly curious about the matter,so I was amazed be the performance.

That is to say that no only would it be acceptble if it were artfully done, but it would be an interesting additional piece of the story.

Sai · Sep 28, 2009

NicoleMD said:
Maybe have the narrator guess the gender but be unsure, or even switch between pronouns as he tries to figure it out. Does it bother your narrator that he can't put this person into a box? If so, his discomfort and reaction to the situation would be good character development.

Nicole

That's pretty much exactly what I did early on in a novel.

cathyfreeze · Sep 28, 2009

I, too, like the idea of calling someone dirty fingernails.

Especially if the narrator's annoyed that she can't assign gender.

That could easily devolve into an awkard mouthful, tho; we're used to one noun and then many pronouns in our prose.

cat

treehugger · Sep 28, 2009

It's been a few years since I read it, but I thought Jeannette Winterson did a good job in "Written on the Body." I definitely connected with the MC, although I also found myself assuming that the MC was the same sex as me--probably so that I could identify with him/her more easily. I wonder if male readers of the book would assume that the MC is male (it's not specified either way).

Wayne K · Sep 28, 2009

Does the person have a name?

Can you refer to the Saturday night live character Pat somehow and call the character that kiddingly.

In one of my chapters I have two counselors whose names I don't know, so I call them 'the ponytail' and 'the moustache'

Pepper · Sep 28, 2009

Exir said:
The narrator meets a person who he doesn't know the gender to.

Why can't the narrator pick the gender? Is the character a butch girl that you can't tell whether those are boobs or man-boobs? Is the character a guy that looks so feminine they could pass for a girl if not for the straight hips and bulge in the front? Is the character wearing a hooded cloak where we can't see them at all?

If it's one of the first two examples, I would make note that the narrator is trying to figure out the gender and call them by a handle "The Rack" or something (obviously better names than I can come up with!). If the character can't be seen, thus the difficulty, then "the hooded figure" or something would probably do fine.

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