f2m:the Boy Within ‘The Two of Us’ and Writing From a Different Perspective

Check out the f2m: the boy within Book trailer

We’re co-authors who are very different.

Ryan Kennedy and I collaborated on writing ‘f2m; the boy within.’ Even choosing the title was shared. Ryan thought it sounded like texting. I wanted a sub title, which would hint the YA book, was about transitioning gender.

Like most people I didn’t know much about terms like mtf or ftm before I started researching this YA novel. ( mtf is Male to female) ( ftm is female to male)

But Ryan did.

We called our novel f2m to describe how we worked 2gether. Across two countries (Australia and New Zealand) on Skype, web chats and email, and across genders and generations.
He is inbetween my kids in age.

A family friend, I knew him when he was passing as an 11 year old girl.
Now he’s a man, and this is his first novel. But our character Skye-who is later named Finn, is 18, just at the age when big decisions have to be made about ID and formal stuff like driver licenses, passports, work. Skye is a punk, and punk music is another language I had to learn as well as the language of gender.

What’s the novel about?

School-leaver Skye plays guitar in her all-female Chronic Cramps
band. Making her name in the punk/indie scene is easier than
FTM (female to male) transitioning: from Skye to Finn, from girl
to man. Uncovering genetic mysteries about family heritage tear
the family apart. Trans gender identity is more than injections and
surgery, it’s about acceptance. Going public, Finn sings ftm lyrics on
TV. With a little help from bemused mates and family who don’t want
to lose a daughter, but who love their teenager, Finn is transitioning.

Ryan says: Being the transgender half of the writing team, it was up to me to bring my trans perspective and make the transition story real. It would take years of research for a non-transgender person to write this kind of story while accurately reflecting what we feel and experience during transition. At the same time I didn’t want to ‘represent’ all trans people by presenting only one way to transition. This is just one possible way to transition and not the correct way or the only way. It’s a fictional character’s experience based loosely on my own.

Hazel says:
‘I think a good writer needs to be androgynous and able to create credible characters of gender, age and interests different from their own biological details. The skill is research and observation PLUS I think you also need an expert reader from those areas to check you have picked up on the nuances of other gender or occupations. I’ve written from the viewpoint of a 21 year old male expeditioner in my ‘Antarctica’s Frozen Chosen’ but checked with other expeditioners I had the male viewpoint right. That’s why Ryan was such an important co-writer on ‘f2m’. It was a genuinely equal partnership, even if it was his first book and my 200th.

In the YA novel f2m’the boy within, we’re in the situation of having an 18 year old protagonist who transitions from female to male (although always male inside).. Do you use ‘he’ or ‘she’ ? The great challenge is the pronouns, and trying to write a blurb where the protagonist changes gender in one sentence. And not making a complex situation sound glib. But it’s been a satisfying working partnership, especially as we’ve done much online. Exciting. I think writing from a different viewpoint for the length of a novel is excellent discipline for an author.

What about the punk research?

Ryan says:

I’I was just as committed to presenting an accurate version of the punk scene as I was a transgender character. It’s a culture that’s often misrepresented. On the musical side there’s everything from pure noise bands to skilful musicians, and everything from those who’ve had many music lessons to self-taught artists. The fans are diverse and welcome diversity, and there’s a culture of questioning and equality. I found it a great setting to explore my identity and I am dismayed when punk is portrayed as being wild for the sake of wild. Its rebellion is usually focused towards social change. Some rebellion is healthy. Transgender people are gender rebels.’

The electronic way in which we co-wrote this novel, using Skype and email has been an innovation. So it’s been pleasing to see the way YA bloggers have picked up the novel for their reviews and guest blogs. We hope that soon it will go into an audio format so you can listen to ‘f2m;the boy within’ and maybe one day watch the film or TV adapation. We’re open to new media offers! But at 70,000 words , the novel is a bit long to Twitter.

Check out the authors websites –
Ryan Kennedy – www.ryanscottkennedy.com
Hazel Edwards – www.hazeledwards.com

If you would like to find out more about the book and the topic the following reviews are very thoughtful-
The Great Raven
January Magazine
Reading Stack
Genre Flash

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