None of the stories here are lady-to-maid, but many of them share the themes I enjoy - change/drop of status, role swap, cultural change, age regression/progression, and downgrade. Ranging from the mild to the hardcore.
Corporate Dress Code - Daring Diane has made her name as a master of realistic age regression stories, many of which you can find in her excellent blog. She started e-publishing relatively recently and already has a number of books out in various transformation genres. This one I particularly liked because it utilizes a couple of my favourite themes - stuck due to a mistake of one's own making and office power reversal. Terry, a young executive, develops a new, ultra feminine corporate dress code for women in the office, but finds out he must follow it himself after he develops breasts (a prerequisite to follow the dress code). Exceptionally well written and highly recommended even if you are not into crossdressing.
Sophie's Premature Ageing - an ongoing age progression story at The Changing Mirror forum in the glorious tradition of Annabelle's New Role. Part 9 was just published the other day and this exciting tale has quite a distance left to cover, but I can already list it among the best age progression stories I've read. And, which is very rare for AR stories, it's completely realistic: no magic is involved, all the changes (so far) are achieved with cosmetics and latex prosthetics (even though something more permanent appears to be on the horizon). Sophie, a social studies students, creates a persona as an elderly lady so that she can get a better understanding of how the old people live for her university studies. Needless to say, things slowly spiral out of control as she finds herself in a nursing home. Can't wait to see where this one goes.
Undercover Best Friend - a novel of age regression from August D. Adams, who'd penned a number of similar stories. This one just came out and I literally finished it today. I am a sucker for good and realistic age regression stories and this one hits most of the right buttons for me. Undercover, of course, is a popular transformation fiction trope, but I can't get enough of it when it's done right. Allison, a 24-year old petite police officer. goes undercover as a 12-year old schoolgirl to become friends with a crime lord's daughter. Incredibly well crafted and leaves me jealous as a writer of the author's storytelling skill. One of the best stuck/demotion stories I've read in recent years. Highly recommended.
Early Retirement - another ongoing story at the Changing Mirror. A 23-year old girl is transformed into a very overweight 67-year old woman. I somehow missed it initially because of it's weight gain tag (generally not my thing unless it's paired with something else, like Emma Finn's Cleaner). Worse still, it's got magic (another story killer for me generally). However, once I've discovered it I had to go back and re-read it all. It's incredibly descriptive - I can't recall many stories that did age progression description so well. The level of detail is simply amazing. Another thing the story does really well is psychological effects of age change - it's out there with the best examples in the genre that often concentrates on body changes and forgets about psychological effects.
Marquis to Marquise - an old Fictionmania gem from 2005 that I keep returning to. A spin-off of Geneva's wonderful magic book series. Set in late 18th century France right before the Revolution, it's a story about a young man turned into a woman. Corsets and 18th century gowns, what's not to like?
For Love - another Fictionmania entry. I came across it recently during my neverending quest for an ideal non-magic FtM transformation story (guess I'd have to write it myself!). This one is actually both MtF and FtM as both husband and wife change sex. Loved the gradual exchange of power in this one.
Husband's Fantasy Backfires - this erotic tale addresses another favourite theme of mine - be careful what you wish for. Unfortunately the story does go off the rails closer to the end, losing all believability, but all in all I still rank it quite highly. A voluntary (and slow) transformation into a slut is an interesting theme and it's rarely done well. I certainly can't think of many good examples, but this story comes pretty close. A husband's wife-sharing plans go a lot further than planned with far-reaching consequences for everyone involved.
Thanks for the tips and never doubt your own authoring abilities! Especially enjoying Sophie's Premature Ageing, well written and with that sense of teetering disaster common to the stories in this blog too :)
ReplyDeleteYou are very welcome!
DeleteOh Camille why do you always contrive to disappoint me? My old heart leapt when I saw you had some new recommendations but, alas, they are all ones I've already seen and read. I suppose we have similar tastes and search through the same undergrowth hoping to spot a new (or old that we've not spotted before) story.
ReplyDeleteGood to read that the next chapter of Secret Slave is in progress so there's something to look forward to *heaves a big sigh* :)
thanks for all you do.
R
Sorry to disappoint yet again! But what if you've already read the next chapter of The Secret Slave too due to a time and space distortion?! Think about it.
DeleteThe next time you do one of those, how about restricting yourself to titles that can be read in one sitting? I'm not really interested in these epic yarns that are longer than a Harry Potter book.
ReplyDeleteDepends on how much you can read in one sitting. Judging by your petulance not a whole lot. So why don't you do that list yourself and post it in your blog? I'll be happy to come over and comment, I won't even be anonymous, I promise.
DeletePersonally, I like the longer stories especially if the character is developed well, however I have to admit that I tend not to read the longer stories on forums such as "Early Retirement" because it has been running for quite a while and although I, like many other readers are grateful for the time and effort these writers put in and don't get paid it is very disappointing to invest time and anticipation only to have them dashed because it isn't completed. As for "Sophie" I was hooked after the second chapter, I hope that it will be published once completed.
DeleteI wasn’t trying to be demanding. It was only a suggestion as a future post idea. I’d love to see a selection of your favorite short stories whenever you might have a spot in the schedule for them because reading is very difficult for me. I have attention deficit disorder and tend to zone out while I am reading. I often have no recollection of the paragraphs I just read and will have to go back and re-read them again. Paperback novels were nightmare for me growing up as I couldn’t lose myself in the story when my sensory input was constantly feeding me information like how heavy the book was in my hand, what the texture of the page felt like, the acoustics of the room, how comfortable my chair was or the way my lungs were breathing in and out. There was always something else my mind could fixate on. E-books are less distracting, but it’s still an exhausting ordeal to get to the end of even a story of sub-standard length as I have to strain myself to stay focused. That’s why I prefer shorter stories. They allow me to experience what it’s like to be a normal person, someone who can finish a book without it being an ordeal. I remember choosing the Hobbit for a book report in high school because there was an animated film I could watch. It was preferable to having to outright lie to my English teacher when she would flip through the book I said I had read and then interview me about it. The truth was, I could never get through more than a few chapters of a book after the third or fourth grade. My reading career in school peaked with Henry Huggins, The Box Car Children and Encyclopedia Brown and it's never been the same since then. I find it aggravating when stories wax poetic on "To be or not to be" because my window of attention is very limited and I need them "to be" getting on with it before I abandon all ye hope of crossing the finish line.
DeleteI think transformation stories work best when they are relatively long. At least the ones I personally enjoy. I'll probably struggle to come up with a list of short stories I've liked because there weren't that many. By definition, a short story can't really devote much time to all the little details that make good transformation fiction. I do agree though, without pointing any fingers cause I might as guilty as anyone, that some writers just don't know where to stop (or where to go) with their story leading to pointless and repetitive descriptions.
Deletehttp://multi-mutations.forumotion.com/f17-story-archive
ReplyDeleteThis has a few stories on transformation
Thanks, an interesting collection. Some familiar entries there. It's a shame that site appears to be dormant.
DeleteI grew up loving long nineteenth centuries novels like Middlemarch. Long stories are fine by me, as long as there seems to be a good reason that they are long. I am turned off by stories that just seem to drag on and on, like a Perils of Pauline melodrama. I won't name any authors here, to protect the guilty, but it feels like some authors get stuck on how to resolve the story, so they just keep throwing in new character and plot twists and it becomes a dog's breakfast. I know, a lot of people love serials and series. (I'm a big fan of the Kushiel series myself.) But in a good serial story, each part should have its own resolution, and there should be a coherent connectting thread.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure I can get my mind around the concept of transformation fiction. At one level, it's easy to understand. All the way back to Ovid, transformation has been a common literary theme or device. Character development is a kind of transformation, and more visible kinds of transformation can be an effective metaphor for internal changes. It's difficult for me to think of "transformation fiction" as a genre though, in the way that detective fiction, romance fiction, etc are. To me, it's just a plot device, and the interesting thing is what the author does after, seeing how it plays out in the viewpoint character's emotions, not just "transformation" for its own sake. Transformations such as age change, race change seem to me to ask too much of the reader's willingness to suspend disbelief. If you are a Mark Twain or a Philip Roth, you might be able to pull it off, but it's a high risk/uncertain gain literary strategy.
ReplyDeleteTransformation fiction is a bit of a misnomer in my opinion, but I disagree that it's hard to see it as a genre. At least, no more so that detective stories or romance fiction (and neither would have been considered separate genres until only 150 years ago or even less). And just like not every story that has a murder or even crime-solving is a detective story, I wouldn't classify a lot of stories that have bodily or mental change as "transformation fiction". Yes, it is a powerful plot device, but once this theme become central to a story I don't see why we can't think of it as belonging to a separate genre with its own conventions, ills and limitations.
DeleteI'm not sure how much utility there is transformation fiction as a descriptor.
DeleteWhat would be the core tenents of the genre that would bind these books together in a meaningful way that would be useful to readers in search of similar titles?
If a story is good,the longer the better.I will be doing a lot of reading soon,it seems.
ReplyDeleteMy main concern is the divergence in our tastes...I *HATE* it when a protagonist winds up miserable.Spiralling out of control way beyond what was anticipated,sure,but in a GOOD way,please...addiction to adventure rather than victimization or tragedy.Anyone have stories of that kind in mind?
Thanks for the recommendations, Camille. I've known about Daring Diane and her great AR stories, but I've never heard of August D. Adams before. I just purchased Undercover Best Friend and I was not disappointed. I'm going to have to check out their other stories now!
ReplyDeleteYeah, loved that story, glad you enjoyed it too. Diapers are not my thing though, but that little aspect did not prevent me from enjoying that tale. Very well crafted overall with great attention to detail.
DeleteIn contrast,I read the "free sample" of Undercover Best Friend and was not impressed.I found the writing at once careless (characters referred to by multiple ranks and holding assignments that didn't reflect them) and heavy-handed (the protagonist shoved off the deep end at once with no room for gradual intensification,and the suspect motives of the enabler blatant beyond belief).
DeleteThese stories are pretty disposable, so if someone makes up a bunch of BS that sounds good, I'm usually OK with that. It's nice if they have a degree of competency, but anything beyond that is mostly unnecessary. The people who like to read stories about a woman ending up in diapers probably don’t care if some mistakes are made with regard to the inner workings of the police. They would be more concerned with with the brand of diaper, the powder that is used or the sound of the plastic crinkling. An author should be aware of who their audience is.
DeleteThis is ceti alpha 5, I think this is too much of a generalisation, personally I enjoy the AB / DL stories but couldn't care less about which products are used, I agree that some of the story lines insult the reader and one of my main criticisms is the lack of proof reading. As with most of these transformation stories the inner workings of the police is neglected and probably for a good reason, even giving verbal consent can be seen as coercion and not legal but it has to be ignored for the sake of the story line. Using one of the better ongoing stories "Sophie's Premature Aging" there are several areas that are beyond belief and if the reader wants a "factual" transformation story these will certainly spoil the idea and "jar" but ignoring this and becoming immersed in the journey is what they are all about.
Deletehttp://www.nifty.org/nifty/bisexual/authoritarian/the-princess-and-the-prostitute
ReplyDeleteAn interesting read
That story was mentioned in a comment a couple of threads down,and I responded with some thoughts on how I'd see a princess-to-prostitute story going.
DeleteDid you read those comments?
someone could help me find the following parts of the story
ReplyDeleteSophie's Premature Ageing
There is a direct link in the third paragraph down, well worth reading as is Annabelle's New Role.
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