Doomsday’s Soul Savior - Chapter 2 Episode 4: All Sweetness and Light
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The following is a note on an event in this episode, I wrote when reflecting on writing mistakes I made in early DSS:
The early revelation of Kit’s full name. A scene I had written before deciding gender was something I wanted to experiment with. Even after making the decision that Kit was a nonbinary character, I didn’t catch this, because I had a very specific, projected view of why Kit doesn’t like people that aren’t their mom using their full name (because I have a nickname I only let my family and incredibly close friends use, and it pisses me off when people I don’t know on that level try to shorten my name, idk why, but i digress).
BUT. It doesn’t read that way, and this is why artist intent sometimes really doesn’t matter. Despite the canon explanation (that doesn’t even appear in story) of Kit’s aversion to people who aren’t close family using their full first name, that doesn’t change the fact that this reads as people intentionally deadnaming them. Period. After realizing this, I took out several instances of other characters using their full name because it’s just not necessary. And it’s disrespectful.
Side Note: There are a lot of very specific things about Kit’s gender that ended up matching up directly to my experience with my own gender...which is pretty neat, honestly. He was always a way for me to explore my complex relationship to my own gender before I figured out I’m nonbinary. The magic of projection
