How Sketchy is this

Prodigy

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So I am writing a book about a character with a Dual entity inside of them.

Doppelgangers of some sort. I was going with a love triangle in two different ways but then i thought about how weird it would be.

1. Idea #1:
The Love interest develops an in interest in Marcos initially on and later develops an interest in Taylor.

But if he has sex with Taylor, despite Marcos not being ready or willing, isn't that technically rape even though technically it was consensual of one.

(He is unaware that it is the same body...just two different personalities/beings inside of the person). He is under the impression t hey are twins named Marcos/Taylor.

2. Idea #2:

Marcos and Taylor are dual personalities in one body....Marcos is the dangerous one and has a secret life while Taylor is the weaker one and innocent and has his own life.

Neither is really aware of the other personality initially. Strange things happen and a horrible act occurs but neither boy is aware they are sharing their body until the horrible thing happens.

I sort of like idea #1 but i get a rapey feel if the love interest has sex with one, the one in control, without the consent of the other one.....
 

Corinne Duyvis

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That does sound like a consent issue.

Have you read WHAT'S LEFT OF ME by Kat Zhang? It sounds like a very similar idea--it might be worth reading the trilogy to see how she handled it.
 

EMaree

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Yeah, this sounds VERY close to WHAT'S LEFT OF ME.

MILD SPOILERS IN WHITETEXT: In that story, both souls are aware of each other and conscious of everything that happens, but when one soul is 'dominant' the other has no control and has to observe. Both souls have different love interests, and there's a powerful moment where one soul gets to kiss her love interest -- and the dormant soul at the time is heartbroken that her first kiss was for a boy she has no interest in.

The first book doesn't go beyond kissing, not sure about the rest of the series.


Regarding your scenarios:

IDEA #1: I'm confused what you mean by dopplegangers here. Physical copies, or more a war of souls? I'm assuming souls because it doesn't make sense otherwise (Marcos would just push love interest away when they started behaving like they were Taylor.)

Hard to talk about technicalities here, since it's an unexplored scenario. If the souls are conscious at all times then I imagine Taylor would view it as consenting, Marcos as non-consenting, but if he's consciously observing he may be understanding towards the circumstances? It would depend very much on the worldbuilding rules and the characters own personalities, if the two personalities have a friendly/understand relationship etc etc.

Definitely read WHAT'S LEFT OF ME for one take on it all.

For what it's worth, for complex moral situations like this, especially in YA, I think you'd be better off starting small with the romantic consent issues. By jumping straight to the issue of sex you're bringing in some big moral questions without setting the ground rules for how the relationship works between love interest and the two personalities.
 
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DenmarkHarris

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If your story idea does indeed sound similiar to WHAT's LEFT IN ME, and that novel is successful, I'd take the above user's advice. Read a bit of the story and see how she handled her story. Your story sounds similiar. In any case, trust your gut. If you feel like one idea sounds too "rapey" approach the idea from a different angle or shelf the idea altogether and go with the other one.