I began this story more than a year ago, with the idea of a man and his wife switching roles for a date—but really taking it to the extreme, where the man is totally done up as a woman and the wife becomes a man to all outward appearance, with the added wrinkle that the husband doesn’t know what his cross-dressed wife looks like as a man. That adds to the uncertainty of the experience, as our cross-dressed heroine doesn’t know whether or not the guy hitting on him is really his wife; sort of like a blind date, only with an extra layer of danger involved. As you’ll see, the story took several more twists beyond that idea, which at least partly explains why it took more than a year to finish. I have no idea where the notion of the Practice to Deceive book within the story came from; as far as I know, there is no such novel. But it all adds up to a very different tale than anything I’ve written before. I hope you enjoy!
I can’t think of any specific precursors to this story, so I’ll just refer you to another long-ish story that involves extreme (and extremely convincing) cross-dressing: “The Natural” from last year.
Amanda
When We Practice to Deceive
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Ghostly Writer wrote a novel called Practice to Deceive. It is a masking story while it does not relate to violence.
I’m not surprised the title has been used before; the quote it comes from is pretty well known. And it captures so well the way we humans often treat one another, what with all the deceiving we do and whatnot. 🙂
You always write the best stories. They contain a great dose of believability a with another dose of sophistication. They are never crude and for 90% of the time making the reader feel as all was almost normal with the world. There are always twists and turns in the plots of all your stories. This gem of a plot is different yet with the same high standards as your other works. To be enjoyed by all.
Thank you! High praise indeed. I always try my best to write well, both for my own sake and because I think that’s what readers deserve.