This incredibly moving transgender tweet story has gone viral
(Pexels and capsule_169/twitter)
A short story about a transgender time traveller has gone viral and people love it, with some moved to tears.
The tale, contained entirely within one tweet at exactly 280 characters, was published yesterday by a 27-year-old trans Londoner.
It reads: “The time traveller appeared at important parts of his life with help and advice.
(capsule_169/twitter)
“She was so cool and beautiful, and he wished he could be more like her,” it continues.
“One day she unlocked his phone, via the fingerprint scanner. He realised who she was, and suddenly the future looked so bright.”
Speaking to PinkNews, the author – who preferred to remain anonymous but whose work can be discovered through her microfiction account, capsule_169 – said the attention she was getting felt surreal.
(Pexels)
“Part of me is still trying to convince myself this is all real,” she told PinkNews, laughing.
The account has more than doubled its followers since she posted the story, which has so far attracted more than 14,000 retweets and likes.
She added that seeing the way people had reacted – with comments like “This is so totally and completely awesome I have no other words ❤️” – was wonderful.
“I had hoped people would like it and it would maybe get a couple dozen retweets, maybe a hundred if I was lucky. I never dreamed it would be this successful,” she said.
“And the way people have reacted just fills me with joy, I couldn’t be more proud of it.
“I feel like I made something important. Just a small something, but it meant a lot to people who typically don’t get to see stories about themselves, and that in turn means a lot to me.”
She said that she was “almost in tears” writing the short story, adding: “This is why I do what I do. We deserve this.”
(NoodlyVampQueen/twitter)
Many people who read the story seemed to connect to it on a deep level, and the writer explained that she had dug deep to unearth this gem.
“Most of the time I look for inspiration from other works of fiction,” she said. “I like to think about common sci-fi and fantasy tropes and see if I can put an interesting spin on them.
“This specific story was pretty personal.
“It comes from this desire that I think most trans people experience, the wish that we could go back in time and do something to help our past selves. So I suppose the main inspiration was introspection in this case.
“Although,” she added, laughing, “I was also re-watching an old Doctor Who episode at the time, which is probably what made me start thinking about time travel stories.”
(Ray Burmiston)
She said the story had been “cathartic” to write. “It’s kind of a wish-fulfilment story, after all.
“I was trying to convey a very specific feeling that I don’t really know how else to describe.”
Some new fans have been clamouring for the author to create a novel-length version of the tweet, and she said this was a possibility – but also offered up the tale for anyone else who wants to flesh it out.
“I have a hard time finding time and energy to write full-length stories, for various reasons, but maybe I will at some point, if inspiration strikes,” she said.
“For the most part when I do work on longer stories they are their own things. I’d be thrilled if someone else felt inspired by the micro story to write a full-length version, though.”
