give me an enby mc
I once wrote a short story for a school assignment and received the feedback: “it’s just too confusing to read a non-binary main character”. There’s a parallel universe where I didn’t just roll over and change their gender. Instead, I threw these books at my teacher, insisted that I just wasn’t a good enough writer yet, and demanded that a creative writing class teach me how to better integrate diverse characters rather than force me to sand down their edges to fit into prescriptive boxes.
created by laraw
last updated September, 2026
Comments
I've been working on a list with this same topic! Instead of creating a duplicate one, I'll just share 🔗the shelf I was using to plan it. Feel free to add all of the books on it to this list if you accept recommendations 🤭
Also, I had a similar experience in one of my writing courses. The gender of my MC was not explicitly stated on the page until half way through my short story, and apparently that was WAY too confusing for both the teacher and my middle-aged classmates 🫠
My mother tongue makes it very challenging to write nonbinary characters (and to talk about myself as a nonbinary person), but I'm very excited to try soon with one of the stories I'm planning! 😌
larawOP
Amazing! Thank you so so much for sharing - both your list of recommendations and your experience! I can only imagine the added challenge that having a mother tongue other than english could make the non-binary experience, and I’m sending so much support and solidarity to you. It’s wonderful that you’re planning a story with a non-binary character too! If you ever want a beta reader, please feel free to reach out (although I’m unfortunately limited to english and intermediate-level french haha) 🥰
No problem! And I totally understand if you want to keep this list to books you've already read, I can still make an alternative list if so! 🙂↕️ And yeah, having Spanish as a mother tongue does make things more difficult, but people in Spanish-speaking LGBT+ communities have come up with some ways to adapt the language that I hope will catch on 🤞 I write mostly in Spanish but I really appreciate the offer 🫶
Amazing list! And the reaction of your teacher is just ugh ...
May I suggest "Deephaven" by Ethan M. Aldridge? It is a gothic middle grade novel that follows a nonbinary student's adventures in a haunted school
