“What Makes a Good Body-Swap Story?” by Joan Y. Edwards
I couldn’t find any links where professionals list the integral parts of a good body swap story. I listed what I think.
What Makes a Good Body Swap Story?
Necessary Ingredients
- Crisis – There is a good reason to swap. Both characters must be in a situation that they can’t handle or don’t want to handle as they are now. Both characters believe with all their heart and mind that being the other person would solve their problem. If they were that other person, they could achieve a certain goal.
- Magical Switch – Usually, there’s something magical that allows them to change bodies.
- Consequence – There is a consequence for changing.
- Switch Back Problem – There is a problem changing back to the way it was.
- Change Original Beliefs – Both characters must change their original beliefs that caused the switch before they can change back to their regular body.
- Magical Switch Back Success or Failure
Wikipedia says A body swap is a storytelling device seen in a variety of science and supernatural fiction, in which two people (or beings) exchange minds and end up in each other’s bodies.
Trading places with another person or changing the age of the person are fun for me to read. When I was little, probably 4 years old, I asked my mother one day, “Is it all right if I be Mrs. Meyer for awhile? She said, “Yes.” So I pretended I was her for about an hour. I swept the floor. I washed the dishes. Then after an hour, I said, “I’m tired of being Mrs. Meyer, is it okay if I be just plain Joan, now.” And of course, Mother said, “Yes.”
After that I enjoyed being in plays in elementary, high school, and college. I stuck to pretending for a short time. I even did a concentration in drama when I was in college.
Body swap stories are fun for me. Body swap stories are even more fun to watch as a movie.
Movies
Big
Freaky Friday
Like Father, Like Son
Heaven Can Wait
Change Up
Dating the Enemy
Books
Every Day by David Levithan a girl inhabits a different person’s body for 24 hours and then swaps again for 24 hours.
Akeshi Kovacs body swap novels by Richard K. Morgan
Mindswap by Robert Sheckley A science fiction novel in which Marvin Flynn, who cannot afford an interplanetary vacation by any other means, answers an ad to Mindswap (sort of like vacation time shares, except you swap bodies instead of houses) with a Martian.
Resources:
20 Best Body Swap Films https://www.gamesradar.com/20-best-body-swap-movies/
10 Best “Body Switching” Movies https://www.liveabout.com/top-best-body-switching-movies-2432052
Books that involve body swapping:
https://www.reddit.com/r/suggestmeabook/comments/3dvo1n/a_book_that_involves_body_swapping/
Thank you for reading my blog. Please leave a comment telling me what you think makes a good body-swap story and your favorite body swapping book or movie.
Never Give Up
Be well.
Stay safe.
Joan Y. Edwards
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