I've been bouncing back and forth for a while on a character of mine and her background. It's a FC for a certain anime, which doesn't need to get mentioned and show how nerdy I am XD. But for convenience sake, I'll be calling her "M". This is sort of a fantasy anime so you've got magic, different dimensions, and other such things XD

OH AND IMPORTANT TO MOST OF THIS IS AGE! "M"'s 'species' lives long in this anime. 1000+ years, so 100 or such is not old for them.

For the longest time, I've had her as a 'twist of fate' character - basically she's the female counterpart of a cannonical male character (a minor one I'll refer to here as "K" to save space). Kind of a 'what if "K" had been born a girl instead of a boy' thing. And I've loved this side of her I got to write / explore about. And, due to who "M" is, I got to include a lot of my favorite characters as her family & friends.

But recently, I've been feeling off about this decision and I've started experimenting with my second idea, that "M" and "K" were born twins, thus being able to allow "K", who I do like as a character, in my writing as well. But here I have the issue of deciding where THIS would go. I've got two ideas for this path choice

A) (probably the more accurate one) "K" & "M" are born as twins. Growing up their father favors "K" seeing his son as the one to carry on the family's business/work due to gender. "M" is largely ignored by her father, although she tries her hardest to please him. When "M" & "K" turn 5, their father takes "K" out for the birthday to celebrate and forgets "M" ((honestly forgets her in the busy moment, not ignoring her or disallowing her on purpose)). "M" cries in her room until a voice comforts her. "M" recalls the voice belonging to her friend Be-chan, who has been her friend for years. "M"'s father called Be-chan an imaginary friend of "M", due to the fact only "M" can see/hear him, and "M" is unsure if Be-chan is actually real or just a figment of her mind to help her cope with her loneliness. "M" started trying not to talk with Be-chan after her father lectured her. Nevertheless, "M" finds comfort with Be-chan whom she starts talking to again. "M" has dreams of going to far off places and learning things from Be-chan in these dreams.

This drifting back to her old friend will cause a rift between "M" and the rest of the family. EVENTUALLY in the future of this plot, it will come to that Be-chan is REAL and the reason only "M" can see him is because that's what Be-chan wants to happen. "M" will go on to be with Be-chan and "K" will take on his father's line of work. But the relationships "M" has with everyone besides Be-chan will be horribly strained, if existent at all.

Option B (the more implausible one) "K" & "M" are born as twins. "K" is born sickly and weak, resulting in their father worrying constantly over "K" but also loving "M" as best he can. When "M" & "K" are three, there's an accident that occurs trapping "M", "K", and their father in a cold & dangerous place. The only way out has a "weight limit" of sorts - their father can only take one of them with him due to this limit. Knowing "K" is the sickly one and leaving him alone in the cold will likely be bad, "K" is taken by their father and "M" is left behind, with their father promising to immediately return for "M". As soon as he leaves, a stranger arrives & sees "M" all alone and in danger. He takes "M" and leaves in a different way only he can go. When their father returns a minute later, "M" is already gone. A search does not find "M" and she is eventually declared dead, leaving her father heartbroken.

"M" has been taken in by Be-chan who lives in an alternate dimension. In this place, time flows faster. "M" grows up quickly, learning to read & write from Be-chan and everything in-between. She remembers little to nothing of her life before Be-chan and certainly doesn't remember her family. Eventually "M" falls in love with Be-chan and marries him. Soon "M" & Be-chan have a daughter, who is named Bast. Bast also grows quickly in this fast paced dimension. When Bast is 16, she becomes curious about her mother's origins. Be-chan sends Bast to the other dimension to look for "M"'s family.

EVENTUALLY in this plot, Bast will find "M"'s brother and father and help reunite her with them. However, "M" will be much older than her brother - "K" will be around 16 while "M" is 64. So this will cause awkwardness for them and their father.

So I don't know which one to go with: my original, new option A, or new option B. At the moment, I seem to be writing blurbs for all 3 instead of focusing....

Opinions? Advice? TY!

To me both possible versions seem very interesting. My favorite is the story with the imaginary friend, because I like these is it real or is it not stories. One problem I see is that your protagonists seem to be very young. M tries to please her father, but she is not even 5 years old. What can she do? Eat her vegetables and learn to poop on the toilet? And when was her first B-chan period? I'd make them a little older when all these things happen. Maybe in their teens?

With version B the age wouldn't be a problem I guess, since the main part takes place in different dimensions.

Oh, forgot to add the whole thing XD

Well, it's a weird species. The best way I can explain it w/o going too far into specifics is to kinda think of them like the elves from Tolkien. They mature mind wise very quickly but body growth is slower; basically mind "year" = body age x 5. So, a 1 year old can talk, read, and write but might not be able to walk yet. So by 5, she's basically 25 in mind, prob. lacking only experience but her body will be that of a young child, lacking in strength and refined skills.

Okay, then the age won't be a problem. I fear I can't help you then. I like both ideas. Maybe you can write two different stories?