Transcendent

[anarfea]

I took Vulgarweed's advice and purchased the book Transcendent: The Year's Best Transgender Speculative Fiction. I read the first story, and I think I made the right call in scrubbing the name "Molly" (or whatever I would have called them) from the novel. The first story, The Shape of My Name, is quite careful never to use the protagonist's deadname, At one point, the character "you" (the protagonist's mother) says, "I need you to watch--". Other times the name is referenced as "the name you called me," or "the name that was never mine." Anyway, deadnaming seems to be a sore subject for the readers who I hope will make up my audience, so I'm going to try to avoid ever having anyone call my protagonist anything but "Hooper" or "Doctor Hooper" until Holmes asks him what he wants to be called and he says "Colin." Then Holmes will call him Colin in private and everyone else will continue to call him "Hooper" or "Doctor Hooper."

The one place I'm unsure of is what name Hooper should use at the Molly house, where everyone goes by female names. I had originally used "Molly" because Hooper can't think of a female name other than their deadname, but I'm thinking that's not the way I want to go for the novel. So I'll have to come up with another female name for the Molly house scenes, I think. I also need a female name for Holmes! 

I'm open to suggestions, if you have any.

Comments

[oulfis]

I think your explanation of the problems with the trope makes sense, though it actually doesn't match my own experience. My name is very similar to my deadname, and I really valued forging a sense of connection between my past and current identities. I think there is a really wide spectrum of name experiences-- I have an nb friend who just truncated their name to a more gender-neutral version, and a trans friend who didn't change her name because it was already gender-neutral. So the biggest problem from my point of view with the trope is the same one with most tropes -- the over-use of one "script" due to a simplistic assumption that it's universal. I agree that Colin coming up with Colleen could be a fun take on that trope. Or, maybe he picks something funny based on the name Holmes gives -- like they end up as the Victorian London version of Thelma and Louise. But I also think saying Molly in a fit of panic could be funny, cute, and poignant -- I think it's not uncommon for trans people to misgender and deadname themselves, especially early on, and sometimes our own foibles can become funny.

I'm increasingly persuaded by the idea of namescrubbing the deadname in general, though. I still get deadnamed by my dad (yes, ten years later.........) so I think I have a lot of mental energy invested in downplaying the pain of getting deadnamed, but is is really unpleasant and probably not necessary for a fun piece of fiction.

[anarfea]

Yeah, I get what you're saying. Cassidy, the code monkey of Ravelry came out as trans recently, and mentioned that "Cassidy" was actually her birth name, but that she went by something else for most of her life, and is now reclaiming that name post transition. So I know that not all trans people would feel that having a name that's a different gender version of their name is bad, it's just one of those things that I've seen trans people say you should not do, and especially that cis people should not do, and I'm trying to listen to those things as much as I can, though I realize that trans people are not a monolith and don't always agree.

I also know you were in favor of Colin calling himself "Molly" in a moment of panic, and Olli liked "Colleen," and both of those are "Problematic" and I have two actual real trans people in favor of them lol. I will give this some thought I have time.

I'm sorry your dad doesn't call you by your right name. That must fucking suck.

And yeah, I can see why Emilia would call Colin "Molly," especially since he isn't out to her. I'm not even sure if he knows his real name yet. I'm not sure when he thinks of it but it has to be by the Molly House scene for sure. And then he tells Holmes his real name after they've had sex the second time because Holmes says he feels it's wrong to continue to call him "Hooper" after they've been that intimate. So it would make sense for Emilia to call Colin "Molly" but it's a particular piece of angst I'm trying to avoid putting Colin through. I think it's hard enough that he can't be out to his lover.