04 October 2007

More items to go into childhood

As I started writing Sanford's childhood, I could only come up with three scene ideas, and only two actual scenes. The picnic scene, the "doctor" scene, and an idea of early adolescence.

Now, that's nowhere near being enough. I need to show something other than gender obsession. Some sort of normalcy, something that a non-transgender reader can identify with. For one, I need to set up Sanford with his grandfather Warren, at the airplane museum at Paris' Le Bourget field, when Warren decides to visit Sanford and his parents on Paris assignment. This is where Sanford can build up that interest in airplanes that, as a boyish activity, will keep his parents happy - while at the same time, planting the seeds for Sarah's eventual work as a flight attendant. But at the same time, Sanford will still be attracted to the women in aviation in some way, and adopt, perhaps, Amelia Earhart as his heroine. In addition, Grandpa Warren's presence will also give a chance for him to tell the tales of his Korean War service, setting things up for Sarah's eventual Seoul assignment - and relationship with Kirsten.

Many transgender women end up being computer wizards, because of their outcast status as little boys. I want the same to happen to Sanford. To that end, I need to give him a computer in childhood. Perhaps it'll be a computer that I myself wanted, but never had - an Apple II series, complete with its vast game catalog. Sanford could enjoy playing Archon, a game I myself enjoyed, where he will insist on playing the Dark side, because of its Sorceress. As he hits adolescence and returns to the US, he could move on to a 386-class PC, on which he will play Microsoft Flight Simulator - and perhaps a few military flight sims - to continue that interest in aviation that Grandpa Warren had started. (I already mention, sometime in 1995 right before the release of Windows 95, that Sanford, now Sarah, is an expert at tweaking MS-DOS to run games optimally.)

Let's see what I can come up with.

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