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I have no 'real world' tg issues. I'm lucky enough to be happy with my gender identity, and to have a wide circle of friends who understand why I write tg fiction and who approve of my reasons for doing so.
Here in cyberspace (way to show your age Rich, you'll be talking about superhighways next!) it's different. I want a female alter-ego because I believe it might help me grow, both as a writer and a person.
I'm being serious. This has bugged me for a while, and I want it settled.
I could of course just invent someone, but that wouldn't be in keeping with the ethos of this site. I want to be open and honest with everyone who uses it because that's what they deserve.
I realise how self-indulgent this may sound to those of you who face problems I couldn't begin to deal with. You have every right to tell me to count my blessings and shut up. I hope you won't.
This will not appear on any other site. You are the people I trust to help me work this out. Please don't be backward in coming forward, if you know what I mean.
Rich
Comments
It's called a 'nom de plume',
It's called a 'nom de plume', and it's a generally accepted device, especially for presenting your works. Several of the old style female authors, especially in SF/Fantasy, used them for a while as they got started. Heck, one Mystery author used _two_. Alisa Craig was the nom de plume of Charlotte McLeod, and she used Alisa Craig for her Canadian based stories, and her name for the american stories. I didn't even know for a while that Charlotte McLeod was her real name - I thought it was another nom de plume.
I, personally, don't see a problem with you using a nom de plume to post other stories, as long as they're in the theme here, and you're not intending to defraud anyone. It's a way to separate types of works (reduce typecasting)
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
Exactly.
I admit my name is not Robyn Hoode anywhere except on line. Anyway, every time I initialise your name to TTL it makes my think of the integrated electronic chips I used to use in circuit design (TTL = Transistor Transistor Logic). So another name would help me as well as you :)
I wonder why anyone would use the name of a lump of granite off the Ayrshire coast that is the home of a few lighthouse keepers and a huge gannet colony as a nom de plume (Ailsa Craig) I wish I'd though of it. I understand the granite found there is the material of choice for high quality curling stones :) I landed on it once when sailing on the Clyde estuary.
Robi (not really)
This Is Where It All Began
Not sure why, but I had a feeling that Robyn Hoode probably wasn't the name your parents gave you.
About Touch the Light, it took me ages to find this on You Tube but I finally got there!
The bit that inspired my username starts around 5 minutes in.
http://youtu.be/cDz8MRb_UAQ
Inspired my username? It inspired just about every word I've ever written. If you want to know where 'The House In The Hollow' came from, look no further.
As Long As No One Gets The Wrong Idea
Thanks Bibliophage.
The main thing as far as I'm concerned is that no one gets the wrong idea. If I try to put myself in the place of someone who's got genuine problems I always imagine myself thinking 'is this joker taking the piss or what?'
Better to take the piss than
Better to take the piss than have a chunder.
Don't worry about problems - everyone has their own, and they usually aren't willing to share. (Greedy bastards!) Just play your piano and sing your little songs, and tell them, "I'm a logger. Just up from Coos Bay, Oregon. Been topping trees. Quite possibly the toughest man in the entire world" (then you'll get a haircut)
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
But you won't like it
My hair was gone.
Also, you may have a tremendous craving to operate heavy equipment.
Now, you may think that's the worst that could ever happen.
Wrong
Ellen, 22nd level Necromancer of Threads (and minister to loggers)
what kind of girl would this persona be?
fun and flirty? serious librarian type?
Once you know what kind of girl she is, the name will be easy ....
She'd Start Off As Ruth
I think she'd start off as the Ruth who stole Richard Brookbank's body, all leather and denim. Where she goes from there will be part of the fun.
Touch The Light
is a pen name. Like mine is/
May Your Light Forever Shine
Alter Egos and Second Life
If you're interested in developing an alter ego, one thing you might consider trying is Second Life. Basically, it's an online massively multiplayer virtual reality. While you can be yourself there, it's quite common to find people experimenting with being very different there than they are in real life. It's also common for people to have multiple identities (known as "alts"), there, so you could try out different things until you find something you like.
Looks Interesting
Thanks Heather
I dipped my feet into a similar pool last year. I was okay until someone bought my avatar a pair of ear-rings for her 'birthday'. They'd spent real money. How much didn't matter, at least not to me. I just thought 'this is where I have to draw the line'.
But it looks interesting, and may give me one or two ideas for future stories. Which is what this is all about.
How did this make you feel?
Why was that?
I still have issues with people giving me things. The first time I got gifted with a flower, I was close to hysterical (hah! go look up the origins of that word!) for at least half an hour.
But why did you react that way?
Ellen, 22nd level Necromancer of Threads
Guilt?
It's hard to explain. Maybe I felt guilty for taking advantage of this person.
of COURSE it's hard to explain
You haven't done it before. New feelings, new thoughts, new words and phrases.
Did you solicit the gift?
Why would you give something to someone-you-barely-know?
(assume that you will not be accused of anything if you did)
Ellen, 22nd level Necromancer of Threads
I want a female alter-ego
Won't be settled 'til yer dead.
A good author never stops learning about people (and everything else...)
I think, in a way, you should invent someone, and take them OFF this site, to other sites. This site... self-selects for some very unusual characteristics. If you want to try 'cisgender female', you should go elsewhere.
Uh, the only way it seems self-indulgent is that it isn't benefiting me or others in a tangible way. By this criteria, all reading-for-fun you do is also similarly self-indulgent.
Why not experiment with a new identity (or facet thereof)?
Unlike many, I do not think that this marginalizes me or mocks me; I think the opposite. If more people stretched their brains and could imagine, and/or could experience, what it would be really like to be something other-than-themselves, I think the world would be a nicer place.
How can you count your blessings when you don't know what they are?
Being something-else can show you just what you have and don't have, in a more realistic and compelling way, than simply reading others' experiences.
Ellen, 22nd level Necromancer of Threads