"Dream
Princess is the first story I ever published. From its inception, I
conceived it as a transgender youth novel and decided to base it upon
Shakespeare’s classic tale of fraternal twins of opposite genders, Twelfth
Night. However, after several failed attempts to establish a believable story
line, I concluded the problem was adhering too strictly to The Bard’s casting
one of the twins out of the picture until near the climax. I also realized that
the story I wanted to tell should start no later than early adolescence and
continue on from there over the course of a number of years. In this aspect, I
was influenced by J.K. Rowling’s Harry
Potter series. So Dream Princess
is the first book in what I call the “Dream Princess” series, and the second
book is well underway already.
There are two main characters, obviously
the twins, Johnny and Jennifer, throughout the story, which is told in first
person from the point of view of Johnny. He is a sad eleven-year old boy,
troubled in spirit, ostensibly because his father ditched him, his sister, and
their mother to run away with a young woman while also taking all of the
family’s money. Pretty nasty fellow, I think, even if he weren’t their father.
I purposely wrote the father character in that way because although he never
directly appears in the story, he is one of the more important characters by
what he has already done to the family, Johnny in particular, and by his sheer
absence. Another important character is also never seen directly in the story
proper; this is The Princess who is only seen each night in Johnny’s dreams.
Because the story is meant for readers of all ages including Johnny’s age of
eleven, any romance—oh, didn’t I tell you the story was full of romance
too?—yes, any romantic gestures go no farther than a kiss or two. Although The
Princess’ overt behavior is similarly limited, discerning adults may notice a
risqué scene covertly inserted here and there.
Why does the story begin when Johnny is
eleven? Good question. As the story begins, Johnny, his mother, and his sister
have just moved across country where his mother has a job offer. They have
arrived with the clothes on their backs and whatever belongings they could
stuff into their car, but the nice neighbor next door donates a box of her own
daughter’s used clothing to Jennifer who, lo and behold, is a tomboy of the
highest order. Even before the box is opened, Jennifer is suspicious that it
contains “girly” clothes. Sure enough, the first thing she pulls out of the box
is a beautiful yellow dress, which she promptly shoves back inside before
closing the box. Okay, now it is time to admit that I put some of myself into
the story including being an eleven-year old boy when my folks moved far away
and also including opening one of the moving boxes at our new house and pulling
out a pretty silver skirt though I had no sister and the skirt was my mother’s.
The flash of magic that Johnny feels in the story upon seeing the yellow dress
is the same flash of magic I felt upon seeing the silver skirt.
Ah, and now for the romance part—beautiful
Angela with the long blonde hair, whom Johnny espies at the youth baseball game
that Jennifer has dragged him to, and whom Johnny falls instantly and
hopelessly in love with. Unfortunately, Johnny’s biggest rival for Angela’s affections
is Jenny, the alter ego that the magical yellow dress has somehow awakened from
somewhere deep inside his mind. The Jenny versus Johnny conflict within a
single mind was inspired in part from my own feelings of being torn between
masculine and feminine, and from hearing of other transgender individual’s
feelings about having two spirits.
The story, once started, almost began to
write itself, and the tomboy sister Jennifer almost immediately cut her hair
and tried out for the boys-only baseball team as Jack, the All-American hero. I
thought this was a good decision on her part, and it allowed a discussion of
women’s rights as viewed by Jennifer. Jack is soon courted by Susan, one of
Angela’s close friends, who is unaware of what she has got, though Jack is
proudly aware that he has acquired one of the badges of masculinity-a
girlfriend.
The ending of the story totally surprised
me, for as I alluded to already, the barebones plot I started out with soon
proved incapable of containing the story development. And although a number of
other story elements were similarly inspired by my own personal experiences,
including falling instantly and hopelessly in love with a girl at about the
same age, and also including falling off a horse at age five as seen in a
flashback scene, my father was the complete opposite of Johnny’s father. Facing the ‘old man’ in a dress was something
that I could never do to him."
The story of a transgender girl who dreams of a beautiful princess, and
the twin sister who refuses to take a backseat to boys. Swapping
identities solves all their problems, or does it?
Johnny is eleven years old and depressed since he believes himself to be the cause of his father's departure with another woman. His mother knows better, but, with the bank account also gone with her husband, she is desperate and gladly accepts a job offer on the other side of the country. Together with his mother and his twin sister Jennifer, Johnny finds himself thrust into a new life.
Before Johnny awakes on his first day in an empty new house, he strangely dreams of being a beautiful princess in a fairy tale setting. When he wakes, however, he can't escape his enduring guilt over his father. He volunteers to escort his sister, who loves baseball, to a local park where she had noticed a baseball game in progress. Bored by the game, Johnny instead sees the most beautiful girl in the world sitting only feet away.
At first, Johnny's biggest obstacle to meeting the beautiful girl is the skilled baseball player she adores. But then the nice neighbor next door donates a box of second-hand girl's clothes for Jennifer, and the yellow dress she pulls out in front of her brother is the spark that releases the dream princess within him. Jennifer rejects the clothes as too 'girly' and instead disguises herself as a boy to sneak onto the 'boys only' baseball teams. Meanwhile, the princess within Johnny emerges as a beautiful girl. Soon everyone around them knows them as Jenny, the sweetheart girl, and Jack, the macho athlete, everyone, that is, except for their mother.
Jenny faces new problems, including the lingering personality of Johnny, but whether it's getting along with new friends, keeping Johnny's old friends at bay, dodging enemies, or falling in love, Jenny is continually inspired by dreams of the princess within.
Johnny is eleven years old and depressed since he believes himself to be the cause of his father's departure with another woman. His mother knows better, but, with the bank account also gone with her husband, she is desperate and gladly accepts a job offer on the other side of the country. Together with his mother and his twin sister Jennifer, Johnny finds himself thrust into a new life.
Before Johnny awakes on his first day in an empty new house, he strangely dreams of being a beautiful princess in a fairy tale setting. When he wakes, however, he can't escape his enduring guilt over his father. He volunteers to escort his sister, who loves baseball, to a local park where she had noticed a baseball game in progress. Bored by the game, Johnny instead sees the most beautiful girl in the world sitting only feet away.
At first, Johnny's biggest obstacle to meeting the beautiful girl is the skilled baseball player she adores. But then the nice neighbor next door donates a box of second-hand girl's clothes for Jennifer, and the yellow dress she pulls out in front of her brother is the spark that releases the dream princess within him. Jennifer rejects the clothes as too 'girly' and instead disguises herself as a boy to sneak onto the 'boys only' baseball teams. Meanwhile, the princess within Johnny emerges as a beautiful girl. Soon everyone around them knows them as Jenny, the sweetheart girl, and Jack, the macho athlete, everyone, that is, except for their mother.
Jenny faces new problems, including the lingering personality of Johnny, but whether it's getting along with new friends, keeping Johnny's old friends at bay, dodging enemies, or falling in love, Jenny is continually inspired by dreams of the princess within.
Dream Princess has some touching reviews:
"...That is where I can empathize. I
was beaten for being girly. My parents said repeatedly I was stupid,
fat,and ugly. Any boy wanting to be a girl was a slut. I tried to
transition after college. Thru pressure and a doctor they stopped my
transition. As an old man there are days I hide and cry. So please enjoy
this wonderful tale of a happy time for these transgendered children. I
recommend this book highly."
Are you curious?
No comments:
Post a Comment