[marlowe]

Originally Posted by hankhavelock

Hmmm... but a little book? That does seem more manageable right now. And with a wee help from my friends... ;-)

Let's say I'll throw myself into it. What narrative concept would you then suggest?

Well what you say here shows you already have a good feel for what you might do and IMO it fits. My thoughts: Yes, it's narrative, it's in the genre 'narrative nonfiction' or 'creative nonfiction', or to use a more old fashioned term 'memoir'. 'Narrative' is important: it should have a beginning, a middle, and an end; ie. arrival in Indonesia, encounters with transgender folk, revelation (where that journey has brought you to now).

I can immediately say that my goal with such a publication (in which ever form it would have) would be exactly the same as here: via my own example to try to make the good folks realize that it is indeed possible to follow your heart and reap the fruits - that there really IS no reason to be afraid.

Hmm... clearly this is the underlying theme and important, but in the first instance I think your goal should be to tell your story in a way that engages readers. How you describe experiences, encounters, discoveries, etc. is the substance. Simply banging on (excuse the pun) about your beliefs could become tiring.

It would also be a combination of illustrative examples and my own evolved "pocket-philosophies" which are obviously 100% empiric and not in any ways based on anything scientific.

That's the great thing about memoir, it can easily include episodes that are either more expository or persuasive in intention.

I can also say that even though there would be some mildly juicy parts, then the sexual part of it would be very minor (just enuff to make the "dry stuff" go down as well :-)) Remember, that writing at a forum like this, where I'm among friends, is a totally different story than going public like that - and the last thing I'd want would be to enhance the lay-ppl's biases that we're a bunch of oversexed freaks :-)

Agreed. You have an interesting viewpoint as a foreigner in Asia. Most peoples awareness, if any, is of Thailand as a ladyboy play4pay tourist paradise. I think it's to your advantage that your experiences are in Indonesia where the transgender scene is not so hyped.
Also I think it's tricky to pull off the sex stuff, unless what you wanted to write was in the 'sex confessional' genre. Mostly that genre is sensationalist and shallow. There was a book a few years ago called "The Surrender" by a ballet dancer called Toni Bentley which was about her discovery of, and passion for, anal sex. It made a bit of a splash and was described as a 'sodomy memoir'!

So the emotional content - which is btw also 1000 times more important to me than the sexual one - I can't BELIEVE I'm writing this...:-) - would be the focus.

Yes! That's why I think it's a good story to tell.

I reckon you should try to sketch out a structure; key events, encounters, people, that sort of thing, and see if it starts to form a sequence. That shouldn't take long. Grab a pencil, paper, a couple of Bintangs (do they still have that?), or better still some of that strong javanese coffee, find some shade and off you go.