All Comments on 'The Rise of Rachel Price T-Girl Pt. 21'

You are, without a doubt, my favorite writer. LOVE Rachel!

The visit with Dr. Cooper is the nexus of the story. Oh, and BTW, you nailed the Thai Lady Boy thing. With 60 certified Thai languages that's not easy. She does well with English and a second language isn't easy to grasp. Being a drunk lady boy makes English even more difficult!. Je ne sais pas? The woman who pulls the Bad Luck thing on her is spot-on perfect and completely illogical...

Now these allusions and metaphors are so good I wonder if you're a country western song writer! "Feeling someone turned up the volume on sensitivity," "underground railroad and Dave is Levi Coffin," "more tablets than an iPad factory." Wonderful stuff I wish I could do that kind of stuff.

i'm going to stop here and pick up on the session with Dr. Cooper. It's the heart of this episode.

I believe it’s the best story of this genre since “boiled frog”. Maybe if you have time after this saga, you could finish “Boiled frog’

Yes, the Dr. Cooper session. He's excellent as a therapist. The device of having Cooper attempt to probe and clarify Rachel's feelings elucidates (or maybe, "bring out") Rachel's feelings. (Note that he says, That particularly important because Rachel's feelings demonstrate her uncertainty in bold colors. The stories on Literotica (and lots of other venues) read more like porn than anything else. There's nothing wrong with that, of course, and that's why all the stories are so popular, particularly among trans people (and all the rest of humans).

Rachel's conversation with Cooper is different. Sex is a part of the story and part of her life. In any case, sex is more than sex; it's the meaning behind Rachel's changing identity or soul. Rachel relates that she and Charlie last watch "Down with Love," a Shakespearian tale of mixed-up identities with character's confused and uncertain about their feelings and commitments. It's something like "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" without all the philosophy. The allusion is significant even if critics say the movie wasn't very good!

Cooper catches Rachel using "Douglas" rather than "Levant" and now we see the nature of the issue. When Cooper says, "Everything means something, Rachel. The question is what." In trying to remember what response gave to the question from the diagnostic instrument, Rachel shows she's relying on memory rather than her feelings, further exposing the inner-deeper-hidden-meaning. Then Cooper drops a significant weight onto Rachel's slim shoulders. By explaining the "Kintraff Test," Cooper explains Rachel's score so that she can see she started much on the feminine scale than moved only a little. Somewhere in Rachel is that feminine identity and the meds, therapy, dressing and all the rest only confirms what Rachel's feelings tell her.

And so Cooper asks the important question: what is the issue you're hiding from yourself? The AFG or arousal test would only confirm Rachel's gender identity. As Rachel says, "That's normal for a woman." This is writing that's so perspicacious that it's truly a trans story. It's viewed from Rachel's experience with all the difficulty and struggle we all share. Most of us wrestle with the feelings and never tell anyone. No wonder i'm jealous of Rachel: she has the talents of a skilled and sensitive author to create other characters and situations that lead her to self-reflection and resolution. Many of wrestle in silence and the pain that can result can be tangible and extremely difficult. I don't need to tell anyone here about that since you know it all too well. Rachel is lucky she has resources to explore these issues, intelligence to reflect on these things, and support surrounding her.

Cooper is a reliable guide. He says, "I wouldn't be a very good therapist if I told you anything. I offer suggestions, insights, alternative perspectives. You, or rather your feelings, decide the truth of the matter." Perfect. Men are so logical and "proof driven." But unlike the X Files where the truth is out there, Cooper and Rachel will soon know that the truth is inside.

Wonderful human writing. Just wonderful.

@Nasty56 This is definitely a boiled frog and thank you so much for you kind words.

@Erica Thanks, yes I love Rachel too.

@annika_unknown Yes Dr Cooper was too hard to miss up on. I know what you mean, glad I could include some Lady boys even in passing.

A very few thoughts regarding Chapter 21. Ever since I was very young I was fascinated by the sculpture, "The Lacoon." It's a very famous sculpture by an unknown artist. It shows a Greek man, Lacoon, being strangled by large snakes. (Hmm. I wonder if that's one source of my bondage fantasies?") as punishment for attempting to persuade the Trojans not to bring the infamous wooden horse inside the city gates. What amazed me was the realism of the figures, their life-like agony and all the other human emotions on their faces. We don't know the name of the sculptor so we don't know if they can explain the process of creation like Michaelangelo. When I watched an 87-year-old man create traditional Japanese ladles on Utube (don't ask) I was reminded of the same process and our author's comments regarding revealing Rachel. Those artists like the Japanese man, Michaelangelo, and others clearly had an image of their subject "inside" the material that could emerge from the material.

Cooper has some image in mind but Rachel is a person, a human and she's in control of that process of transmigration from Denver to Rachel. Cooper's science can reveal some of her process but she will need to embrace the new (and related) process to become the person she is. The test Cooper administers every month is an aid to revealing Rachel to herself, even if she attempts to hide the revelation to herself. The hiding simply won't work since Rachel will need to answer each question the same each time and she can't do that successfully. Even if she could answer every question the same, the mathematics in the survey would expose her attempt at hiding the truth.

I also wonder if Cooper would explain the inner-hidden-deeper-secret meaning to Rachel about Douglas Levant as an absent father figure. It seems that a good therapist would keep his thoughts to himself (herself). It's helpful for us, as the readers, but perhaps too much for him. But, having him disclose the possible scenario moves the story along without waiting a life time for insight in Rachel's mind. It's necessary for the sake of the story.

Finally, after this chapter calling the novel, or story "Clocked" seems to me to be a great option. Rachel's conversation about the term clocked fits everything she is becoming. So, once again, I changed my mind. Since I'm not "logical" as I mentioned earlier, changing my mind is perfectly natural!

This is deep, intriguing and captivating writing and insight regarding Rachel and her friends. Thanks again. And again. And again.

Not to devalue annika_unknown's great takes but...

Is the good doctor just a poor note taker, giving a push or paid to help things go a certain way?

"I look down, and I like being a woman"

vs what was actually said.

"I look down, and I'm like, a woman. Its a constant reminder, if I don't see them, I can feel them. When I wake up in the morning, they are there, the first thing you think about. They are in the shower; if I move or turn too quickly, I can feel them. When I touch them and hold them, they feel so real. They determine my balance in heels. I can't take them off; they are in me, a part of me, I can't escape them. It's a perpetual voice reminding me who I am. I think they keep me being Rachel when I'm alone. Then just when I get adjusted to them, I see men looking at them while I'm talking, and it starts all over again."

And this isn't the first time either.

@annika_unknown You have said it all. It doesn't need a response, but I wanted to know I'm listening and reading every word enthusiastically. Thanks@

In part 15 we had Denver becoming Rachel emotionally. In this part we have Dave the courier believing Rachel is a cis woman and Dr Cooper telling her she is more female in outlook than many woman and challenging her as to whether she is would be happy as a woman rather than a man.

Of course it doesn't help that Cooper subtly misquoted Rachel's comments about her breasts - "I look down, and I like being a woman" versus Rachel's statement of "I look down, and I'm like, a woman". We know Levant is paying for Cooper so we've are not sure whether he is actively pushing Rachel towards having the op but one thing is certain he's pushing against an open door.

As for Levant he is obviously paying the long game, having blown it once with Rachel, and is now waiting for her to come to him. Which, as Cooper observed, is slowly happening.

Can not wait for the next episodes...

I’ve gotta’ start doing a better job proofreading after that last post! - Annika_unknown

The quote is, "I look down, and I like being a woman." That quote is consistent with Rachel's conversation with Cooper. A good therapist sometimes interprets and points out what the client has said, although it's very important to be cautious so that the therapist avoids influencing the client. At times, however, an interpretation is necessary. Of course, there's influence here from Cooper, but context is important and Cooper provides the context by recalling Rachel's conversations and actions. Without all that "supporting evidence," Cooper would be pushing in his own direction. With the contextual evidence and the conversation with Rachel earlier and now, it's very likely Rachel would mistake her views for the persona she shows to the world. In other words, she has an inner-deeper-secret-world that she finds difficult to see. The nature of the conflict inside Rachel is her confused feelings. Confused feelings are her truth and the reason I used the X-Files quote: "The truth is out there." But most honestly, the truth isn't out there but in herself and in each of us. It's what a poet sees.

Her mistaken notions are the kinds of process we all misuse, that is, all humans misunderstand themselves. That's part of each human life. The value of a skilled (and wise) therapist is to reflect or hold a mirror up to the client. Pencil and paper tests, words we as clients use, and details of relationships are necessary evidence. For a therapist, intruding in a client's life is a violation of the therapist's professional identity. That's why a good therapist meets with a skilled colleague separately so that the therapist avoids what Freud called "counter-transference," which happens when the therapist applies one's own thought and feelings onto the patient.

It's tricky business. What bowls me over is the our author understands this and uses it as a device to move the story along. We don't get months and months of psychotherapeutic sessions but this session to give us, as readers, insights regarding Rachel.

That means we're in the hands of a very skilled writer. I'm convinced a writer like racheprice doesn't have a manual for writing but has developed insights by living life. Very unique.

Plenty of comments to think about here. I just stopped by to say get ready for a *MUST READ* chapter - you will know why.

Rachel.

Well, there shall be no right or wrong way to read a book.

I will point out that,

yes possibly, Cooper is nudging things in one direction. i.e gas lighting her.

or

yes Cooper is used to dealing with Transwomen/transvestites. People who have normally figured out all the subtle clues and decided the path by themselves. Rachel is fascinating to him as he has never seen the developmental process before. So he might be curious and probing and his hearing isn't a good as he thinks it is.

or

He might think Rachel is 'masking' i.e pretending not to want something society has told them not to want and but secretly very glad they are being forced to do something they want to do(think about getting someone else to dance its a lot of 'no no no' but they why are they so close to the dance floor and looking around). Cooper can't decided.

OR as Annika rightly said, it might be 'counter-transference' or when you have a hammer, everything becomes a nail. When the last 40 people you dealt with have one objective, your starting presumption is the next person wants it too. That is Rachel is so good-looking and high functioning as a woman his implicit response is 'why don't you want to become a woman?'.

FYI a good back story is like an iceberg 90% out of sight. Cooper has just divorced. His wife suspected him of sleeping with some of his patients due to him spending long time with them, and responding at all times of the day and night to phone calls. This is why he is very unnerved when Rachel wears anything too provocative, as it Induces flashbacks.

In fact, Cooper is just very hard-working and feels very conflicted that his wife would think that of him. In truth, the wife was having an affair and projected the same onto him. She was being hassled by the third party to end it and go full-time with him. She was never happy - they started the practice together, and she dropped out to have the kids but never got the recognition he went on to get. She was never 100% comfortable with the pre-op counselling, thinking there were 'more serious' problems they could have been working on. She thought the real clients with 'real problems' were driven away by the steam of TG people passing her front door. Currently, Cooper has about 50/50 ratio of trans to non-trans clients. One non-trans client is Hector, who visits when needed in relation to his drink problem, Hector is coming up to 1000 days dry.

The last person Cooper signed off was Mimi ( no, he won't talk, but she does, Rachel was told but has forgotten ), Mimi told him a huge amount about Rachel. So Cooper was very curious about Rachel even before she turned up. Mimi was paid for by Levant as part of the complex and rushed immigration process. Peter is also on his books, another Thornbury referral. Cooper's other clientele tend to be older or trans-men, so Rachel is the most eye-catching trans client he has ( again, shades of divorce). Rachel is the only one who regularly arrives via a back door after sneaking out of a limo nearby and walking. All his other clients tend to have gotten over the shy in public, stage by now. This, plus her wealth, makes Cooper curious about Rachel. Cooper is in debt - the house/practice is in an expensive area ( near the best youth ballet schools), and he made some worthy but wrong investments, not to mention the divorce. Levant knows about his financial problems. Cooper had just bought a rescue dog and has been discovering why it was abandoned - the dog has bad PTSD, and Cooper is reading books on dog psychology but feels the efforts are doomed.

Cooper's daughters have left home now. One of them is sleeping with one of Cooper's old clients without his knowledge. She dreads the day when he finds out. Actually, he won't mind. The daughter's boyfriend was the one who actually left the evidence in the house, which the wife used to get the divorce decision. This is the true source of daughter #1's stress, as she knows she inadvertently generated the evidence for the divorce ( it didn't matter and just saved the mother the hassle of faking it).

The other daughter is majoring in anything-but-psychology at Georgia Tech, she secretly works nights across the i85 at a strip club called the Cheetah Lounge on Spring Street as an exotic dancer (Cooper lavished ballet lessons on her as a child and never missed a performance no matter how minor). Daughter #2 aka the favourite, has turned precisely two tricks - both when the rent was way past overdue. Last week a Koran Professor accidentally tipped her $500 in her thong, she didn't give it back. She does feel guilty about it.

Cooper's password is his daughters' names - this is very bad practice.

Cooper's safe word is Crimson he won't use it for another four years.

Like the terminator, I have very detailed files. Katy's may shock even you, dear reader. Poor writing generally ends up with too much unnecessary backstory being introduced. A mistake J.R Tolkien never made unless you count the Silmarillion. The normal writing advice is not to flesh out your secondary characters too deeply, as the temptation to include too much of their back story and ruin the reading experience. I don't subscribe to this, I just edit ruthlessly.

You have seen a little of Grand-pa's, and Charlie's, enough I hope that you get that each of them is the main character of their own arc.

the next chapter is a must read ( you will see why )

Obvious, I know, but you've had me from the very first. I can hardly wait. Did you say 150 pages? No? Well, I'll take anything I can get! (I can't imagine writing 150 pages or even 20 pages!) I'm enjoying every word.

@annika_unknown - With the next chapter, we are roughly halfway through the book.

Next chapter is in the pipe.

Those of us who are readers (and not creators) don't have a secret portal into any author's imagination or mind. We can only speculate what the author is thinking based on the words and clues left by the writer. Cooper is Cooper only on the page. We can't reach out to him to ask, "What was in your mind." If we did that it would spoil the pleasure of the story. So whether Cooper is gaslighting Rachel or not will remain a mystery unless Cooper tells us the answer. In addition, Whether Cooper is leading Rachel in one direction depends on all the subtle clues that would lie in the eye movements, body movements or voice tones of Cooper. We're clueless regarding any of those things. Once again, if any of us was there we might offer a better opinion.

But if we had answers it would spoil our debates and the joy of reading an extremely well-written story. I vote for number 2!

I just read Cooper's back story. What an imagination! With all that going on in his life I'm surprised he can even walk into the door of his office without snorting some strong drug! Do you, Racheprice really create all of your notes to help sketch out your characters? I don't think I know anyone well enough to create all that. Very professional. Like a television screenwriter (who isn't on strike) needing to keep a spread sheet with story details, your attention to details has paid off in a deeper, stronger story arc.

All of this results in a story so far from, "i took a pill and 12 hours later I became a woman," as you mentioned. It's also not "I was kidnapped, drugged, and forced to undergo forced feminization,'' or even "My wife caught me and forced me to turn tricks." There's nothing wrong with those standard plot lines although they're a little boring. "The Rise of Rachel Price T-Girl" is foundationally different. We're inside her brain and the sex she's had since the story started is more than pornography. Her sexual activity is both symbol and symptom of her changing soul or identity.

Cooper's backstory reveals his humanity and somewhat tragic life experience.

...and, as if gender identity wasn't a "real problem." I read an article in the NYT this morning regarding Page Eliot who's just written a book. Ask them how easy transitioning can be! And they is a famous actor with several well-regarded films!

Another cautionary perspective on Cooper. Remember, he is a professionally-trained psychotherapist. As one of the best therapists in the Bay Area (and one of the economically-advanced areas of the U.S.) he undoubtedly has a Ph.D. from a good school along with prestigious training (or mentorship). That implies Cooper knows his professional life and should be able to process his feelings, avoiding the pitfalls and traps waiting for a poorly-trained therapist. Meeting with a colleague regularly aside from Cooper's clients (or patients) is designed to point out pitfalls for projecting a therapist's feelings onto another. Unlike other professions, a therapist is supposed to avoid intrigue so Cooper should be well-trained and mature enough to see his own personality and avoid intrigue that may hide his secret yearnings and desires from himself. Even a therapist who is gender dysphoric or is trans in some way is not enough experience by itself to help Rachel through her conflicts.

I know that therapists are human and make mistakes. But well-educated therapists and well-trained therapists need to work hard at guarding clients from their own foibles. Finding the right therapist isn't easy since nearly everyone who hangs a shingle announcing 'therapist' may not be so serious about their profession. I can only assume the Douglas Levant would choose one of the best in the Bay Area and one with experience with transition clients who may well have other issues.

Cooper's role is a very complex and a tricky one, particularly since sexuality is so powerful for all humans. At any rate, that's my take on Cooper and why I wrote my perspective. Then again, I'm not the author, so they have the story control, not me. It's just fun to speculate.

'We're inside her brain and the sex she's had since the story started is more than pornography'

Yes, well, this is definitely an attempt to write a trans book. I do follow the conventions of the site - this is erotica. To be honest, what is going in the brain *IS* pornography.

"Yes, Cooper's motivation and actions will be revealed when the time is right. Remember, Cooper has said that feelings of paranoia and conspiracy are side effects of some of the drugs Rachel is on. So the question still remains: Is Rachel discovering her feminine existence (so the gaslighting is in Rachel's drug-addled mind), or is Rachel truly being pushed down the path for Levant?

All of this brings us back to the question about being transgender. Are we merely gaslit by society at large into conforming to our gender roles from birth? Or is there something deeper and inherent to our being? Is our soul inherently male or female? Is it mutable? Can one transition from being straight to gay or from man to woman? Can one exist between these extremes?"

"The Paige Elliot piece is good—I'm tempted to get the book. I have been very tempted to write a sequel for F2M.

I love the portrayal of Cooper, and it's very true. I believe his wife was his colleague, and he needs time to build a relationship with his new colleague.

Wow, Lit has the best readers on the internet. I really have to say that.

To answer the previous questions: Yes, if you are going to write something bigger than a short story, you do need certain tools. There is specialist software like Scrivener, but spreadsheets work just as well. I have a lovely visual character board, but the pictures on it are all someone else's copyright. You don't need fancy gear—as Agatha Christie once said, 'all you need is a table, a chair, a typewriter, and a bit of peace and quiet.' I would add a thesaurus and very good proofreading software.

Can't say what a delight this is, such intelligent readers; your thank you is hidden in chapter 22.

Denver had to be thinking Levant would try and trick her and drug her to get his way and he was dead set on her transition to someone more permanent. Also, the psychologist is really pushing him to see a certain point of view. In earlier chapters, the way the author did an amazing job at setting up the characters, red flags would be going off everywhere for Denver/Rachael. She was quite focused on 10 months and out. Now he/she seems to be accepting an obviously slanted point of view from someone on Levants team. I liked the friction and the fact this kid is matching wits with this businessman rather than his/her acceptance in this chapter.

How much is Cooper taking funds from LeVant to push Denver into becoming Rachel forever. How much is LeVant pushing Charlie to acclimate Denver/ Rachel into accepting sex from LeVant. Is Charlie really into Rachel or is she compelled by LeVant to indoctrinate her?