capri0mni | My plotbunny's grumbling at me (Reply)

Or: The Problems I'm Having with my Disabled Superhero Story Idea:

When I plan out a story, I like to think out how it might work from different points of view. If the story holds together from the antagonist's p.o.v., and the best friend's, and the neighbor's, then I know I have a story that won't disintegrate like a wet paper bag just when the plot's getting interesting (and if I get bored telling the story one way, I know I can switch it around, and see if that works better).

In a story that starts out being about a disabled child, that means I have to think about the child's parents, and doctors -- basically all the adults who make the decisions that shape this kid's life, before the kid has the ability to even speak for himself.

So: here's the big question that's dogging me:

In a future society that prides itself (mistakenly) on being utopian, and where most citizens are comfortable pretending that there are no disabled people (see point #2 on this list), when science is advanced enough to attempt complicated genetic engineering on a fetus, how would a freak child with wings and crippled legs even get a chance to be born, especially since "primitive" technology like ultrasound allow would allow everyone to see what the child is growing into before it's born?

I'm sure there's a way to answer that question. I just haven't figured out a satisfying solution, yet.

But the way that question is answered will have a big impact on the way the rest of the story unfolds.

[ETA: These are the ideas that have come up thanks to

alryssa's and

indefatigable42's replies (my writer's block almost always melts under the heat of blathering! ;-)):

Okay, I think I've got it: The doctors inform the parents that their developing baby is deficient in nerve and muscle growth, but there is an exciting new treatment that can be done in utero that utilizes genetically altered cells from the blue-tongued skink (what? skinks can regenerate new tails if they've been lost; specifics are good, and besides, they're easily kept as pets/lab animals. And they're cute). However, a further check-up via ultra sound reveals that instead of growing stronger legs, the fetus looks like it's growing wing buds. The doctors want to go into emergency surgery, and remove the wings before the baby's born (zapping them off with lasers, or something), but the parents no longer trust the doctors, since the first "fix" went so terribly wrong. So they pull out of publicly sanctioned medical care, and decide to have the baby "as is." That's when they decide that they will have to give the baby up to the "Special Home."

This means that the "Special Home" will also have to exist outside of government-run institutional system -- perhaps it's the special project of a wealthy man's "charity." That means that the Home will also be outside The City -- in some isolated, privately-owned location. So it's unlikely that the Big Calamity will be anything like "getting caught in the crossfire of a gangland war," which is kind of what I was thinking of, at first.

See what I mean about looking at a story from "peripheral" points of view?]