sage-wood

[sage-wood]

When writing a blind character, what are some things to avoid?

Ah! So this is definitely a bit of a broad question, but I can give a few basics:

Blind people don’t actually give a shit about touching faces, so please, please stear clear of that. The only exceptions may be the same way sighted lovers may caress each other’s faces and parents may hold a child’s face in an emotional moment, but it’s just like a sighted lover or parent would, nothing more.

Please avoid giving your character a cure. One of the most crushing things as a disabled reader is to finally have a disabled character, but for them to end up with a fantastic magic cure half-way through. It rarely makes for a good story, and often a much better story is that person’s journey in understanding themselves as equal and learning that they aren’t broken and useless and can do whatever they want, overcoming internalized ableism rather than “overcoming the disability.”

Few blind people actually wear sunglasses or eye coverings, so your character probably won’t either if the likelyhood says anything. Chances are they will not be part of that minority, so probably better not to do that.

Something similar can be said for characters with white or cloudy eyes. The vast majority of blind people will not have very abnormal-looking eyes, so chances are your character will not be part of that minority.

Another very similar thing should be noted about the level of vision they will have. Somewhere between 80 and 90% of blind people have some level of remaining vision, weather it be little more than light perception or enough that they were forced to use their eyes a lot growing up and weren’t taught braille or to use a cane because they could get by well enough not to die most of the time.

So these are just the first several things I can think of at the moment, but definitely feel free to ask about more things!

[sage-wood]

main characters -

roles: smart one, weird one, nice one, stupid one, rude one, rebel one

smart one —

based off of: the character Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter books, the character Margo Roth Spiegalman from Paper Towns, Rory Gilmore from Gilmore Girls (Tv show), and a little bit of Jenny Humphrey from Gossip girl (Tv show).

age: 14

personality —

positive traits: intelligent, observant, helpful, vital, serious when needed to be, keeps them from harm and danger towards themselves, capable of getting a good job and making the most money, experienced debater, constantly learning, selfless, unique

negative traits: can be too serious, mysterious, sensitive, not modest depending on her surroundings, focuses on books/learning too much of the time, anger issues (but barely violent)

likes and dislikes —

likes: researching, reading, history, writing, running away, being “the smart one”, friendship/relationships

dislikes: people who never take things seriously, liars, selfish people

appearance —

hair: light brown/blonde, straight, almost always in a ponytail, natural

eyes: hazel, curled up eyelashes, most noticeable feature

nose: medium, pointed, second most noticeable feature

[sage-wood]

base settings:

where? wisconsin

when? somewhere around 1960 - 1999

a lot of travelling throughout the book? a relatively normal amount, there is mention of a portkey (disguised portal)

[sage-wood]

okay. take two of trying to write a book, i’m researching a lot more this time and using any advice I can find online. starting with character profiles...