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Writing about a blind character and I want to do it right (self.Blind)
submitted by TwerkMasterSupreme
Hey everyone, hopefully this is appropriate to post here.
As the title states I'm writing a story where one of my protagonists is blind. Specifically, she lost her sight at age 9 due to a disease and is now 18. My story is fantasy-based, so the world has magic in it.
To simplify the context, she's hoping to get her sight back through magical means, but finds out she most likely won't due to her our own magical deficiency. She finds a plot device that allows her to "see" through magic, but only see the magic that courses through the world. Think along the lines of Toph from The Last Airbender, Daredevil from Marvel Comics, or Neo when he can see the Matrix. Sight, but not sight. She loses this ability if she's not in contact with the plot device, which will happen throughout the story.
As far as her characteristics go, she remains independent as much as possible, hates when people comment on how beautiful her eyes are despite the disease, and treats the blindness as more of a temporary condition than something she'll have to live with (even after learning she won't be healed). I guess you could say she hasn't accepted it, and continues to train and plan her life like she'll eventually regain her sight.
Frankly, I've never interacted with a blind person, so I apologize if anything I've said above is offensive, but that's exactly why I'm here. Are there any things I should avoid that you guys come across when consuming media that include blind people? Is there anything I should include that most people with sight wouldn't think of?
I'm still in the outlining and planning phase, but I do have some dialogue written between the protag and her overprotective friend, and would be willing to DM it to people that ask (I'm a little too guarded with my writing to just post it). I really want to make this character genuine, and any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
As the title states I'm writing a story where one of my protagonists is blind. Specifically, she lost her sight at age 9 due to a disease and is now 18. My story is fantasy-based, so the world has magic in it.
To simplify the context, she's hoping to get her sight back through magical means, but finds out she most likely won't due to her our own magical deficiency. She finds a plot device that allows her to "see" through magic, but only see the magic that courses through the world. Think along the lines of Toph from The Last Airbender, Daredevil from Marvel Comics, or Neo when he can see the Matrix. Sight, but not sight. She loses this ability if she's not in contact with the plot device, which will happen throughout the story.
As far as her characteristics go, she remains independent as much as possible, hates when people comment on how beautiful her eyes are despite the disease, and treats the blindness as more of a temporary condition than something she'll have to live with (even after learning she won't be healed). I guess you could say she hasn't accepted it, and continues to train and plan her life like she'll eventually regain her sight.
Frankly, I've never interacted with a blind person, so I apologize if anything I've said above is offensive, but that's exactly why I'm here. Are there any things I should avoid that you guys come across when consuming media that include blind people? Is there anything I should include that most people with sight wouldn't think of?
I'm still in the outlining and planning phase, but I do have some dialogue written between the protag and her overprotective friend, and would be willing to DM it to people that ask (I'm a little too guarded with my writing to just post it). I really want to make this character genuine, and any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
razzretina 3 points 3y ago
As a long time fantasy reader who is also blind, I hate to say that a lot of this character's traits right now are really common and frustrating tropes and stereotypes that just ruin a reading experience if you are blind. Having her be blind but not have to deal with it on a daily basis because magic is basically putting her in the role of plot object and if she already has something that allows her to see, why go on a big dangerous quest where she might lose this thing all in the hopes of... seeing more? Most of us wouldn't go to those lengths to get back something we don't miss or which it just wouldn't be practical to get.
I think you need to start over with a lot of things with this character. She needs to be a person first. Right now it reads like her defining trait is blind, and that's not what defines any of us. I would also recommend changing her motivations; as they are now, it's something that is insulting to live blind people.
I would need to go over everything you've posted so far when I have more time. There's some good things in her for sure. But the blind stuff is not so great from the perspective of at least this blind person.
I think you need to start over with a lot of things with this character. She needs to be a person first. Right now it reads like her defining trait is blind, and that's not what defines any of us. I would also recommend changing her motivations; as they are now, it's something that is insulting to live blind people.
I would need to go over everything you've posted so far when I have more time. There's some good things in her for sure. But the blind stuff is not so great from the perspective of at least this blind person.
TwerkMasterSupreme [OP] 2 points 3y ago
Thanks for the feedback, and this is exactly why I wanted to ask! I gave very superficial context in my post and probably wasn't as clear as I should've been, and I apologize for that. I'll try to address both your comments in this one. I'm on mobile so I can't look back at the other one while writing this, but I'll make edits if needed.
I promise you I am trying to write her as a person first. To clarify something, the story is NOT about her getting her sight back, and she's not only getting her sight back just to see. She's doing her best to live and train despite her blindness.
To add more context, at the start of the story, there are only two species introduced: human and eladrin (think elves). Humans are very weak, having minimal amounts of magic compared to the eladrin. The eladrin are incredibly powerful, boarding on demigods relative to the humans. However, they act as protectors from the perspective of the humans (wink, wink).
The strongest (read: with the most magic relative to their brethren) humans are conscripted into the Eladrin military where they act as infantry. This is seen as a great honor and almost every human dreams of this. The greatest achievement a human can fulfill is becoming a member of the Eladrin's honor guard, for lack of a better name yet. Lesser honors are being chosen for other skills and allowed to live in the eladrin city.
The character's father and brother were both taken into the military, cited as having immense power, for humans. As such, this character, despite her lack of sight, believes with her "obviously" high magic reserves will be taken in anyway and her sight will be restored, fulfilling her dream of being in the military and potentially the honor guard.
So, her actions are as someone who views themselves as temporarily blind since she'll obviously be chosen and since she's so strong they'll obviously restore her sight, except she has almost zero magic within her.
The plot device, while giving her limited sight, is very valuable in this world and is proof of the eladrin's real agenda. It's more like she finds this thing that sets her off on a journey to find the truth while giving her the ability to see the flow of magic and that ability will play into the overarching narrative of the journey.
Her lack of power will make her come to terms with her blindness. And, taking some advice from you, I'm thinking of only allowing her to see the magic when she's either holding or actively using the plot device (it's a weapon, naturally). This way she is still blind *most* of the time.
I understand writing to try to "fix" her is offensive, but in a world of magic, it's not out of the ordinary for eladrins to perform great acts of healing. Another idea I'm throwing around is the chance for her to be healed, but refusing to go through with it due to fear of losing the magic sight.
I hope that's fixed a few things. Please let me know if I'm on the right track or if I need to completely scrap this idea. Thanks!
I promise you I am trying to write her as a person first. To clarify something, the story is NOT about her getting her sight back, and she's not only getting her sight back just to see. She's doing her best to live and train despite her blindness.
To add more context, at the start of the story, there are only two species introduced: human and eladrin (think elves). Humans are very weak, having minimal amounts of magic compared to the eladrin. The eladrin are incredibly powerful, boarding on demigods relative to the humans. However, they act as protectors from the perspective of the humans (wink, wink).
The strongest (read: with the most magic relative to their brethren) humans are conscripted into the Eladrin military where they act as infantry. This is seen as a great honor and almost every human dreams of this. The greatest achievement a human can fulfill is becoming a member of the Eladrin's honor guard, for lack of a better name yet. Lesser honors are being chosen for other skills and allowed to live in the eladrin city.
The character's father and brother were both taken into the military, cited as having immense power, for humans. As such, this character, despite her lack of sight, believes with her "obviously" high magic reserves will be taken in anyway and her sight will be restored, fulfilling her dream of being in the military and potentially the honor guard.
So, her actions are as someone who views themselves as temporarily blind since she'll obviously be chosen and since she's so strong they'll obviously restore her sight, except she has almost zero magic within her.
The plot device, while giving her limited sight, is very valuable in this world and is proof of the eladrin's real agenda. It's more like she finds this thing that sets her off on a journey to find the truth while giving her the ability to see the flow of magic and that ability will play into the overarching narrative of the journey.
Her lack of power will make her come to terms with her blindness. And, taking some advice from you, I'm thinking of only allowing her to see the magic when she's either holding or actively using the plot device (it's a weapon, naturally). This way she is still blind *most* of the time.
I understand writing to try to "fix" her is offensive, but in a world of magic, it's not out of the ordinary for eladrins to perform great acts of healing. Another idea I'm throwing around is the chance for her to be healed, but refusing to go through with it due to fear of losing the magic sight.
I hope that's fixed a few things. Please let me know if I'm on the right track or if I need to completely scrap this idea. Thanks!
razzretina 2 points 3y ago
I kinda wandered off where I was going in my other post. XD Basically, Toph was written as a person with a specific purpose first and the blindness was added almost as an after thought.
It might help to just peruse some of the posts here and see what we're about when we just talk amongst ourselves. There's a bit of ranting but also a lot of questions we ask each other about everyday things we want to do or just to see how someone else does them. The rants about sighted people and how we get mistreated and misrepresented by the public at large might also be useful if only because it can give you more of an insider's look into what we really deal with and why folks like me can get so up in arms about how we're portrayed in fiction (I don't think there's any group that suffers more because of fictional misrepresentation; you haven't been embarrassed until a stranger drags your hand over their face because they saw it in a movie once XD).
It might help to just peruse some of the posts here and see what we're about when we just talk amongst ourselves. There's a bit of ranting but also a lot of questions we ask each other about everyday things we want to do or just to see how someone else does them. The rants about sighted people and how we get mistreated and misrepresented by the public at large might also be useful if only because it can give you more of an insider's look into what we really deal with and why folks like me can get so up in arms about how we're portrayed in fiction (I don't think there's any group that suffers more because of fictional misrepresentation; you haven't been embarrassed until a stranger drags your hand over their face because they saw it in a movie once XD).
razzretina 2 points 3y ago
In general, that does sound better than the basic description, but the root of the problem with her is still there: she's not seeing herself as being fully capable because she can't see, if that makes sense. And her big driving goal still seems to be to get sight back. Even if it's for some other reason, the implication that she can't be a strong fighter or member of society without sight is still very much there. Is there any reason why she can't be an aweawesome fighter without sight? If seeing is so crucial to military enlistment, why would anyone give her a chance at all if she has to have a magical device in order to fight? And how does she feel that someone has decided for her that she should have this limited device that only works in one setting and not in any other practical way? I think the idea still needs some work but it's got some interesting bits to it that aren't over done negative stereotypes. If it helps, blind people, especially anyone who's been blind from a young age, learn to navigate life in other ways. Toph is a good example of this; people say she "sees" through the earth but that's really not what she's doing at all, she's rather using another sense combined with everything else she has to get around and do a lot more than just fighting. Toph doesn't see the world so much as she feels it and even still she misses things that sighted people would catch, which is part of what makes her such a relateable blind character. You can do something similar with your character but it will mean thinking way outside the box. I think the Avatar creators themselves said that they wrote Toph as a bratty kid who has great power and happens to be blind and you can see how that impacts her through how bitter she can be towards sighted people who underestimate her but also in how much she plays up the idea of the helpless blind kid expectation to get her way as needed.
TwerkMasterSupreme [OP] 2 points 3y ago
>And her big driving goal still seems to be to get sight back. Even if it's for some other reason, the implication that she can't be a strong fighter or member of society without sight is still very much there. Is there any reason why she can't be an aweawesome fighter without sight?
Exactly! She wants to get her sight back in order to be this fully realized warrior, but that's at the beginning/middle of the story. I want her to grow to realize her being blind is what's allowed her to see the magic that flows through the world. That's going to be her truly unique power. I want her to finally realize this isn't holding her back, but has allowed her to perceive like no one else has.
>If seeing is so crucial to military enlistment, why would anyone give her a chance at all if she has to have a magical device in order to fight?
She was supposed to be exceptional due to her immense magical reserves like her father and brother, but she wasn't born with it. Originally, she believed if she presented great power, they'd restore her sight because it would be a waste to leave her blind. I know that sounds bad, but it's supposed to be. I want her to have this twisted view on her own blindness. Like it's temporary. Once again, her whole story isn't going to be about this. She'll just be dismissive of her condition at first.
>And how does she feel that someone has decided for her that she should have this limited device that only works in one setting and not in any other practical way?
Nobody decides it for her. She stumbles upon it by happenstance, and it turns out she has a unique interaction with it. No one else can "see" magic like she can.
She'll actually be quite similar to Toph since she'll only see the magic, so she won't be able to read and will be effectively blind even with the weapon if she isn't around objects with magic, like a stone prison.
razzretina 2 points 3y ago
Knowing that she's not following the usual blind protagonist route and that she gets to grow and accept who she is the way she is is great! Yeah, the more things are cleared up, the better this sounds. :) I hope my initial doubts weren't too discouraging. After so many really, really bad blind characters, I get antsy the mminute someone says they're going to write one. XD
djflex90 2 points 3y ago
I would probably avoid feeling faces. There are some blind people who do that but the majority from what I have experienced find that extremely socially unacceptable.
TwerkMasterSupreme [OP] 1 points 3y ago
I planned on avoiding that and the whole "super hearing" trope as well. Thanks for letting me know that's the right move.
BlueRock956 2 points 3y ago
A lot of people who have lost their vision have hope that one day God or doctors will give them their sight. I’ve met people that refuse to train in blindness core skills because of these reasons.
TwerkMasterSupreme [OP] 1 points 3y ago
The only thing is, in my world, the magic *can* potentially restore sight. So, it's not necessary delusional to think it can happen, but it's very reckless to act like she needn't train her core skills due to this potentially happening when it's a long shot. Does that still sound okay?
KillerLag 1 points 3y ago
I see that so much when I go out to visit clients. It is disheartening some days... I've had clients spend tens (and sometimes hundreds) of thousands of dollars on medical quackery or faith healers or such things, only to be scammed out of their money. And as you said, some of them don't want training because they are convinced they will see again. I try to explain even a little bit of training will help them get around the home. It seems like they feel if they get training and use it, they have to accept their condition.
BlueRock956 1 points 3y ago
Yeah, I think it sounds okay. Is her main quest to regain her vision?
TwerkMasterSupreme [OP] 1 points 3y ago
Good to hear. And for the first couple chapters, but as a means to an end. I have a more detailed explanation $1.
vaguedoom 1 points 3y ago
Why do you want to write a blind character?
TwerkMasterSupreme [OP] 1 points 3y ago
I personally find it very compelling to read. It's something that will also play into the narrative. I'm not doing it for brownie points, but because it fits with the story I want to write.
Her seeing in magic (boy, that's peak fantasy) is important to the story, but I also don't want to erase her blindness. It's still something she's going to have to deal with. Her new "sight" may be good for combat, but she still can't read or see things that don't have magic within them (basically anything not alive). I want to be able to tell the story of a character whose abilities are dynamic. What will she do in order to keep her sight? What would be special enough to sacrifice it all over again?
I want to write a character that happens to be blind, not a blind character. I don't have that perspective, and I don't want to pretend I do. If that makes sense.
Her seeing in magic (boy, that's peak fantasy) is important to the story, but I also don't want to erase her blindness. It's still something she's going to have to deal with. Her new "sight" may be good for combat, but she still can't read or see things that don't have magic within them (basically anything not alive). I want to be able to tell the story of a character whose abilities are dynamic. What will she do in order to keep her sight? What would be special enough to sacrifice it all over again?
I want to write a character that happens to be blind, not a blind character. I don't have that perspective, and I don't want to pretend I do. If that makes sense.
razzretina 4 points 3y ago
At the moment it kind of sounds like you're writing this character based on stereotypes of blindness that sound cool or that seem reasonable to you, a sighted person, but which aren't accurate or applicable to blind people or our own lived experiences. Having her narrative so focused on getting sight is a really negative thing for any blind readers and it's not something any of us think about on a daily basis. And suggesting that sacrificing her vision that she's questing to get back does kind of spit in our faces; if I had a choice between sight and helping a friend, it's not even a question that I would help the friend without even considering getting sight back. Your blind protagonist knows how to live her life as a blind person; if her big focus is to just see again, that dehumanises everyone who can never see or will never see again.
I'm trying to be a bit less harsh but I'm afraid I run into this kind of thinking and these kinds of plots a lot and it's miserable. The only good blind characters I've read or seen in fiction in 30 plus years are Toph of Avatar (who isn't seeing, she's using her body in a way living blind people do) and Terezi from Homestuck (she doesn't give a hoot about being blind unless she can make a joke at someone else's expense over it and she uses tools like a white cane to get around; she even regrets getting her sight back at one point and purposefully blinds herself again).
tl;dr: Why are you writing a blind person? Is it because of ideas you have about blindness that sound cool but may not be accurate? Write her as a person first. Her blindness doesn't need to be and really shouldn't be a plot device.
I'm trying to be a bit less harsh but I'm afraid I run into this kind of thinking and these kinds of plots a lot and it's miserable. The only good blind characters I've read or seen in fiction in 30 plus years are Toph of Avatar (who isn't seeing, she's using her body in a way living blind people do) and Terezi from Homestuck (she doesn't give a hoot about being blind unless she can make a joke at someone else's expense over it and she uses tools like a white cane to get around; she even regrets getting her sight back at one point and purposefully blinds herself again).
tl;dr: Why are you writing a blind person? Is it because of ideas you have about blindness that sound cool but may not be accurate? Write her as a person first. Her blindness doesn't need to be and really shouldn't be a plot device.
Leckzsluthor 1 points 3y ago
This is really awesome! Feel free to shoot me a DM and I'd love to help you in any way I can! (I'm blind)
TwerkMasterSupreme [OP] 1 points 3y ago
Will do!
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