[Nfb-seniors] Fwd: Novel Research

[David Andrews]

I am forwarding this message to a few of our lists -- the woman seems 
to be genuinely interested in finding out about blind persons.  In 
particular, maybe some of you who are older can help her with 
attitudes in 30's and 40's which I am sure were substantially 
different, thus blind persons would have been different.

Dave

p.s.  Please respons to her directly, as she is not on any of our lists!




>From: "rachel peterson" <tupperware87 at msn.com>
>Hi David,
>
>My name's Rachel Peterson and I got your email address from Melissa 
>Green, the president of the Greeley chapter of the NFB here in 
>northern Colorado. I got connected with Melissa by Ed Morman, when I 
>contacted the NFB Baltimore. I'm a writer of children's fiction and 
>I have a desire to write a book where the main character is blind. 
>It would be a late 1930's-1940 era story and the girl would be 
>around 10-12. I am not blind and I currently don't know anyone who 
>is. So why do I want to write this book? Well my younger sister has 
>been interested in adopting blind children for several years, so the 
>subject of blind people and how they live is a frequently discussed 
>topic. And recently a friend of mine and her husband have been 
>journeying in the process of adopting a little blind girl. This 
>inspired me to start trying to learn some about Braille, so that I 
>could write little notes to their daughter.
>
>  As a writer I'm passionate about detail and accuracy. If I can't 
> gain enough information as well as understanding of a person's view 
> point and feelings I don't feel comfortable writing about the 
> subject. I love history and am very curious about other people and 
> how they live. When I create a character I try and envision myself 
> in their shoes, so that I can best describe how they think and feel 
> in every situation. I really want to share the truth about life as 
> a blind person from their perspective, not the stereotypical public 
> view, or even what I try and imagine it to be like.
>
>Melissa said if I emailed you this information as well as my 
>specific questions, you could post it to all the NFB lists. I don't 
>know what that means but I'm sure you do.
>
>Now that I've told a little about what I'm doing and looking for I 
>want to be more specific. I would really love to hear personal view 
>points from real blind people. For who could better tell me about it 
>than someone who lives it. I'm so eager to learn about this exciting 
>new world, I'm very curious, and have a pile of questions, but I'll 
>try and organize my thoughts some so that someone could actually 
>give me some insight and answers.
>
>Story summary: This book is in its infancy in my mind but this is a 
>loose idea of how I intend to start it. A ten to twelve-year-old 
>blind girl is leaving the blind school she's been living at to spend 
>the summer of 1940 with her great uncle and aunt. I want her to show 
>people that she's not limited. She's very adventurous almost to the 
>point of mischievous sometimes as she discovers her new world. She 
>was either born blind or has been blind for a long time so she's 
>very used to how to do things without sight. With that background 
>here is a list of my more organized questions.
>
>
>
>1.)  When she arrives at her Great Uncle and Aunts house for the 
>first time, how would she go about learning where everything is, in 
>each room? Would she learn it all right away? Or would she learn 
>about different rooms over the course of a week? How would she 
>exactly go about discovering each room?
>
>2.)  In 1940, would she have a cane?
>
>3.)  How would she make her first assessment of the new people she's 
>meeting? Does she judge them by voice? Do blind people still have 
>forms of body language that tells attitudes? Do you get a picture in 
>your head of what they look like? How can you tell if the person you 
>are meeting is someone you can trust or not? Is tone of voice an 
>important piece for a blind person or not?
>
>4.)  If our character is ever timid or fearful about something what 
>would it be over? Is there anything that a blind person would be 
>more fearful about?
>
>5.)  How would our character feel about other kids? Would she feel 
>she needed to prove herself? Would she feel intimidated or inferior? 
>Would she feel she was better than them if she was more gifted or 
>skilled at certain things?
>
>6.)  How would our character feel about the questions adults and 
>children would ask her in regards to her blindness? Would she be 
>annoyed? Would she be excited to help people understand? What are 
>common questions sighted people ask blind people? What answers do 
>you give them?
>
>7.)  Before our character came to her relative's house, could she 
>have lived at a blind school year round like boarding school? What 
>things did they teach children at blind schools in the late 1930's to 1940?
>
>8.)  Realistically, how independent would a blind ten-year-old, in 
>1940 have been?
>
>9.)  When you first come to a new place you've never been, indoors 
>or outdoors, what are the first things you notice?
>
>10.)                 In your opinion, are blind people better 
>listeners when someone is talking than a sighted person? Or do you 
>get distracted in your own thoughts just the same?
>
>11.)                 Do blind people ever run into things? Walls? 
>Doors? Furniture?
>
>12.)                 How will our character know when it is morning? 
>And time to get up?
>
>13.)                 Are there any concerns our characters sighted 
>relatives would have about her? Are there common fears sighted 
>parents have about their blind children?
>
>14.)                 What are the top three most annoying things 
>sighted people try and do for blind people? (If there is more than 
>three feel free to list them.)
>
>15.)                 What might be our character's favorite thing to 
>do be? What kinds of things are especially fun for blind people?
>
>16.)                 Are there any advantages blind children have 
>over sighted children?
>
>17.)                 Are there any specific situations that would 
>make our character feel left out?
>
>
>
>This is just a small list I thought up to get me started, but please 
>don't feel restricted by the questions, for I'm certain I've missed 
>key things I'll need to know. So if you think of additional things 
>you feel are important points for our blind character to convey in 
>her personality, perspective, and life I would love to share them in 
>this story.  Also, if anyone has any personal childhood stories 
>they'd like to share about funny, exciting, or scary things that 
>happened to them as a blind child I'm always excited to try and use 
>real life stories in my fiction. They don't have to be super 
>personal or even related to being blind; maybe you just played a 
>funny trick on someone once. Example being, my grandpa told me about 
>how he and his friends turned an old door into a jump for their snow skis.
>
>So, if you know of anyone who would enjoy answering these questions 
>and would like to help me learn I'd love to hear from them. My email 
>address is: <mailto:shawshee1414 at gmail.com>shawshee1414 at gmail.com  I 
>also have a blog: 
><http://pagesforthedarkhorses.blogspot.com/>http://pagesforthedarkhorses.blogspot.com 
>where I'm selling my other books if people want to learn more about 
>what I've already done and I also talk more about myself there and 
>how I got started in writing.
>
>Thank you so much for your time and assistance.
>
>
>
>Sincerely,
>
>Rachel Peterson