[stylist] on writing from the blind perspective

[Chris Kuell]

Thanks to all who shared their thoughts and feelings on this subject. Obviously, writing from a totally blind perspective has it's limitations, and before anyone jumps on my back for that comment, I could argue that black and white photography is more limited than color, but that doesn't mean it isn't just as beautiful or powerful. I chose first person POV instead of some form of limited omniscient because I wanted to see if I could write 350 pages with little to no visual description, convey that a blind person can get around and do just fine, have fun and get into trouble-- just like anybody else. I have taken time to paint in what I can using the other senses, and I hope I've been able to convey a sense of place, of season, of emotions, and a feeling for the characters involved in the story. If I haven't, it's nobody's fault but mine.   

Next, continuing my trek across the swiftly cracking political correctness ice, I think we need to keep in mind who our audience is. The truth of the matter is, blind people rarely buy books. There are many reasons for this, which I won't get into here, but if you or I hope to sell a million books some day, 999,000 of them will be purchased by people with working eyeballs. So, my critique group friend who wants to know how a blind guy could do this or that probably represents a measurable part of the book-buying collective. Bridgit gave some good examples of 'showing' without visuals or too much detail, which would make my novel read like a how-to manual. It's up to me, the craftsman, to decide how and where ,and when too much is too much.

Likewise, the woman in my group who wants to know what my main character looks like has an MFA from the Iowa Writer's Workshop, and she's an excellent writer. I've read a dozen or more books on the craft of writing fiction, and a common piece of advice is to put a physical description of your central characters in there, and do it early. If you read novels, especially genre novels, you'll find this is a standard part of the formula. So, while part of me wants to say 'screw that', if I want to sell those million books and get on the Ellen show, perhaps I should listen. 

Again, this won't be easy when writing from a first person, totally blind POV. However, not much that's worth doing is ever easy. I could have my main character  remember a photograph (he's formerly sighted), but that red-lines my cheesy meter. I could have someone else describe him in dialogue "My, aren't you a handsome, six foot two, Marlboro Man looking kinda guy, except you're bald and have a paunch and one ear seems to be significantly lower than the other...", but this is also a bit on the cheesy side. The trick will be to weave in details seamlessly. The only sneakers I can find in an 11 and a half, EE width, were at the New Balance store. Bernice, one of my least favorite clients, was about 2 feet shorter than me at four foot two. "Wow--you look great," Joel said, squeezing my bicep. "Been working out?"  I smiled and answered, "Twelve ounce curls, every day." I sat in the chair at the unisex salon and prayed this haircut would turn out better than the last. A  middle-aged woman with a thick Slavic accent sprayed my head with water and said, "I'd kill to have curls like these. You want me to leave a little over the ears? And how about the mustache--you want me to trim?"

I haven't yet painted in any of these details, but I think I'm going to. After all, I really, really want to be on the Ellen show someday.

chris