[stylist] Visual scenes

Mon Apr 15 17:04:23 UTC 2013

Eve,
Regarding the discrimination within the blindness community, I do feel  that
I am neither acceptable as a sighted person nor as a blind person. I try not
to dwell on it, but it is there. My guess is that there is a certain amount
of irrepairable damage that comes from a childhood in which you are
compelled to be something you are not. 

I think kids who grew up blind and had the company of other blind kids
either in school or in groups like the NFB, have developed at least a
compartment in their lives where they feel socially at ease or equal -- not
sure if these are the right terms. If you don't have something in those
early years, however, I think there is a lot of deliberate mending that one
must do to develop a semblance of social standing, and it's a patchwork
operation, which I think shows on some level in both the blind and sighted
worlds.
Donna

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Eve Sanchez
Sent: Monday, April 15, 2013 12:52 AM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] Visual scenes

Yes Donna. I think we do have simular backgrounds. We were the blind kids
who grew up sighted. I just find labels interesting and have thought of this
with recent conversations of levels of blindness. I find those
discriminating in a new way; descrimination of certain blind people from
within the blind world. So when Bridget made this perfectly innocent
comment, it made me think. I like to be prompted to think at times. It
brings out the creativity. There have been some interesting conversations
lately about color as well. I know for myself, I do not see the colors the
way I used to. Does this mean I can not see them? Could I ever? I knew what
I was looking at, even if my images did not match someone elses. Who would
know actualy? All it is, is dust in our eyes. ;) Eve+++

On Sun, Apr 14, 2013 at 9:49 AM, Donna Hill <penatwork at epix.net> wrote:

> Hi Eve,
> Just wanted to jump in here, because it sounds to me like you had an 
> experience very similar to mine. I was born legally blind and didn't 
> find out about it till I was 16. I was told that I had "bad eyes." Of 
> course, my classmates knew I was blind and had no end of fun tormenting
me.
>
> I remember some of the strange things that happened when I was a 
> child. We had an apple orchard in our neighborhood, and you could see 
> the trees from our back yard. I had seen other kinds of trees up close 
> and had touched their leaves. The apple tree intrigued me, because it 
> looked like it had a small number of huge leaves rather than thousands 
> of small leaves. One day, I went over there and was expecting to be 
> able to touch one of the mamouth leaves. They weren't there, of 
> course. I was dumbfounded that they could have looked so different 
> from a distance and that the other people around me hadn't seen it 
> that way.
>
> I have RP, and I could never see much at night. I could see light 
> sources and even read lighted signs, when I got close enough. What 
> puzzled me was that others claimed to be able to see the same things 
> they saw in the daytime. I had a hard time getting my head around how that
was possible.
>
> You bring up an interesting point about "fully sighted." I'd hazard a 
> guess that when most people use the term they mean 20 20 vision with 
> an unrestricted field of vision (not sure what's normal. I've been 
> hearing since childhood, though, that sighted people see color 
> differently than each other. They also use their "normal" vision in 
> different ways. Some really seem to be looking around at the full 
> spectrum of their environment, while others seem to be imposing some 
> sort of self-restriction and seem to be focused narrowly on what's 
> right in front of them.
> Donna
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Eve 
> Sanchez
> Sent: Saturday, April 13, 2013 11:12 PM
> To: Writer's Division Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [stylist] Visual scenes
>
>  Bridget, What is fully sighted? I find that term to be even more 
> vague and meaningless than partially sighted. Im not meaning to be a 
> smart ass. Just thinking about it. I had always thought I was a 
> sighted person, but came to learn that I had always been what is 
> legally blind. I saw though. I saw in my own way that is and since 
> that is how I saw, I thought it was full normal vision. I wonder if 
> anyone really does see things the same way as another.
> Oh we could describe things that are recognizable to each other, but 
> it perhaps is more that we know what is being described and we know 
> what it looks like to us. I hope this is clear though my sight is not. 
> I am just thinking there is more to sight and the lack of, than we all
consider.
> Perhaps none of it really matters either. Blessings, Eve
>
> On Sat, Apr 13, 2013 at 1:41 PM, Bridgit Pollpeter
> <bpollpeter at hotmail.com>wrote:
>
> > Tessa,
> >
> > I was fully sighted for 22 years, so I've never been able to 
> > adequately answer this question. I have a visual understanding of 
> > the world, and though totally blind, I'm still an extremely visual 
> > person, which is evident in my writing. In fact, I find it 
> > incredibly difficult to write from a blind POV.
> >
> > Having said all that, one word of advice I've given to others with 
> > this dilemma is that is writing the visual element necessary? This 
> > of course depends on what POV you want in a story, but we shouldn't 
> > look at our lack of visual understanding as an obstacle to hurdle in 
> > our
> writing.
> > Perhaps you can provide a unique perspective writing as a blind person.
> > Consider how this would affect your characters and plot; how can you 
> > approach this from your unique perspective? It's worth considering.
> > You want your writing to be organic, believable, and by writing from 
> > your perspective as a blind person, you are allowing the process to 
> > happen naturally.
> >
> > Having said all that, you may want those visual descriptions; you 
> > may want your sighted characters to come from a sighted POV, and 
> > this is perfectly fine. I think your best bet would be to ask people 
> > since the internet may not always have exactly what you're looking 
> > for, no pun intended, grin. A real person can give details, and you 
> > can ask questions specific to what you want. Though the internet is 
> > certainly a great resource for any writer, but many of us still do 
> > some old fashioned research.
> >
> > As to the application of this, well, my best advice is to study and 
> > analyze how other writers describe things. Keep in mind that any 
> > description must be necessary to the plot and/or character development.
> > Perhaps some descriptions you are fretting over are not as crucial 
> > as you think. Always consider this when describing things in a 
> > story. But yes, I would pay attention to how others describe the 
> > world around them, and from this, take what is important to your 
> > process and see if you can emulate it in some way. I'm not 
> > suggesting you plagiarize, but simply study other works and 
> > incorporate that knowledge into your own writing process.
> >
> > Hope this helps
> >
> > Bridgit
> > Message: 1
> > Date: Sat, 13 Apr 2013 12:52:57 -0400
> > From: <tfurban22 at gmail.com>
> > To: "'Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
> > Subject: [stylist] Visual scenes
> > Message-ID: <002201ce3867$5aa2d1d0$0fe87570$@com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="us-ascii"
> >
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I hope all of you are doing well.  I have a problem, or question, 
> > however you wish to look at it when it comes to writing visual scenes.
> > Scenes that have (or, I want to have.) descriptive feel to them.
> >
> > I'll give an example of something I'm struggling with now.  There's 
> > a fanfiction story I'm looking to write based on a character from 
> > the musical Wicked.
> >
> > I haven't read the book this musical is based on, but a friend of 
> > mine has so I know the musical is loosely based on the book and I 
> > know the differences between it and the musical.  However, I'm getting
off topic.
> >
> > The scene that I'm looking to write is visual.  You see, my 
> > character, whose name is Thackery, is attracted to a character named 
> > Nessarose or Nessa for short.  I can kind of see the scene in my 
> > head, but not clearly.
> >
> > She's giving a lecture, he's in the back as it is in a room of advisors.
> > He's an artist, so instead of paying attention to her speech, he's 
> > paying attention to, "her."  He likes to draw; sketch what not.  I'm 
> > sorry I'm being vague. I'm just not sure how to write him looking at 
> > her, avoiding eye contact when hers meets his.. He trying (and
> > failing.) to be secretive that he's gazing at her and drawing her 
> > outline.  It's great in my head but I'm finding the words to be very
> difficult.
> >
> > Not just that, but how can you, or do you write landscape scenes 
> > that are not boring?  How to write the colors in a sunset over a 
> > lake?  Or, the sun over a meadow in the afternoon?  A raging
thunderstorm?
> >
> > These are just some of the many examples that I can think of at the 
> > moment. There are a million of visual things that I just don't know 
> > how to describe. I try to google things but it just gives me images.
> >
> > Another example is looks.
> >
> > Case in point: I'm looking to write another fanfiction based on the 
> > Disney movie Pocahontas.  There's a character in it that is a woman 
> > from Turkey. However, I haven't a clue what she should look like.  I 
> > mean, I know dark hair and eyes, but that's really it.  What did 
> > they wear and more importantly what did it look like?
> >
> > Any help would be greatly appreciated.  I realize I must sound like 
> > a new writer lol but I did join this list to learn and improve.  It 
> > is scary for me at least stepping out of my comfort zone.
> >
> > Thanks so much!
> >
> > Tessa
> >
> >
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