Writing A Blind Or Visually Impaired Character

Writing a Blind or Visually Impaired Character

A Multi-Step Guide Written by a Visually Impaired Writer and Blogger

I’m hoping this blog will over time develop its own following, and when it does people will inevitably see my bio and notice what I included: I’m visually impaired.

Yes, a visually impaired writer, and I’ve written with two blind characters before so I have some practice in the field.

So, inevitably, someone is going to ask how to write a blind character.

Or, at least, I hope you’ll ask someone who’s actually blind or visually impaired about writing a blind character before you get too involved with your new WIP.

All parts will be tagged #blindcharacter in my blog, and I will add links to every post as I finish each part. Follow my blog for more writing advice.

Note, this post updates fairly often and old versions are still floating around out there. The most current version of this post is pinned to my blog with any new guides or links you might of missed.

As of 24 January 2021, this is the most extensive and screen reader friendly version of this post.

Part One: Crafting the Blind Character

In which I tell you how to begin making a blind character who is more than a cardboard cutout

Part Two: Narrative Choice, Visual Description, Verbal Description, Social Interaction

In which I give you a basic rundown on how to write from the perspective of a character who can’t see and still make the narration descriptive

Part Three: Tropes and Clichés to Avoid

Your blind readers will thank you for not being the 5000th person to do this and manage to actually finish your story. (Do you have any idea how many stories I’ve noped out of within two chapters because of these clichés? A Lot.)

-New- Part Four: Canes, Guide Dogs, and O&M

Everything I can tell you about 1) how to learn how to use a cane 2) how a cane works 3) how to describe what your character experiences with their cane 4) everything I know on guide dogs

Part Five: Small Aspects of being Blind You Never Thought Of

5 January 2021 Edit: This link has been fixed to correspond with the correct post

Or, really, very normal everyday things for blind people, the inclusion of which will make your characters more real and authentic. It’s the tiny details.

Part Six: Should You Cure Your Character’s Blindness? (Short Answer: No)

There’s no way to write a cure for your blind character that doesn’t make blind readers hate you. Sorry. We came here to finally experience a relatable character who experiences the world like us, but none of us are getting cured so seeing this character we learned to love become something alien from us in the end feels like a slap in the face

Why I’m Blind and What I See -NEW-

I thought I’d finally make a post explaining the complicated situation about my vision. Includes an explanation of visual snow and exotropia, two of the three causes for my vision issues.

Writing Blind Characters Falling in Love, an Advice Post:

Someone asked what being blind and falling in love have to do with each other. Honestly, blindness changes your perspective on everything and it makes an impact on every relationship you have. This includes some things that you definitely do not want your character’s love interest to be/do.

Writing Blind Jokes (Should You Do It?)

You know those flow charts of “should you do x?” going around? It’s like that, but screen reader friendly. Should you write blind jokes. It’s pretty complicated and there are a lot of possible scenarios and details to consider.

Advice for Writing Toph Beifong -NEW-

In this I discuss what I would like to see done in fanfiction with Toph’s character after ten years of reading Avatar the Last Airbender fanfiction

A small essay addressing the frequently asked question on giving your blind character a superpower to help them “see.”

It’s became a popular question, so to make the answer easier/faster for everyone to access, I wrote what will usually be my initial answer. Below there are a few links to some notable past questions on this subject.

Mourning My Vision, it’s More than Depression. 

A small personal essay addressing the nuances of the mourning period you experience with a new disability. The mourning period is mentioned in other guides, but this is more detailed.

Dealing with Heightened Senses, a video by Molly Burke with additional commentary by me

While Molly talks about the myths and truths about heightened senses, I talk about the correlation with blindness and neuro-divergency and how co-morbid disorders/disabilities might affect sensory processing.

Satirical Commentary on the phrase “that blank look in their eyes” used too often in fiction to identify a blind character

a:tla, I’m looking at you (and my eyes aren’t blank)

I Found a Lost Piece of Blindness History

My grandmother told me about her blind aunt and how she sent letters. It led me to speculate about all the O&M things people develop on their own but never get a chance to pass onto other blind people. Technology and techniques are lost in history and reinvented, including the white cane ad guide dogs.

Includes a little history on the introduction of guide dogs into the 20th century

The Following are Answered Anon Questions

Making Your Blog More Accessible

Making Links Accessible to Screen Readers

Reblogging to Add an Image Description to Someone Else’s Image

Why I Write Image Descriptions

Writing Blind Characters

Advice for a Character Who was Born Blind

Over-Protective Parents of a Blind Character, Why They’re Over-Protective and How to Avoid Crossing a Line

A Blind Character in Victorian Era Historical Fiction

Is It Bad Not to Have Guide Dogs in a Fantasy/Historical Setting Without Guide Dogs (short answer: it’s not bad)

Someone Asked About My Thoughts on a Medusa-like Character Blinding Herself to Avoid Hurting Anyone

-New- Characters Who Have Recently Gone Blind and Avoiding Inspiration Porn

Talking about Popular Blind Characters In Media

Does Daredevil’s Echolocation Negate His Blindness

Someone Else was Asked How to Write Daredevil Fanfiction

Blind Characters with Superpowers/Fighting Styles

World Setting where the General Population has a Superpower

Superpowers that don’t involve sight, Five questions to ask yourself if this superpower is a bad idea or a good one

-New- Your character would not use a cane as a weapon, it’s a bad idea

D&D/Roleplaying Blind Characters

-New- Animal Familiars Acting as Service Animals and Advice for Communicating with Your DM

-New- Portraying Older Blind Characters + Causes for Vision Loss with Old Age

I got the itchio bundle but i'm at a bit of a loss to what to play. Do you have any specific pc/singleplayer games from there that you would heartily recommend?

Sure thing. The Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality actually contains a fair number of games I already owned, so it’s easy to point out a few worth checking out.

(I’m also tagging @moosh101 here because they submitted a similar request for character-driven, “feelsy” games at around the same time; the ones that specifically meet their criteria are marked with an asterisk.)

Some personal favourites:

2064: Read Only Memories* - An investigative point-and-click adventure game in the mode of Snatcher. All the content warnings you’d expect for a murder mystery.  

Anodyne* - A Zelda-alike crossed with a Yumi Nikki-style dream exploration game. Not quite as clever as it thinks it is, but very solid gameplay-wise. Content warning for implied self harm.  

Beglitched* - A self-described “cyberpink” puzzle game that plays like a cross between Match Three and Minesweeper. Content warning for discussion of mental illness. (You may notice that this is a theme.)  

Bleed 2 - A bullet time, bullet hell twin-stick shooter about a girl with a gun and a sword. The first game in the series is also included, but the sequel is probably the better introduction if you’re new to the genre.  

Celeste* - Probably one of the best precision puzzle-platformers out ther, and an excellent introduction for newcomers to the genre in spite of being hard as balls. Content warning for discussion of mental illness.  

cityglitch - Basically a chess puzzle game with a very slick visual presentation; manoeuvre on a grid versus enemies with strictly defined movement patterns who will always make the worst possible move.  

Corinne Cross’s Dead and Breakfast* - A visual novel where the titular protagonist accepts a job house-sitting a bed and breakfast in the off season and ends up playing life coach to the resident ghosts.  

Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor - A life sim about being a minimum wage service worker in a spaceport. Gender dysphoria is a core game mechanic, reflected by various UI distortions if you can’t afford your HRT.  

Dreaming Sarah - Another game that wears its Yume Nikki inspirations on its sleeve, this one a side-scrolling platformer.  Content warnings for self harm and body horror.  

flux - Sort of a cross between a visual novel and a typing tutor, I guess you could call it? No real game-mechanical goals, beyond following up on the various story threads -- very chill.  

Four Sided Fantasy - A puzzle platformer where you can manipulate the game’s screen-wrapping behaviour to get around obstacles. One of the shorter games listed here.  

The King’s Bird - Another puzzle platformer, this one focusing on momentum rather than precision. Plays fast, and the learning curve isn’t super friendly, but it’s not as scary as it looks.  

The Last Word - A bottle-episode RPG set in a world where winning a battle of wits gives you power over your opponent. No conventional content warnings, but loss of autonomy is a squick for you, fair warning!  

Lenna’s Inception - One of those glitchy brainfuck RPGs, this one in the mould of Legend of Zelda. All the usual content warnings for the genre, plus a surprising amount of (pixel-art) gore.  

Micro Mages - A cute little NES game developed last year. No, I don’t mean NES style -- I mean you can actually buy it on an NES cart and run it on original NES hardware!  

Minit - A low-bit Zelda-alike where your cursed sword means you have only sixty seconds to live. The challenge is 100% routing, since you can never be more than 60 seconds away from the nearest save point.  

Night in the Woods* - A cute visual novel with light platforming elements about post-industrial desolation in small-town America. Content warnings for self harm and discussion of mental illness.  

NO THING - The literal apotheosis of the whole “there’s not much to the gameplay, so let’s set it to vapourwave and call it Art” school of game design. I like it anyway!  

OneShot* - Anon-violent top down RPG where the protagonist is aware of and can talk to the player. Numerous fourth-wall breaking puzzles;  content warning for on-screen suicide in one of the routes.  

Oxenfree* - A horror VN whose real-time dialogue mechanics manage to make simulated conversations as awkward as they are in real life. Content warnings for self harm and discussion of mental illness.  

Planet Diver - Sort of like an endless runner, except in this one you fall. Arcade-style base jumping on a planetary scale with light upgrade grinding and the occasional freefall boss fight.  

Pyre* - Dante’s Inferno meets Space Jam; a visual novel about escaping an underground purgatory by participating in special rituals that just happen to resemble basketball. Plays that premise 100% straight.  

The Rainsdowne Players - A minigame-centric RPG about running a community theatre troupe. Sort of a love-it-or-hate-it proposition, depending on how you feel about the minigame gimmick.  

Semblance - One of those puzzle platformers where you play as a ball of goo, with the twist that the terrain is just as squishable as the player character.  

A Short Hike* - A low-fi walking sim about climbing a mountain in order to find cell phone service. Very short if you go straight for the goal, but there’s a lot to explore.  

Signs of the Sojourner* - A deckbuilding game that -- like The Last Word, above -- gamifies conversations rather than fights. Very cute for a game that’s technically post-apocalyptic.  

They Bleed Pixels - A melee-focused precision platformer that’s just unbelievably gory for being a low-res pixel art title. I’m not usually a fan of gorn, but something about this one charms me.  

Verdant Skies - A sci-fi farming sim that really dials up the dating sim elements. Like, it could almost be described as a dating sim with farming sim elements, rather than vice versa!  

Vision Soft Reset - A metroidvania where the gimmick is that you can fast travel in time as well as space: warping to a save point warps you back to when as well as where you saved. Has a built-in timeline tracker.  

WitchWay - A short block-pushing puzzle game starring a telekinetic witch. Not terribly challenging, but you’ll have to do some lateral thinking in the later levels.

I’m going to somewhat arbitrarily cut it off at the thirty-game mark just so this post doesn’t go on forever. Seriously, if even one of the listed games has caught your eye, the bundle is totally worth the minimum five-dollar buy in. Check it out!

Horror Recs for Magnus Fans, Part the Second

Last time I did this I was assuming that anyone who was listening to a horror podcast already knew some horror, but I have since learned that this is not the case, so there are a few more classics in here, as well as some more of my faves.

For anyone and everyone who listens to TMA: Sarah Monette’s Kyle Murchison Booth stories, many (though not all) of which are collected in The Bone Key. Queer information professional would very much like for ghosts and monsters to leave him alone, does not get what he wants; can’t resist the impulse to help out people who are more fucked over than him anyway. I love Booth so much, he deserves much better things than he gets.

For Web stans: Blindsight by Peter Watts, a sci-fi horror novel about free will and consciousness. Lydia Nicholas named this as one of her favorite books in the first Assistant’s Round Table; I respect her for it, but I read this once and it gave me an existential crisis. Highly recommended, but make sure you’ve got a palate cleanser.

For jonelias fans and/or fans of the Corruption: Candyman (1992). With bonus folklore & urban legend meta! Kissing bees into your (potential) lover’s mouth in order to convince them to become a murderous spirit of vengeance just like you! “All you have left is my desire for you”!!! It’s extremely sexy, is what I’m saying, in all the best ways. (Trigger warnings for violence against children and a fair amount of gore, in addition to the aforementioned bees.)

If you love the no-holds-barred social commentary of season five: The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle. No, I will not shut up about this book until absolutely everyone in the world has read it. It’s short! You could read it in an afternoon! This is Lovecraft’s “The Horror at Red Hook” from the point of view of a black musician and hustler who’s hired to help out with the ritual, and it’s incredible. (If you’re enjoying Lovecraft Country, absolutely do not miss this.)

If you miss the standalone statements of season one and two: the works of the early 20th century cosmic horror and ghost story writers: M.R. James, Algernon Blackwood, Arthur Machen. Machen has a tendency to get pretty eugenics-y, and they’re all either misogynistic or don’t have women in their stories at all, but goddamn do they do atmosphere. (“The Magnus Archives” is named after James’s “Count Magnus,” Jonny’s favorite M.R. James story.)

For Stranger fans and those who love unexplained mysteries: The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher, a Southern horror (not a Gothic) about a woman who goes to clean out her abusive grandmother’s house to sell it only to find that there are things other than his wife that her grandfather was afraid of, and for good reason. Features hot competent neighbors, extremely practical reactions to terrible monsters, and a Very Good Dog (the dog does not die).

For Lonely bitches: “The Horla” by Guy de Maupassant, the story I use to describe my depression to people. That’s a pretty good content warning, honestly.

If you loved the “Am I still human?” plotline: The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht, a grotesque little novella about monsters in (dysfunctional) love. I’m a bit iffy on the ending, but honestly landing the ending of horror is so tricky that I’ll almost never discount something just because I’m iffy on the ending. The body horror and emotional repression throughout make up for it.

If you crave the supernatural adventure series starring Gerry Keay: The Sandman Slim series by Richard Kadrey - modern noir, so gritty you can feel it in your teeth, featuring all kinds of monsters, demons, curses, and narrowly-averted apocalypses. Not as misogynistic as noir can get, but it is noir so there’s definitely a bit of that (but definitely not as misogynistic as Jim Butcher). Trigger warnings all over the place; this is B-movie horror in book form.

For Distortion fans: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. Bears almost no resemblance to the Netflix series of the same name, or any of the movies based on it; this is a twisty psychological novel with a profoundly unreliable narrator and a lot of repressed queerness. Michael/Helen would be right at home in Hill House. (Content warning for suicidality.)

If you want your horror to make you cry: El Orfanado, directed by Guillermo del Toro; a family moves into a house that used to be an orphanage, that is, of course, haunted. This is a tremendous distillation of the way that horror movies are so often centered around women not being believed, so content warning for gaslighting (and for harm to children); I saw this movie once and entire scenes are embedded in my brain in full color. (Honestly you can’t go wrong with any Guillermo del Toro movies; he’s fantastic.)

If you want your horror to make you cry, but make it gay: In the Flesh, two seasons of a zombie TV show tragically cut short (yes, it ends on a cliffhanger, I’m sorry). Uses zombies as a metaphor for homophobia, but also includes actual queer people. Content warning for small-town-typical homophobia and tragic gays. Please come yell with me about Simon Monroe, I love him so much.

For Slaughter fans: The Shining by Stephen King - look, look, I know. He’s not great. He needs an editor. The movie is all kinds of fucked up. But this book is one of the most raw, personal horror stories I’ve ever read, and it’s got an excellent combination of supernatural influence and real-life mundane fear of addiction and personal weakness that really grabs you by the intestines. Again, an iffy ending, but it’s worth it for the slow descent into paranoia and madness.

If you just want to try to find some authors to read: The Borderlands anthology series, paperbacks from the height of the 80s horror boom; there are so many different kinds of stories in here that I can pretty much guarantee you that you won’t like some of them but you might well find something new to fall in love with. A lot of these writers are out of print but readily available at used bookstores or for pennies on Amazon.

As always, let me know if you liked any of these or if you have a specific need: it is no longer my job to recommend books and media to people but it is still my very favorite thing to do and I will be obnoxious about it forever

 Steve… Why is he always like this-

Metal tutorial

Fire tutorial

Anonymous asked:

Dear Sir/Ma'am do you think you could make a post that says something like “here’s what you should buy to make a book: cheap edition” and then also “here’s what you should buy to make a book if you’re going the more expensive route”? Because I’ve got the pages of some bookbinding supply shops open and trying to figure out what kind of bookcloth, endpaper pages, board, etc to buy and that would be really helpful. Thank you to the moon and back! Love ya and your books!

ArmoredSuperHeavy answers:

Please note: Substituting cheaper materials can affect the longevity of your book, so if you’re concerned about long term preservation, I encourage you to use the “real deal” materials.

Bootleg Options That Work

(1) Elmer’s Glue-All instead of Jade PVA warning: not archival

(2) Instead of building or buying a press for the final squishening, the most bootleg way to create a flattening pressure on the book is: lay it down on table between sheets of wax paper stack heavy books on top of it, and leave it overnight.

Bonus hack: buy two 12" knitting needles and position them where the book’s hinge should be and then stack the books on. This creates a hinge, and is much cheaper than brass-edged boards.

(3) Use inexpensive recycled copy paper, 20 lb bond. It’s less “blue looking” than the expensive stuff.

For more info on paper selection see this post

(4) Sew the book without using linen tapes as a spine reinforcement. This means you don’t have to buy linen tape, nor do you have to build or buy a sewing frame.

Essentials Mechanical pencil basic 12" ruler wax paper Glue brush (get a shitty cheap flat boar bristle brush and chop the bristles short. If the brush holds less glue, it will make your glue go further.) Glue water cup - a trash cup.

from book supply stores: sheet of Standard board  (This is less dense than Davy board but works fine) bone folder needle awl linen thread piece of beeswax pack of darning needles one yard of book cloth. (I prefer a paper backing so you can make marks.  Black goes with everything.) one yard of mull / super (cheesecloth)

from the art supply store X-acto knife Bristol board - for templates, jigs, and round spine reinforcement. painter’s masking tape

Upgrades Jade PVA glue Alumicutter ruler 12", 18" - don’t cut your fingers Heavy duty X-acto knife - better control kitchen knife sharpener - extend life of blade Davy board instead of standard T-ruler - speeds in the cutting up process for decorative papers little magnetic tube to store your needles linen tapes, sewing frame headband / endband ribbons. (These are decorative and not essential to a functioning book but a book looks naked without them) 3/8″ grosgrain or satin ribbon - for bookmarks

About Decorative Papers

There’s a lot of places to score these. Most decorative paper full sheets can be cut into 4 sheets of 8.5x11″ (your size for endpapers).

Avoid wrapping paper. It’s cheap and flimsy paper that will probably not age well and not hold up to sunlight, I’ve already seen that happen to a paper.

Also beware that most papers sold for scrapbooking are actually printed cardstock. It’s too thick to use for endpapers, It can be used in a half-bound cover, but is more difficult to work with. Not ideal.

Solid sheets of colored paper can be as cheap as $2. Typical decorative papers like I use run from $5-15. Good quality hand marbled papers are $20-30 per sheet. I find the “Florentine” Italian printed papers have a nice feel, sturdy without being too thick, and are relatively affordable and easy to find.

fineartstore.com

hollanders.com

talasonline.com

renatocrepaldi.bigcartel.com

washiarts.com

So You Want To Understand Imperialism: an introductory reading list

This is part 1 of my theory recs; rather than dumping hundreds of titles into a Google doc and releasing it into the wild, I figured it would be less overwhelming to break them down by topic. This list is obviously non-exhaustive, and I might add some links to it at a later date, but it contains what I consider fundamental readings. Some books I was initially going to include here I kept for future posts instead, because they cover intersecting topics like settler colonialism or political economy.

You will be able to find all the recs under this tag. Drop me a message if one of the links is broken and I’ll do my best to replace it. Happy learning!

- National Liberation and Neocolonialism 101, selected writings by Lenin, Nkrumah, Amilcar Cabral, Che Guevara, and Bill Fletcher

- Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism — V. I. Lenin + The Internationalist Lenin: Self-determination and anti-colonialism — Vijay Prashad

- Capital, Volume I, Chapter Thirty-One: Genesis of the Industrial Capitalist — Karl Marx

- How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (audiobook also available) — Walter Rodney + The World Turned Upside Down: Rodney’s 1972 masterpiece — Leo Zeilig

- Divided World, Divided Class — Zak Cope

- Neo-Colonialism, The Last Stage of Imperialism — Kwame Nkrumah

- The Wretched of The Earth — Franz Fanon

- Towards the African Revolution — Franz Fanon

- The African Liberation Reader (Vols. 1 - 3)  

- The Open Veins of Latin America — Eduardo Galeano

- Cuba’s achievments and America’s Wars — Fidel Castro

- Killing Hope — William Blum

- The Jakarta Method: Washington’s Anticommunist Crusade and the Mass Murder Program That Shaped Our World — Vincent Bevins (no free PDF because it was published this year, but I linked an Amazon alternative for purchase)

- NATO’s Secret Armies: Operation Gladio and Terrorism in Western Europe — Daniele Ganser

- The CIA As Organized Crime: How Illegal Operations Corrupt America and the World — Douglas Valentine    

- How to Read Donald Duck — Ariel Dorfman and Armand Mattelart

- Rambo and the Swarthy Hordes — Michael Parenti

- Against Empire — Michael Parenti

- The Face of Imperialism — Michael Parenti

- The Law of Worldwide Value — Samir Amin + Samir Amin at 80: An Introduction and Tribute — John Bellamy Foster

- Discourse on Colonialism — Aimé Césaire

- The Blood Never Dried: A People’s History of the British Empire — John Newsinger