Tag: Disabilities

Physical Limitations

On By Terry ConnellyIn Uncategorized, Writing promptLeave a comment

While it’s nice to think that our characters have perfectly healthy bodies, it is not necessarily accurate. Throughout life we suffer illnesses, break bones, have accidents that leave scars, and lose teeth.

It is important that our characters reflect human frailty. They have to be real people who experience real downfalls.

Because people with physical limitations populate our earth, we need to consider including them in our stories. Think about how a scene might change if a wheelchair-bound person is a major player. We would have to make sure that our spaces are compliant with the law and so accessible to our character. That means ramps where there are stairs, wide doorways into bathrooms and down halls, and perhaps having an assistant to help with some tasks.

What if it’s a temporary disability such as a broken right arm? How does the character drive,  brush teeth and hair, get dressed, use the restroom?

These are all real-life issues that come into play. Personally, I’ve broken fingers, an arm, and two different legs. Each of those breaks caused difficulties for me. For example, when I broke my ring finger, my wedding band had to be cut off in the emergency room. Not a huge imposition, but it was upsetting to lose my ring.

Your task is to write a story in which one of your characters has a disability. You have to decide whether it is permanent or temporary and how it impacts the character’s life.

Have fun with this one.

Character Flaws

On By Terry ConnellyIn Writing promptLeave a comment

A character’s flaws are not always visible. For example, a hearing loss will not show unless the individual is wearing a hearing aid. Because of this, no one meeting the person for the first time, or even the tenth time, will suspect a thing unless the individual repeatedly asks for clarification.

Mental and emotional disabilities are the same. There is no physical sign that indicates that a person is suffering or unstable. Unless, of course, the person is staggering around talking to himself.

But on first meeting a person, we would not know if she was bipolar, suicidal or developmentally disabled. It would take heart-to-heart talks and even then the information might not be revealed.

How do you write about a character who’s disability is not visible? You show it by building it in slow degrees. Perhaps some element is disclosed in a casual conversation. Or maybe the character comes right out and admits that he is deaf.

Jennifer Niven, who has published several YA books, expertly handles the invisible disabilities. Read All the Bright Places or Holding up the Universe. In both books you meet characters who are suffering. In the first book, both protagonists hurt inside. One, Finch, tends to “disappear” or “sleep” when his anxieties take over his life. The other, Violet, is depressed over the death of her sister. But we don’t learn these things in the first chapter. Niven slowly develops the characters’ flaws through the things they say, do, and think.

Your task is to write a scene in which a character has an invisible disability. Before you begin, do some research into that disability. Find out how it manifests itself and how it affects life. Then make a list of things your character would say or do based upon your research.

Then tell her story.

Have fun with this one.