Blind MC

In all, I don't see a difference with a blind/not-blind MC.

The reader doesn't view the story from within the narrator, but outside. So his vision isn't what we, the reader, envision.

The main problem I see, is simply laying out a scene to allow the reader to envision what might be happening.
You'd have to create some way to give description to the reader, echolocation, touchy-feely, all that.
You can describe the room, where people are sitting, what is happening. But focusing, like facial description, body language, finer details (not touched), would be difficult.
And filtering, I can foresee the masses of filtering. *groan*


A well done Omni might be good, but why not just do Limited from another perspective.

Actually, why have a blind narrator in the first place? You're not forced to it, but it seems you're just wanting to do something "different", being unique.

You could tell the story from the blind man's attendant, or from another character.

Hope this helps.

Your best bet is to read a few books with a blind MC and see how other writers have handled it.

I started one story where the MC was near-blind. She could see vague shapes and colors, but details eluded her. I actually enjoyed trying to envision the world as she would, and had her describing things based on how she saw it, but also how things felt, smelled, heard, tasted, etc.

Granted, I was also writing it first person from three points of view... her, the best friend, and the antagonist, but each have very different viewpoints of the world. I hope to go back and finish it sometime (it's a YA sci-fi mystery/thriller).

jvill said:

To be honest, the character isn't blind, they are just forced to have their eyes shut for much of the story, the story's hook (which I won't get into) pretty much demands it.

For the most part there are no other characters around that have their eyes open, and they end up dead soon after you meet them anyway.

The idea I have is much more suited to a movie for these reasons, but one day I would enjoy seeing this project come into being.

I've only recently just learned what filtering is, too, and so I'm still getting used to that concept. But yes, without much description the "I smelled, I walked, I felt..." would get a bit tedious after a while.

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...could you have him cheat? Might be interesting.


I have a character who blinds himself, he puts a hood over his head during fights. He "sees" the world using the current of the winds and further, he has practiced this to make it more reliable than his sight. When he does this, it is just switching over. He doesn't see colors, but can "see" everything. That's just an example.

Some things are not meant to be written, or made into a movie. You can write a blind narrator, but you have to make it work for the reader. Give us a ground to stand on and experiment a lot, you'll find something that works.

...walked isn't filtering. Smelt, heard, tasted, knew, noticed, saw, touched, understood -- but choose was degree you want to cut down, or at all, that's your choice.

WillSauger said:

Actually, why have a blind narrator in the first place? You're not forced to it, but it seems you're just wanting to do something "different", being unique.

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I'm curious how you came to that. Has the OP mentioned elsewhere on the board about wanting to write from a blind narrator's POV and wanting to do so 'just to do something different'?

Also, I'm not sure I see anything wrong with wanting to write a blind MC. If the character developed that way, if that's part of what makes the character, then why not?

I once write a short story about a blind character and I wrote it from his perspective. It was a challenge to write it and it forced me to be cognizant of 'sight' language. I did it because I wanted to and because when designing the character, he was blind. Just like he had dark hair. And an earring. And well manicured nails.

Woah, well, that's another thing altogether. If they aren't adapted to being blind, their behaviour will be very different from that of someone who has adapted (or who's always been blind so 'adapted' isn't really the right word).

jvill said:

Indeed. One of the challenges is that it is quite jarring for the main character to suddenly have their eyes closed and still get around the environment, all while avoiding the 'monster' of the story.

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Which is a far cry from what I initially understood from your question of having a blind MC.

*sigh*

First, I'll give you a name: http://www.dayalmohamed.com/ -- She's a writer who wants to get more writers writing about disabilities (and not just disabled writers), and she's also blind. She'd probably tell you the same thing I'm about to tell you:

Don't make it a big deal. Disabilities are often promoted in the media as if that person's life just ended when they were disabled. It's also often presented as a Really Big Deal, because, truthfully, it can scare us. But to the disabled person, it's simply part of their life.

So all it is a different perspective.

You can probably start out just making sure in some way that the reader knows the character is disabled, and then just treat not be able to see as every day life. Meaning you focus on the senses that are available.

From the omniscient viewpoint side (which I write in), it can be tough to learn. Most writers have trouble understanding the concept of an all seeing narrator and head hop instead. If you haven't done omni before, it's going to be a challenge in itself.

BTW, my mother was legally blind. I had no idea until after she died. Her not being able to see well was simply something that was.

If the story is told from an omni narrator, I see no problem, especially in the horror genre.

But from a 1st or close 3rd person perspective, with you only able to describe what the character hears, smells, feels or thinks, I am not sure you will be able to do justice to visual scenes. Smell and hearing can add to a sense of fear or dread but its the visuals that frighten most readers.

IMHO of course...

I think a story like this would be very interesting and enjoyable to read. A few weeks ago I read a story in workshop that had a blind first-person narrator; the details of the story included feelings, smells, etc. I didn't even notice they were blind until I realized that no visuals had been given at all throughout the entire story, and when I realized this right before the climax, it made it much more powerful and just gave a sense of 'awesomeness'.

Try it! Do some research, decide if you can really latch onto what that would be like, and go with it. Reading about a blind person could really be dull, because you run the risk of stereotyping if you're not able to pull it off. Put us into the character, and you're treading a much more interesting ground.

Would that ... work? What do you think? The problem of course is that during the scenes through the POV of the blind person I won't be able to describe how things look, only how they smell, feel and sound.

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The first queston I would ask has this person always been blind, or did they go blind over time?

And even those who have always been blind have an idea of what color is. They have done studies on this.

As one person said above, the best stories are those where you do not realize the person is blind, and these days telling if someone is blind on the other side of a computer pretty hard.

jvill said:

As one person said above, the best stories are those where you do not realize the person is blind, and these days telling if someone is blind on the other side of a computer pretty hard.

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There's a difference between not making it a big song and dance and not portraying it at all. It isn't a better story because you edited out anything that might indicate they're blind. If they're going to grab their cane before heading out the door, there isn't a problem with that. The issue would be if you wrote a lengthy paragraph on what the cane was and described at great length how they use the feedback from the cane to perceive the ground.

Zeprimus said:

Try it! Do some research, decide if you can really latch onto what that would be like, and go with it. Reading about a blind person could really be dull, because you run the risk of stereotyping if you're not able to pull it off. Put us into the character, and you're treading a much more interesting ground.

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Definitely do research and avoid the stuff that turns up in Hollywood -- and is usually really inaccurate.

jvill said:

Not sure if this has been brought up already. I'm thinking of writing another novel after I finish all of my other WIPs (aren't we all?), but the thing is it would be a horror with first person perspective from a blind MC.

Would that ... work? What do you think? The problem of course is that during the scenes through the POV of the blind person I won't be able to describe how things look, only how they smell, feel and sound. I realise having a blind MC isn't new:
http://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/...ook-with-a-blind-person-as-the-main-character

Would a third-person or omniscient perspective make more sense? Would it still be 'scary' having as little information about what things look like in a horror novel or are details important in that genre? (note: I haven't written horror before)

KthxBye!

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The idea to write from a blind point of view is not new, as there are no new ideas. I have a blind friend. All of his other senses are acute. So, if your character is blind, he would use all his other senses.

I encourage you to finish what you are writing now and then just sit down and writer your story about the blind man.

My book Spymaster's Lady has a blind MC. It's challenging to present the scene through senses other than sight, but obviously it's perfectly possible to do.

I worked in deep Third Person Limited. There's more to presenting the blindness than just 'leaving out' the sight part. There's different perspective on the senses left, a continual awareness of compensating for the lack of that sense, an emotional component to the loss, the running commentary of the character who is 'coping' and still learning how to manage.

I was also doing an 'unreliable narrator' bit where the reader was not aware the character was blind for the first 60 pages.

On the whole, it was technically difficult, but rewarding. It added considerably to the story.

jvill said:

...a blind MC.

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Butterflies are Free, Eyes of Laura Mars...

Lots of options. Have fun.

Jeff

I'm facing this issue with the revision of my novel for submission. One of my two MC's was blinded and has to deal with it. The first couple of run throughs didn't deal with the adjustments she needs to struggle through nearly enough, nor with the emotional trauma this kind of disability provides. The fact that she is dealing with "this and that" are no excuse to gloss over just how shattering this could be for someone. I'm using 3rd person limited, but supported by a secondary character who is seeing the same things

In the case of the developing querstion from the OP, why not try spending a day in your home with your own eyes closed? No cheating, and see how you like them apples? Use it to reinforce what/how you write the scenarios of your story.

jvill said:

The MC isn't actually blind. I just said that because it was easier than describing the entire plot. For unknown reasons, the MC must keep their eyes shut to preserve their own life. But thank-you for the advice.

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It does illustrate what has been said already, though.

Being blind from birth presents a different set of circumstances than being blinded after having sight, which are also different from being deprived of sight with the hopes/expectations of it returning. The focus and subtle nuances of what the rest of the senses pick up, how the brain tries to rectify or identify are different.

And you never stated that in your original op. So people are addressing what you said initially. Only later have you clarified that they aren't blind all along, which is probably what is contributing to people still addressing the original statement.

My next release has a newly-blind character learning to adapt to her blindness.
Filtering is indeed an issue, but with patience and a good editor...