Amos Garnier- A blind French detective in Colonial Massachusetts. Miguel Sanchez- A blind Mexican detective in Antebellum Alabama in 1855. (This is actually the Mexican, 1850s version of the Amos Garnier one.) Heridon Copper- Heridon Copper (A college-aged detective in modern-day Port Lisha, Alabama) befriends and later accepts a blind man by the name of Daniel Reeds into the group. The Santarnica- The protagonist, Helen Chert, has raised a blind Devonian boy from infancy. Mishu Nen- A fantasy story has the protagonist be a blind female elf who fights monsters in the fantasy version of our Earth. Omar Baitey- Omar's brother (who has bad vision) has a macguffin that sets Omar off on one of his adventures. The redundant part? I seem to have a lot of blind people in my stories. Why is this? Is it because I've been around blind people for the most of my childhood (I went to a school for the deaf and blind)? Although I am half-blind myself, I'm mostly deaf so by all accounts, all of those characters should be deaf or have hearing problems. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with blind folks. I'm just wondering why some of my characters (protagonists and not) have blindness when other disabilities are virtually non-existant. Oh sure, Heridon has a cousin who's deaf and Helen is dating a crewman with leg problems but still. Just why? Is it because I'm comfortable in that field because there are a lot of stories featuring blind protagonists? Thoughts?
"Write what you know". If you have an insight into an area, share it with the world. Never be ashamed of the story you have to tell. If, once you become a multimillion selling author, your publisher asks for something a bit different, you can start to worry about this. For now I'd say run with it.
Nothing wrong with giving your MC the same struggle you deal with. The only thing I'd advise against is making the MC too similar to yourself in other aspects as well, because then it can make it harder to develop the character - you don't have to think as hard when they're a spinoff of yourself. You don't seem to do this, though, so I'd say you're good.
Interesting. I just thought readers would see the stories and go, "hmm...dude's got a lot of blind folks in his books..." I guess it depends if the character's blindness is important to the story and not something I put in as an afterthought.
I have an abnormal amount of twins and gay men in my books lol Probably due to the fact I know an abnormal amount of both I also gravitate towards people of a certain personality and include a lot of British humour. Its all part of what makes me and therefore my imagination tick.
Good points. I guess there isn't really a problem that most of my stories have blind protagonist (or blind characters that hang out with my protagonists). As long as I shape them as fully developed people with their own motives, then it's okay.
*shrugs* it's a theme you're exploring, and it sounds like it'd make the types of stories you write interesting beyond average, so... definitely not a bad thing at the moment. A lot of writers who write a great deal of books *are* known for their repeated hang ups and themes. I can say what mine are easily. I wouldn't worry about it - our experience is what we rely on, and so it's little wonder what we most confidently know about would show up in out writing.
My only concern is that I'm not to sure whether an 1855 blind man would be able to become a detective. I'm not sure when brail came in and I could guess that they didn't have guide dogs back in those days. You may have to make his disablility less severe, he could be colour blind, partially blind, blind in one eye or something else which I'm not familiar with.
You should write what you know - all advice I've gotten from published friends say that very thing. There's nothing redundant as long as all those characters aren't in the SAME story.
Well, I don't mean like the blind guy becomes a detective, as in he works for a law office. He just hears about the mystery and with his own knowledge and close friends, cracks the case and reports it to the police and/or attempts to apprehend the perpetrator himself. Braille was introduced to the USA in 1863. Guide dogs? I'm guessing mid to late 1900s. But you raise an interesting point. Maybe Miguel could have a different disability, or perhaps his vision problem isn't as severe as Amos'. I think I'll go along with the color blindness/blind in one eye thing for Miguel.
