We all write characters with all kinds of characteristics. But have you written characters with disabilities?
I’ve been thinking back, and I don’t think I’ve written any characters with disabilities except for Frank in Awards night (in Your Desire). I don’t know why that is. I have a disability myself, so you’d think I would lean into that topic with my characters, but I haven’t. Maybe that’s because my mom pounded into me that I didn’t have a disability—that I could and should strive to do whatever I wanted. Good mom! I love her. Think I’ll keep her. 😉
There’s no formula for writing characters. No magic equation that helps 
us come up with believable heroes or heroines. In my novella Awards Night, Allison comes home to find a car crashed through her fence and plowed into a tree. The man who’d been driving is not injured much—except he’s blinded by damage to his head. Allison doesn’t know the man. He says his name is Frank, and as you might guess, he’s pretty cranky. Some might even say nasty. But really, he’s scared half to death. In reality, though he doesn’t share this with Allison, Frank is the CEO and founder of a major international electronics firm. He’s not used to taking orders or feeling helpless. But now he does (to a certain extent) and he is. How he adjusts is quite interesting (I hope!).
Frank’s wound in Awards Night was not due to a war but to an accident. However, in the years since 9/11, we’ve all had too much exposure to the damage war can do to our warriors. And the internal wounds, the ones no one sees, are as bad as the missing limbs. Maybe worse, since they’re hidden from sight. We have a whole generation who have seen the ravages of war. It’s up to us as a nation, as humans, to respect those who have suffered in our service, and to help as best we can.
Read the next blog in the blog hop by going here.
Burning Bridges by Anne Krist: old letters put the lie to Sara’s life. Now, mending her past mistakes while crossing burning bridges will be the hardest thing she’s ever done.
One Woman Only
Only a Good Man Will Do
Naval Maneuvers
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What a wonderful woman your mother is! I was also schooled by the nurse practionner who treated my oldest son, diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was only 8. I was to call him my son with diabetes, not my diabetic son. My daughter, the middle school teacher, says that’s “Person-first language, instead of disease-first.” Perhaps since you don’t think of yourself as disabled, you don’t think of incorporating it into a story? Please give your mom a high five from me!
How wonderful of you! My mom never let me think of myself as disabled. I had the best mom in the world, actually. SHe was everything I needed. And I love your daughter’s attitude in focusing on the child and not the disease!!
Your mum was wonderful Dee, you might have suffered an illness as a child but you are definitely not disabled.
Thanks, Jan!
A fantastic comment Fiona.