Cooking without Looking
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One of my son's favorite things to do is help me cook. When I have that mixer going, he gets to the kitchen as fast as he can. He wants to put his fingers in the cool flour and to hold the shaking mixer. He's only four, so I imagine it will be some time before he starts cooking on his own, but what better place to start learning than right here? right now? Concepts are a huge part of learning. What does it mean to add? to measure? What is consistency?
Learning doesn't have to be about memorizing facts, reading books and spitting out info. I could tell him that the batter should be smooth and thick, but until I give him some cookie dough to play with, he wouldn't really get it.
Having someone blind in my life has changed things. Thinking about things in new ways is slowly becoming secondhand. I love considering how my son will perceive. Without vision, the world would be a different place for me. But without vision, the world is just the world for my son.
I can use that in my writing. It's so easy in writing to describe things visually because most people rely on vision more than any other sense. And as readers, we want to see everything. But what about blind readers? Can we give them enough detail to 'see' the world their way? And how much will be too much? I think there would be a fine line at over-doing it.
So, don't kill the pace of your story with description. Even a blind person won't notice everything. :D
With love and happy writing,
Bethanne
Learning doesn't have to be about memorizing facts, reading books and spitting out info. I could tell him that the batter should be smooth and thick, but until I give him some cookie dough to play with, he wouldn't really get it.
Having someone blind in my life has changed things. Thinking about things in new ways is slowly becoming secondhand. I love considering how my son will perceive. Without vision, the world would be a different place for me. But without vision, the world is just the world for my son.
I can use that in my writing. It's so easy in writing to describe things visually because most people rely on vision more than any other sense. And as readers, we want to see everything. But what about blind readers? Can we give them enough detail to 'see' the world their way? And how much will be too much? I think there would be a fine line at over-doing it.
So, don't kill the pace of your story with description. Even a blind person won't notice everything. :D
With love and happy writing,
Bethanne
