The Trouble With Cure
What’s wrong with cure? Isn’t it a good thing when people get better? In fiction, I say no. Not usually. Here’s the trouble with the typical “cure” plot line (the usual formula of stories with disabled characters, where at the last minute they are somehow cured of the disability). Well, actually, there are a few problems so I’ll break them down: 1) Not realistic. Sometimes people do recover from disabling accidents. Sometimes doctors can fix things, sometimes treatments work. That’s great! But it’s rare. Very, very unlikely. If you go by Hollywood, you would think that sort of thing happens all the time. In fact, they make it seem like people who are disabled just haven’t tried hard enough; with enough...
Read MoreX-Men
To start off, this new X-Men movie {X-Men Trilogy (X-Men / X2: X-Men United / X-Men: The Last Stand)} is wonderful. It’s a tight story, that shows believable ways that the characters would have met, and it continues to grapple with the fascinating philosophical issues all the X-men movies have. It’s a long movie, and I’m glad that they let it be as long as it needed to be. Stories have natural lengths and I think Thor could have benefited from the attitude of letting it be the length it naturally wants to be. Throughout the series I have always seen a lot of parallels between mutation and disability. I think the X-men movies provide an amazing metaphor for the experience of disability, though I’m fairly sure that’s not what was...
Read MoreSo You’re Thinking About Dating a Dev
My experience has been that for many people who have disabilities, finding out about devs is cool and exciting at first. What a great thing, you might think, that someone will actually want my body as it is instead of just putting up with it.  After some thought, though, some concerns might arise. I want to address those concerns. Based on myself and many messages and conversations that I’ve had with other devs, I’m putting some common questions here. Please ask your own questions in the comments or by email! I will update the post to reflect all the questions. Also, a word of explanation. There is a lot of variety among devs. As you might expect, they are people just like every one else. A few of them are creepy or scary. Most are not. Most...
Read MoreYour Advice Needed
The question: Is disability a dating game changer? The background: Many people like to say that they don’t like game playing in dating. However, I have come to believe that a little bit of game playing in the beginning is necessary. It’s very rare that you can get away with showing your whole hand right from the start. It scares and overwhelms the other person, particularly because chances are that you are on different places on each others lists. What do I mean by lists? I mean that you’re out on the dating market, you’re talking to a few people, looking at possibilities, not too sure yet. At some point someone you meet starts to stand out from the rest and that person becomes number one on your list. That’s the person that you...
Read MoreBones- Strike Two?
I really like the television show Bones (Bones: The Complete First Season).  The mysteries are interesting, not easy to figure out, and the dynamics of all the characters is fun.  I’m behind in watching it, since I do it instantly from Netflix. I’m about three seasons behind at the moment.  One episode almost ruined it for me.  I lost a lot of respect for my favorite character, Bones herself. One of their colleagues that they were working with on the case was a little person.  Bravo to the show for placing a person with a disability in a normal role.  It went downhill fast, though.  Bones’s partner Booth was interacting with the guy because that’s what Booth is good at, while Bones is hopeless socially.  After their first meeting with...
Read MoreThe Village
The Village is another “horror” movie using blindness.  I put that in quotes because it’s not really a scary movie, just a bit creepy.  It also doesn’t use blindness to up the ante in quite the same way as most. On the plus side, I like that the blind girl is the only one brave enough to go on the necessary quest. On the negative side, from a story writing perspective, how freaking convenient that they have someone who is blind when no one else could possibly go on this quest?  They have to have someone who can’t see the world beyond the village and there’s one right there.  And she happens to be highly motivated and brave.  Hmmm. So yeah, the disability is completely and totally a plot device.  Most of the movie feels forced...
Read MoreProgress Trackers
At proofreaders; available for pre-order
What Is Meant To Be
Second draft
Homework & Homicide (working title)
Second Draft
Book Montage
RFW winner October 7, 2011
