Musing: Big Bangs - Realism in AU Big Bang

[wilderthan]

(This was originally posted to au_bigbang_vent, but it can go here too

Comments

[serindrana]

I'd go with the note and continuing as you are now. Given that you can't do the in-depth research required, it might come off as too clumsy/not understanding enough if you were to try and write it straight. I think just saying, "I know Dean's lines aren't direct translations, but I didn't feel qualified to determine what would be," or something along those lines, is respectful and enough.

[wilderthan]

Yeah, that's what I thought. I didn't really worry about it until I saw a character-is-mute fic recently and they had a horde of disclaimers on it.

[serindrana]

I think as long as he isn't mute just because it's "neat" to have a mute character (AKA, not fetishized in any way) and as long as he isn't presented as "less" because of being mute, you'll be fine. :)

[wilderthan]

In what I've got so far, he occasionally thinks of himself as less, and it bleeds into the narration because it's third person limited, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do with that. I don't want people to potentially be hurt/offended, so I'm contemplating taking those parts out. At the same time, I'd hope that people will understand the difference between my opinion and that of the character -- because I definitely don't think of him (or any mute person or character) as less. I guess it'll be a matter of going through and seeing how necessary those bits are to the story and to the characterisation.

The original plot-reason I chose to write him as mute doesn't seem to be working out now I'm actually writing it, but I wanted to write a mute character anyway. I've written a handful of fics about blindness/with blind characters, several with characters who only have one eye, and one about a character with paraplegia. I don't like the absence of people with disabilities in mainstream fiction, and though I've seen more exploration of it