by Julie Musil, @JulieMusil
As I plotted my latest release, The Summer of Crossing Lines, I decided to give the main character a stutter. She’d be forced to do some dangerous and questionable things, and I wanted the character to have an extra layer of fear and frustration. My goal was to make this character believable, and to be respectful to people who stutter.
But…I had no experience with stuttering. Lots of research was in order.
If you’re writing about an unfamiliar issue, here are four steps you can take to get it right:
- Visit blogs or online diaries. Simply Google your “issue.” One of the most personal aspects of my research involved reading through personal blogs and online diaries of folks who stutter. It gave me profound respect for them and their bravery. It also gave me insight into their personal fears and frustrations. I was able to channel their turmoil when it came to inner dialog. I got a real feel for their view on life and their condition, and how they view the people and the world around them. It also gave me a peek at their lingo.
- Research the organizations dedicated to the issue. I spent a lot of time on The Stuttering Foundation web site. They had pages for parents, teens, adults, teachers, etc. This web site gave me a lot of helpful information, including when stuttering develops, what causes it, and ways to cope. It also lists famous people who stutter, including John Stossel, Carly Simon, and the late Marilyn Monroe. I learned that the stutter tends to disappear when the speaker talks quietly, or if they’re acting as a different character–which helped with dialog. Bits of this research made it into my novel.
- Read fiction with characters who have the same issue. I searched Amazon for YA stories with a protagonist who stutters. Surprisingly, there weren’t many, which made me realize there was an opening I could fill. I read Tending to Grace, which was a great story. It taught me how to expand on my research and handle technical issues, like how to write a stutter. When we read similar books, we learn how other authors have handled the same situation.
- Interview someone with experience. It’s amazing how personal stories can form our perspective. Whatever issue you’re writing about, chances are there’s someone out there who’s willing to share their experiences with you. These experiences can give a glimpse into their world, much like the blogs or online diaries.
Whatever issue we write about, there are plenty of resources available for research. The folks who live with these issues deserve accuracy, respect, and empathy. It’s our job to get it right.
Have you stuttered, or do you know someone else who does? Have you ever written about an unfamiliar issue? What was it? How did you make sure you wrote with accuracy? Any tips you’d like to add?
Julie Musil writes from her rural home in Southern California, where she lives with her husband and three sons. She’s an obsessive reader who loves stories that grab the heart and won’t let go. Her Young Adult novels, The Summer of Crossing Lines and The Boy Who Loved Fire, are available now. For more information, or to stop by an say Hi, please visit Julie on her blog, on Twitter, and on Facebook.
Julie, thanks for a very informative post and excellent advice. Regarding stuttering, I’d like to add that Queen Elizabeth’s father famously suffered from stuttering and an extraordinary film was made: the King’s Speech, see here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1504320/
Claude, yes! Amazing movie that also showed us how painful and frustrating it can be.
Hi Elizabeth and Julie – I can see Claude has mentioned The King’s Speech film .. which I hate to admit I haven’t seen – but am sure I will at some stage. I blogged for a while with a chap who had Tourette’s syndrome …
Stuttering and stammering are such individual things aren’t they .. but good for you having the courage to go out and learn about the challenge stutterers have …
Cheers Hilary
Hilary, thanks so much for stopping by. The King’s Speech is a MUST see.
Tourette’s is another condition that must be so frustrating. I don’t know much about it, though.
Julie–Thanks so much for guest posting today and for this post! I read a lot of posts that mention the fact that writers don’t write enough characters facing physical or mental challenges, or diverse characters in general. I’m positive that the reason behind this is fear of getting it wrong. Your tips here are helpful…hoping that they’ll inspire some of us to push ourselves (like me!) to think outside the box when it comes to character creation.
Elizabeth, thanks so much for having me here! I’ll admit, writing about this was intimidating, because I didn’t want to get it wrong. But I think (hope?) it adds depth to the story.
Elizabeth – Thanks for hosting Julie.
Julie – Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I think research such as you suggest is really important if we’re to make our characters interesting and credible. And I’ve found that most people you interview are delighted to lend their expertise.
Margot, so true about interviews. I once spent almost an hour on the phone interviewing a sentinel who guarded the tomb of the unknowns in Arlington. I was amazed at how much that interview changed the article I’d written.
If there weren’t many young adult books out there with characters who stutter, then you did fill a needed niche!
Alex, I was truly surprised that there weren’t more out there. I contacted the Stuttering Foundation and let them know it was out there, just so their teens would have another resource. Who knows? Maybe it can help someone.
I don’t know anyone personally, but I know of several famous singers who stutter. They lost the stutter when they began singing.
L. Diane, isn’t that fascinating? Same with acting. And there’s little information to prove WHY they lose the stutter when they sing or act.
A great post to bookmark. And no I don’t stutter, my uncle Tony does. It’s a subtle stutter, but he’s always had it. :)
Shah, I’m curious it it lessened with age. Another curious thing is that they really don’t know what makes it start, or why it usually begins when they’re little kids. Thanks for stopping by!
These are great suggestions. I haven’t written a stutter, but I have a book in need of revision that has an MC with epilepsy–she is a ghost and I DID research the historic treatment, but these are excellent ideas for giving it a bit more personal angle.
Hart, a ghost with epilepsy? Wow, that sounds really intriguing. Lots of character depth there, I’m sure. Good luck with those revisions!
Finding personal blogs is a really great tip! I watched an episode of True Life, the MTV documentary series, that followed young people with stutters. It was interesting and sad to watch how quickly people’s faces would change to dismayed when they realized that the person they were speaking with had a stutter.
I’ve always wondered this – a lot of people want to guess what the stutterer is trying to say, as if to save them the trouble of having to get through a whole sentence. Do stutterers appreciate it when someone does that, or does it make them feel worse?
Megan, this is THE most important thing I learned while doing research. The online diaries I followed mentioned this over and over again…that they did NOT like it when someone finished their sentences. It makes them feel defeated. I actually used that in my story.
Thank you for answering! I’ll make sure never to make that mistake.
Those are great, Julie! I’ve learned the most fascinating things during research! :)
Jemi, isn’t research fascinating? Gosh, I can get lost in research for hours. I eventually have to tear myself away from research and actually write :) Thanks so much for stopping by.
These are great tips. I found that travel blogs and diaries were extremely helpful to me while writing some of my location centered novels. Congrats on the book, by the way!
Edge of Your Seat Stories
Raquel, that’s a great idea! And Pinterest is great for pinning location photos into a file we’ve created for each novel. Thanks for the tip.