How would you go about writing a character who has had a leg amputated? Genuine question. Would appreci...
I think the answer depends partially on how the scene takes place, when it takes place, and the Point of View of the person I am writing from. I will try and answer this in as much detail as I can without being explicit (so as not to write something which may trigger). In general, all of the stories I have written are what I term "future past" in that the story is taking place in the present/future, and the events are all in the past. In my refugee story these are mostly through memories with a handful of flashbacks. In another novel, it starts in the future, but is a reincarnation story and so we travel with the character through each life. It is likely I would write such a story in the same way as it seems to be my 'style', but that is never set in stone.
If I was writing from the POV of the amputee - The first thing I do is sit down and imagine the person. I don't focus on the leg at all to start. What does he or she look like? What are his or her idiosyncrasies (do they hiccup when they laugh too hard or wrinkle their nose when they are frustrated? Stuff like that). What does this character tell me? What is his or her name? Then, I focus on the story - is the story about the leg? Is it about something entirely different and they just happen to be an amputee? What is the arc - both story arc and character arc? Does the amputation change the arc at some point - were they an aspiring dancer who now can't dance? At this point, I often get flashes of scenes - Just in typing this out now I am picturing a dark haired man, he's got green eyes and a scar on his chin which is hidden by a 2 day beard. He's frustrated and irritated by a set of stairs in front of him. I don't know anything else .... Then I start asking questions - where is he and why?
Why is he frustrated? Is he angry that stairs are hard now he's on crutches or because of those he has met that are double amputees who need to use a wheelchair? Or is he frustrated because his boss is an a*hole and stole his best client? I'll start writing the snippet of this scene - laying out the background details (It's pretty hot and his crutches are chafing under his arms). This is when I start digging into my research. For instance, at this stage I might start looking at crutches used by amputees - I might go to the pharmacy and feel a set. Oh look, amputee crutches often are around the forearm rather than under the arms. I edit the scene to be more accurate - rather than chafing under the arms his hands are hot and sweaty. Lets imagine for a moment that the frustration I saw above is because his best mate is a double amputee. At this point I would start to look at petitions for disability access, what channels does the person go through to file one? Does our mysterious person do this or is he so cross he yells at the manager? How does the friend feel about it? He doesn't want to draw attention to himself and wishes his friend would leave it alone. If this was the story I might look at support groups, and ask a question about supporting a friend who was an amputee when you were one yourself - or accepting support from others. Maybe they would tell me they found it easier to accept help from someone who was like them - and I would edit the scene.
This all assumes I am writing when the leg was healing. It changes slightly if I am writing the event where the leg is taken. I have to research ways in which this happens (trying to be very careful here!) - was it an accident, war, etc. What kind of treatment would be provided in those kinds of places - field hospitals or ambulance. How far away was the person from help (I might use google maps). I would look at clinical notes (is this a historical event? Find book from 1800s/1900s describing such an occurrence). In my imagination I pay closer attention to the leg - how is it healing? What does it look like? How does he feel about it? Then I would ask. (Just as I have here), is there anything I should know? And I would edit accordingly to make it accurate.
It is never simply about the event either. It is about the fallout and the repercussions. Things like this aren't just over in a second - or in a scene. Maybe my fictional person will never go down a certain street again, and what does he do when he discovers that is where his new girlfriend lives? Perhaps I check with the community if the responses I have written are plausible (maybe he breaks up with her? Or is it more plausible that he faces his fears? My imagination says it depends how long from the event it is.). Maybe he desperately loves her, and has to grapple with the two warring sides of his feelings.
Does the girlfriend have a POV? Here I might draw on my emergency experiences (keeping in mind I was in a hospital not on the front lines). I have a disability myself and sometimes use a cane (only on really hot days) can I draw on the way people are looking at me when I do? How does she feel because she is with him and people are looking? I might seek out a support forum for carers of amputees and ask.
At all stages I read widely, but they are often informed by the nuggets of scenes my character provides. Sometimes the nugget is a tangible thing - he or she is patting a cat; sometimes it is more ephemeral - she is shivering, why is she shivering (that one turned out that she was pregnant - who knew)? In the question I posed initially in this thread, it was because my Character (Eve is her name) is pissed off at her friend insisting something wasn't her fault. I couldn't work out why she was so angry. She just WAS, and she told me so in no uncertain terms. She'd already told me that her faith and the church was how she'd dealt with the trauma (and she still used it) so I assumed not the PTSD but the Survivors guilt must have been where the anger was coming from. I did some research then on survivors guilt and ended up here. And now I have lots more to read, and some edits to make.
Edit: I just wanted to add, that sometimes the characters and snippets are incorrect. They are imaginary after all and influenced by what I have read and or think. For instance - above with the crutches, my imagination saw the kind you get when you sprain an ankle which I've experienced, and I went back to correct. Asking is my way to make sure I don't let these inconsistencies stay into the final story, and that I was as accurate as humanly possible.
