Thanks, Ashlinn, it would be interesting from the psychological angle, but only if it doesn’t take up too much of your time – I know how busy you are with your own WIP.

Dee

I didn't really imagine you meant to sound callous - we all slip up and post things and later slap our heads - but what did strike me is that if writing about a character with a disability could become tedious, what you really mean is that it might become too much like hard work, because you will have to consider the disability every time he comes into focus. This isn't really true. Look at Heather Mills on that dancing show in the states - she's proving that a disability doesn't have to be disabilitating (is that a right word?). There was a case a few years back of a kid getting his disability living allowance taken off him because his new leg solved his mobility problems - it was a fair point; why should he have a blue badge if his disability doesn't effect him? It's not like the blue badge is compensation (Colin casually opens a fresh can of worms )

I wouldn't advise against your character's amputation just because it seems like too much to consider - the challenge might be to show him not as disabled because of his operation, but re-abled, if that makes sense. Having lost something, you suddenly realise all of the things you can't do. It makes many disabled people more determined to do those things. Slightly related, I had a friend who had to give up smoking for medical reasons. He told me in a pub one day how he had never realised how many different brands there were until he had to stop. "All I could think," he said, describing the tabacco counter, "was all of those brands I'd never even tried. And now I can't, I really want to."

It's a mad world.

Colin

I'm sorry, Dee. Ishould have checked first before offering . It seems to have been taken down. It was on a site called Toowrite but it was a long time ago and they've removed all the old pieces. It was excellent.

I quite like the idea of your hero being handicapped. It's reminds us of his mortality and flaws, especially if there's a chance of it becoming a series.

just to second on Monica Dickens. Her autobiographies, One Pair of Hands and One Pair of Feet, are great research for anyone writing about the 2nd World War, and also hilariously funny.

Yes, they are really funny. I think she's a much better writer than she's given credit for - I suspect that the fact that she wrote a column for Woman's Own for twenty years meant people didn't take her as seriously as a novelist as she deserved. Her autobiography An Open Book is interesting too.

Emma

I say amputate. It's for the best.

Dealing with the emotional fallout will be interesting, as you say, and in future novels he will have come to terms with it and have an artificial leg, so you won't have to make much of it at all (just the odd reference, perhaps). Artificial legs seem pretty good now, from what I hear - people walking up mountains or running races in them.

As for the emotional fallout, I'd have thought there were some websites for amputees where you might be able to pick up some thoughts on it.

I knew someone whose husband lost part of his arm in an industrial accident, and it made him feel so emasculated he didn't even try to do things he could still do, and he blamed the injury for not doing them. She ended up doing everything and he moped about for years, and in the end their marriage broke up. She said she was sure they wouldn't have split if he hadn't lost his arm, since it changed him completely.

However, obviously not everyone is going to deal with it so badly. (That sounds really harsh, and I actually really sympathise with him - but there are more positive ways to deal with such an event, hard though it undoubtedly must be.)

Deb

<Added>

Seeing that Ashlinn's reference has been removed, try looking on Amazon for autobiographical books on mountaineering. Losing toes and fingers (and sometimes noses and godknowswhat) is reasonably common for extreme mountaineers such as those who attempt Everest. There are lots of books on their adventures and I know there are one or two which focus more on the experience of losing bits than on the trip which caused it. Worth a try, anyway.

Otherwise just search for autobiographies of amputees - you might be lucky.

That Monica Dickens arrived in the post yesterday and I've just started reading it. Thanks Emma, it’s a good one.

I've been lurking on the site Heather Mills set up for amputees, and getting a lot of insight – although I don’t understand some of the terms. Also I have a friend whose brother had a leg amputated below the knee, and he gave me a lot of info, including how emasculated he felt (his exact word, Deb) so I think that’s a common effect. Sadly he died recently without ever fully coming to terms with his disability.

I’ll have a browse for some of those books.

Thanks, everyone, for your help. It’s definitely helped to make up my mind.

Dee