How the protagonist solves the central dilemma in the face of that disability will be part of the story and show who he/she is.
Those of you who know me understand the importance I place on the authentic inclusion of people with disabilities in entertainment media and print. Thus, when I come across someone in the industry who does a great job of portraying people with disabilities, I like to share it with you.
Jason Vail is a martial artist and author of historical fiction including the Stephen Attebrook mystery series. The series protagonist, Stephen Attebrook, is a knight who solves mysteries. He also has a disability. Mr. Vail doesn’t stop there. He has a number of unique characters from all walks of life with different abilities. Mr. Vail was kind enough to agree to an interview with me.
“He’s by the fence over there,” Stephen pointed to a legless man a few feet away by the gate to the inn’s yard. Harry had undone himself from his board and was sitting with his leg stumps splayed out, whittling on a small piece of wood. Already its end resembled the figure of a man tugging a noose about his neck. Harry was only a few years older than Stephen, hardly thirty, but with a ratty beard that hung down to his chest, wild hair and crazy blue eyes, he seemed far older. He had been a free farmer once, but then a cart had rolled over his legs. Gangrene had set in and a barber surgeon amputated both legs above the knee. Most men would have died, but Harry had held on. He was a beggar now.”
― Jason Vail, The Wayward Apprentice
The Interview
1. What initially made you want to go into writing?
I have always admired writers, ever since I was a kid. So I decided to see if I could be a novelist too.
2. You have studied various martial art techniques and have been reviving 14th century European dagger combat techniques. How has your martial arts training helped you to develop your characters and paint a picture?
One thing I wanted to do was to write realistically about personal combat. Most writers who write about personal combat have no experience in it and make stuff up that is often inaccurate and, frankly, rather stupid.
3. Your Stephen Attebrook mysteries series features both Sir Stephen, who is missing half his foot, and Harry who is missing both of his legs. Both men come from different walks of life. They received their disabilities in vastly different ways and are both unique. What inspired you to feature two main characters with disabilities?
I didn’t start out with the intention of writing about people who are disabled. It just happened. For Stephen, I wanted a protagonist who was an experienced soldier. But I needed a reason why such an accomplished person would take a low-paying, dead end job like deputy coroner in a small town. I settled on the notion that he lost part of his foot (as well as the love of his life and his accumulated fortune) in part to explain this. This makes him despondent and depressed, and deluded into thinking he cannot overcome these problems. First, others look at him as diminished because of the injury, and second, he believes himself to be so limited. One of Stephen’s character flaws is that he has allowed his perception of himself be influenced by the judgment of others. Part of his story arc is to realize over time that the injury does not truly hold him back.
I chose this injury because I knew a kid who had lost half his foot in a lawn mower accident. It didn’t limit him that I could see apart from the fact he couldn’t run as well as the other kids. In the summer he used to walk around barefoot. The first time I saw his injured foot, it took me a bit aback, but after a while neither I nor anyone else thought anything about.
Harry is another matter. He was a total accident, his creation that is. He just happened. I was writing a scene in Apprentice where Stephen goes by the Broken Shield, and there Harry was, sitting with his board at the side of the street. He came alive from the first moment, just inserted himself into the story, and became a really important person. Over time, I came to realize that he was a counterpoint to Stephen. Where Stephen at the start of the cycle is despondent and convinced he has no future, Harry is defiant and fights back, with considerable courage too, although he has no reason to think he has a future either. Harry refuses to admit defeat. Stephen, meanwhile, sees himself in Harry. Before Stephen’s injury, he would have hardly noticed a man like Harry, but because they share something of the same fate, he empathizes with Harry.
4. People are afraid to tackle characters with disabilities, when they do, the characters are often either untouchable with no flaws or quirks, or they are defined by their disability. Was it important to you to ensure that Sir Stephen is a dynamic character, not just defined by his bad foot?
No person should be judged solely because he/she is not physically whole. The protagonist of any adventure/mystery story has to be an uncommon person capable of affecting events. So dynamism is built into his character, which transcends the injury.
5. Harry’s story is interesting as well. He lost his legs in an accident, his wife left him taking their children, and he resorted to begging for survival. Yet he is an ornery character, with a great many nuances. As the series evolves, we see him as more than just Harry the Beggar missing his legs. He is smart (he adjusts Sir Stephen’s saddle so he can properly ride into battle and he also assists in investigations), and talented (he goes from beggar to wood carver). He also has romantic interests. He can defend himself when necessary. Why is Harry’s development so important?
The major characters of a story should be as much like real people as the writer can make them. They can’t be cardboard cutouts or portrayed with clichés. Bringing Stephen, Gilbert, Harry, and now Ida to life as much as I can is the focus of the books.
Like I said, Harry turned out to be Stephen’s counterpoint, and they help each other. And Harry interests me because he faces his circumstances with courage and resolve. He refuses to accept that he is helpless or diminished. He is in every sense a hero. Stephen sees this courage and respects Harry for it.
6. We know that there were people with disabilities in the middle ages, which is when your series takes place. You embraced this as a fact. Was it necessary to include people like this to create an accurate picture of the times? Do you think people tend to forget about that part of the population? Why?
I have tried to portray the times and attitudes of the people as faithfully as I can. Is it honest to look away from the ugliness of those times?
I portray most people in the Middle Ages as repulsed by disabilities in part to explain Stephen’s feelings of limitation at the start of the cycle. I have found little in the written record about how people really reacted during that time, although it sees pretty clear people ignored the disadvantaged. So, it’s a speculation about how people then reacted and thought. But perhaps an informed one, given the feelings about the disadvantaged in our own time.
7. Although things are not perfect regarding the way people with disabilities are currently portrayed in print, we have come a long way as a society. Will you please discuss that?
I don’t know enough about how people with disabilities are portrayed in print to have an opinion about it.
I just wanted readers to see Stephen and Harry as real people dealing with hard problems as well as they could.
8. What do you like about the way people with disabilities are portrayed in different types of storytelling?
I think the answer to #7 says it.
9. How does one go about writing a character who is missing half a foot who has to still be able to fight?
I just started from the proposition that Stephen’s foot wasn’t the disability he thought it was.
10. What can be achieved by normalizing people with disabilities in entertainment?
I’m not sure what ‘normalizing’ means. But in stories, the writer’s job is to bring a person to life, to show his/her character in action dealing with an important problem. For disadvantaged people, I would say that the story should show them as dealing with an existential problem that is not their disability. How they solve that existential problem while dealing with any limitations imposed on them is the story. How the person does this reveals character.
The Stephen stories aren’t about people with disabilities. They are about people, some of whom may have limitations, dealing with big problems.
11. What do you think can be done better regarding representation and inclusion in entertainment print?
Maybe what I said in #10?
12. Do you think authors are weary of portraying characters with disabilities for fear of coming off insensitive or not correctly representing the different disabilities?
I don’t know about weary. But there probably is a fear about appearing insensitive. Also, there might be some reluctance because writers may think readers wouldn’t care about characters with disabilities.
I can only speak for myself. When I got to the end of Apprentice, there I was, with one of the sidekicks, an important person in the story, who was a guy without legs. If I sent the story out to the public, would I get cancelled for insensitivity? Would readers like Harry? Would they respect him? Would they care about him? I worried about this.
Yet I really liked Harry, his brash mouth, his defiance and his courage. I hoped others would like and care about him, too. So I hit the send button and off the MS went to Amazon.
13. Obviously, I am a fan of Sir Stephen and Harry. I also like Ansel Parios from the “Stumptown” graphic novel series and the ABC show. Who are some of your favorite fictional characters with disabilities whether in print, television, or other media? Why do you like them?
I can’t say I have a favorite. I thought George R.R. Martin has done a good job with Bran so far. It will be interesting to see if the novels end up like the film, with Bran on the Iron Throne. A lot of people disliked the conclusion of the TV series, but I liked that touch, Bran as king. It made sense, given the arc of the series. I suspect that if the story carried on, Bran would go down in the history of Westeros as one of its great kings. I hope so, anyway.
14. Is it important to use your writing to help give a voice to those who may not have it and to possibly improve their lives? Why and how do you do this?
I am a story teller, or at least I try to be, not an advocate. I just try to write about people facing terrible, often deadly problems. All protagonists face obstacles. How the protagonist overcomes those obstacles tells you about his/her character.
15. Does inclusion fit into your life story, if so, how?
It does not.
16. What message would you like to give to myself and other young artists regarding inclusion?
Tell stories about a person dealing with an existential problem. One of the protagonist’s obstacles might be a disability. I wouldn’t make the disability a central focus, but obviously, how the protagonist solves the central dilemma in the face of that disability will be part of the story and show who he/she is.
17. What message would you like to give the public about inclusion?
I’m not an advocate. But people should not look away from people with disabilities and pretend they aren’t there. A person’s character defines him/her.
18. When can we expect a new Stephen Attebrook mystery?
I just released the tenth Stephen story in June, ‘The Corpse at Windsor Bridge.’ I haven’t started book eleven yet. I’ve gone back to struggling with the sequel to ‘The Outlaws,’ which is about Stephen’s great-grandfather and the founding of the Attebrook family. It is a tough go, and I’m going to see how much headway I can make on it this time. Then it will probably be back to book eleven.
If you are interested in reading some of Jason Vail's riveting mysteries, you can find them on Amazon, Goodreads, or Barnes & Noble.