The Unexpected Creative Rewards of Writing for Blind Audiences
By: Jenni Elbourne
Tags: Creative Process, Blindness, Disability, Writing Tips, Writing Life

Translating the visual: a writer’s perspective

Visitor listening to audio description of #MagicCarpet (Kai Syng Tan 2018) at ‘King’s Artists — New Thinking, New Making’ at Bush House, King’s College London, London, UK. Photograph by Alex Lloyd.

“An intense pinkish red reaches across from the right — the flailing tentacles of an octopus whose bold colour stretches across the whole tapestry. Tentacles twist and turn in on themselves. On the right, its body is obscured by a collection of green road signs reading “RUN”, “Detour”, “digression”. On the left, tentacles blur into a cacophony of overlapping details; literal and abstract images emerge from behind and wrap around one another.” -Extract of audio description of Magic Carpet by Kai Syng Tan

Audio description is the process of using words to describe visual images (still or moving) for the purpose of giving access to blind and visually impaired audiences. You might have seen people wearing AD headphones in the theatre or cinema, or accidentally turned on the ‘disembodied voice’ on your TV set; but have you ever considered what it’s like to write for this purpose?

I’ve worked as an audio describer for 10 years — mostly in theatre and contemporary arts — and have learned some invaluable lessons that can be applied throughout my writing practice.

You can always be clearer

Plain English is important if you want to get your message across clearly. It’s especially important if your audience has no prior knowledge of what you’re writing about. Start from the beginning and try put yourself in the reader’s shoes. What do they need to know now in order to understand your next paragraph? What is do you need to make explicit, and what is already implicit?

When writing audio description for screen or stage, you can’t say “she opens her eyes” unless you’ve already implied that her eyes are closed. User-testing is essential in audio description, and there are always details which the tester flags up as needing clarification or an improved setup.

Objectivity is a myth

Most people might assume that an audio describer’s ultimate aim is to objectively “say what they see”; after all, we’re trying to give visually impaired people equal access to the subject matter. The trouble is, we all see differently, because seeing is not just a physiological process, but a cognitive one.

Consider facial expressions. An ‘objective’ description might say “his lips turn up at the corners”, but “he smiles” is much more useful. Audio description is a form of translation, and involves the describer making constant decisions about which words to use. This requires a sense of your own style, and a belief in the value that you as a writer can add to the audience’s experience.

Between description and interpretation lies a glorious land of human connections

One thing I love about audio description is that I rarely get writer’s block, because I’m never staring at a blank page. Even before I start writing, there is something in front of me: the image, film, play or whatever it is I’m describing. If you’re ever in need of a stimulus, pick something off Google Images or YouTube and write a description; you might be surprised how enjoyable the process can be.

Any such stimulus, of course, comes with its own context, style, and in some cases, narrative. Good audio description aims to complement the style of the source material, and to help the audience not only follow but truly engage with the story. The writer must also consider the pace and quality of the delivery. It can be tempting to squeeze a lot of description into a scene that has no dialogue, but the mood of that scene might be better communicated with fewer words, spoken more slowly.

Word choices are of course critical; a person standing tall with their arms outstretched might represent freedom and power, or the tragedy of a crucifixion. Sometimes the context makes the intention clear; sometimes it’s necessary to find language that allows for multiple interpretations and leaves the audience to decide (or not) for themselves. Significant research may be required to get this right.

Ask two people to write descriptions of the same source material and chances are they will be quite different. The ones that work well for blind audiences will have a common thread of clarity that allows the listener to feel connected to the source material, while gently guiding them towards its more ethereal aspects. They will display a gracefulness that respects the original work and is tethered to it, yet not afraid to try and articulate its ambiguities.

One of the most satisfying things we can do as writers is to find words for things that are intangible, abstract and awe-inspiring. Translating sight into words is an exercise we can all use to explore and enrich our writing.

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Jenni Elbourne is a freelance writer, audio describer and consultant based in London. www.jennielbourne.wordpress.com

Listen to the audio description of #MagicCarpet here. Find out more about #MagicCarpet here. #MagicCarpet was an Unlimited commission funded by Arts Council England and supported by King’s College London.