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Printer-Friendly ModeBlind student prepares to write trilogy of books
April 9, 2007 —
Steven Orlowsky might be blind, but he sure has a vision for a trilogy of his own mystery-based fiction novels.
The 22-year-old SVSU student has been hard at work, typing away on his dorm-room computer with the help of audible screen-reading software. He says he has the storylines plotted out for three "brilliant" books that were initially inspired by an encounter he had a few years back with a young woman on campus.
"Her name was Keturah," he said, smiling, "and I really wanted to become friends with her but that didn't happen."
Book number one of Orlowsky's fictional trilogy, "The Adoption," concentrates on how far a man might go in order to become part of a woman's life if she at first rejects him. The main character, Miles, is desperately seeking some sort of a relationship with the lead female character, so much so that he develops an elaborate scheme to deceptively win her affection. The way in which Miles attempts to get to know her involves years of stalking, the invention of a hypothetical sibling connection, and the instigated corruption of American adoption agencies.
The final outcome, as well as the entirety of the novel, is written to be mysterious and to leave the reader in a slightly uncertain state about where exactly Orlowsky will take the story next.
In an effort to maintain the mystery surrounding his trilogy, Orlowsky will not fully reveal the plots of "Parallel Chance" and "Till Death Do Us Part." He said it is, however, safe to say that these second two unwritten novels intertwine concepts of Star Trek-inspired parallel universes and mistaken identities.
Orlowsky says while he was inspired by Keturah to write the trilogy, he is now writing the books as a self-therapeutic way to reflect upon his "continuing quest to try and learn the ropes of dating and figure the whole shebang out."
He believes writing his trilogy is helping him make progress in understanding the dating world, a world he says he has not experienced much largely due to his disability.
When Orlowsky was born three months premature and weighing in at only a pound and a half, doctors told his parents to go ahead and make funeral arrangements. The funeral never happened, but Orlowsky did lose his sight at just 10 days old due to a lack of oxygen to his retinas.
More than 50 light-perception sustaining eye operations later, this communication major says he is convinced that nothing can stand in the way of doing whatever he really wants to do. Solving the problems of dating seems simple compared to his hope that stem cell research will soon benefit the blind.
And Orlowsky is confident that he will never allow his blindness to interfere with his writing.
"I don't feel that being blind necessarily presents any challenges in regard to my future career as an author," he says. "Sometimes imagery is a problem; however, I have the means to write what I want to write, and I appreciate and take advantage of that."