Is it abnormal to be a good writer when you have Aspergers?

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I'm going to graduate in Professional Writing next month, a program that incorporated many forms of technical and creative writing. I'm told that I'm pretty good at it too, despite what my psychologist who diagnosed me with AS says. She said that I should give up being a writer because "that's not what people with AS do. You won't have a chance of succeeding in that field." I knew that was BS too and my stubbornness paid off.

I have been told that I am a good writer, but when I examine what I have written, I think the opposite. My ability to differentiate between that which is reality and fiction, even in fictional stories, is horrible. It could likewise be said that I am not good at writing because I get stuck at where to begin a story and where to end a story, though I am O.K. with coming up with stories and/or visualizing a story in my head.

Naturally, it could be due to the fact that I do not understand people, or it could be due to the fact that I do not understand certain language that is written by people. Either way, I feel as if I am at the bottom of the food chain. Someone should shoot me and (I do not believe in evolution) let the greater specie take my place.

As I am a (as yet to be published) writer, I certainly hope not.
H.P. Lovecraft, though never diagnosed, had probably had Asperger's, and yet he is considered to be one of the most influential writers in modern horror fiction. And I'm certain Robert E. Howard, who gave the world an American alternative to Tolkein's heroic fantasy, was almost certainly an Aspie, too.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

I am quite a good writer when I apply myself. When I was around 11 or 12 I wrote a song for a small independent band, the writing probably occurred within a couple hours to a day's time, and within the next few days after that, the guy told me they wrote music for it and played it at some type of event and everyone loved it. He said he was going to credit me but I sort of denied it, but he insisted so I didn't give him my real name (since I was 11 or 12 and it was over an IM program), but a pen type name I came up with at the time. He also didn't know I was young. When I was around 13, I wrote this poem in about 30 minutes, and no one in my family believed I wrote it. Also, I had an friend who went to a community college, and he was terrible at writing, so I helped him a lot by helping him edit his papers. This was fairly recently, maybe about a year and a half ago, so I was probably 14.

Depends on the person.

As for me, I believe my AS and my different way of thinking from others is a tremendous asset to fiction writing. I had to write a story in German class about what Little Red Riding Hood would be like in 2011, and it involved:

Vulgar language
3 Paragraphs of English
A part where I got a character to deliberately speak poor German so I did not get any points taken off
Zombies
Chuck Norris, with a Chuck Norris joke that I myself made up, and a Delta Force 2 reference
A Vergil's Aeneid reference
Glenn Beck
Bill O'Reilly

The grammar was still pretty bad, and my teacher said this might be the most bizarre story she has ever got. She kept laughing out out when she read it though.

I took German back in high school, and we never got to do anything fun like that. The closest we got to do were these dumb little skits, in which we sometimes had the opportunity to inject some humor.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

It is college and I had a little more leeway.

I'm published so I guess I must at least be an okay writer.
Not now, my brain can simply no longer be bothered to try to put any effort into, well...anything.

I don't have a perfect understanding of English due to having been mute and missing out on a lot of education, so I'll never win any awards for my writing, but the main problem I have is with keeping myself in check to avoid babble (I babble a LOT, as you may notice) and to make sure others can make sense of what I write. I like a bit of banter in my writing, a little humour or dry wit - I lack wit, and what little humour I do have is made up of obscure connections between words and ideas that run through my head so fast that I struggle to keep up, so trying to communicate why a sentence or idea is funny to someone who is not me is challenging. I have a habit of assuming people know what I know, so I have to edit heavily to ensure I've explained everything enough so that readers can keep-up with what I'm trying to say.

I write (or used to write) like Michael Marshall Smith http://www.michaelmarshallsmith.com or stark. raving. mad. mommy. http://www.starkravingmadmommy.com - both highly recommended, of course

When I went to college, because I had taken a language in high school, I was told I was exempt from that requirement. In actuality, I had just barely passed high school German with a D. I admit I was a mug at learning a foreign language, though my teacher wasn't particularly skilled at her job (not just my opinion, or just the opinion of her students, either). And my Dad had tried giving me a hand with my studies, as he was raised speaking English and German, but he was raised with a high Franconian dialect from the Middle Rhine area, which differed significantly enough from standard German.

Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

I might be naive, but I think when someone gets a writing assignment they change their natural style to try to get a good grade. I believe that literature can include vulgar language and even gross violence (I had a story in high school where it was very graphic and downright ridiculous) if there is meaning behind it. I put in a lot of work to include symbolism into the story to make it literature and make it so people can get something new out of it, and I even have subliminal things I did not even realize I did most of the time. I believe I can get away with the things I do because I have a mature audience.

Plus, I have heard numerous stories of how native speakers don't do so well in language courses because of the way they are taught. Germanic languages (at least German anyway) are tricky with their dialects as well. Getting a D in a course does not mean you did not learn anything or are incompetent a lot of times; usually you just did not get the questions the teacher asked you right. I have a below-average GPA in my major courses because of stress and test anxiety. Grades in America are very subjective sometimes in my opinion.

I find that I produce work that is of much better quality when I take my time. However, if I have to write something within a deadline, I am terrible.

The mechanics are difficult but with technology that all changes- DragonSpeak, Smartpens, etc. helps me keep up with my mind- what is internal can be presented externally and intact.

I think a lot of aspies are good at writing, or enjoy writing.

Personally I love creative writing. At the moment I'm mainly writing poetry and song lyrics (I write and perform original music), although I'd love to write novels in the future. I won several prizes for my poetry in high school.

I learnt to read before i started school, and was 1-2 years ahead of my peers. I read Helen Forrester's autobiog 'Tuppence to cross the Mersey' when I was 13. and followed it up with the sequels in the subsequent years.
I started writing poetry when I was 12, and now can't be stopped! I have two novels well underway, lots of poems all the time, plus a textbook for teaching poetry to schoolkids - which i hope will be published soon.

Is it unusual for an aspie to be good at writing?
I don't think so. To me writing what I am thinking is easier than speaking it. I crave imagination, and good writing so I read a lot of books. I'm 37, I my reading level, and my admiration for the phrase and narrative developed early. I loved writing essays on history and literature in college and took pride in how I wrote, and was complimented for it. I loved being told that I had done a good job, and that my angle on an idea was something the professor had not heard everyday (but not in a bad way- ). For me as an aspie, I think writing (and reading) is a reflection of the internal thoughts and imagination that I have difficulty expressing verbally. I like it alot!

Is it unusual for an aspie to be good at writing?
I don't think so. To me writing what I am thinking is easier than speaking it. I crave imagination, and good writing so I read a lot of books. I'm 37, I my reading level, and my admiration for the phrase and narrative developed early. I loved writing essays on history and literature in college and took pride in how I wrote, and was complimented for it. I loved being told that I had done a good job, and that my angle on an idea was something the professor had not heard everyday (but not in a bad way- ). For me as an aspie, I think writing (and reading) is a reflection of the internal thoughts and imagination that I have difficulty expressing verbally. I like it alot!