Aspie authors writing social interaction

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If you want to get the writing out there you can send your stories to one of the many writing competitions which you can find online. This can be very disappointing when you are rejected time after time but if you learn to expect rejection it can be useful because you have a deadline on which you must finish your story and that deadline can help you progress. I used to put my short stories in for writing competitions and failed to get anywhere and eventually gave up, but then I got a letter and a cheque for £50 through the door for a story I had entered in a competition months before. I had won 5th prize.

I think that Aspie writing can be more original, and in a way more refreshing than NT writing. We have a unique way of looking at the world which is interesting for many people. I am writing my second novel atm. (The first one is sitting in a box, and on a memory stick, unpublished, almost unseen, because there are problems with it that I haven't been able to sort out.)

AH! there are others! lol That was my first thought lol
I have found that even though I don't really read social interactions correctly; my characters do since I can skip the details. I also have lots of my friends and family read it. When I was younger I harassed them daily with the "if you were in this situation how would you react?" because of my behavioral studies I can predict their reactions correctly, and no longer need to ask for most situations lol People are easy for me to read when they are in script form. I don't need to look at them to read them.
XD though I get distracted too easily. I have 3 novels finished but I need to edit them and give them more of those annoying details, and I have like 6 short stories I need to finish and another 3 novels I have to start :/ I just got to organize or something.

That's really good Trinidy. I wish you success. I too don't find it hard to do dialogue on the page, ther's much more time to think about it than in real life.. You can mull over things for days before committing a character to something.

The problem I am having now though is that I've written about a boy growing up who has problems but not to do with Aspergers or Autism. His brother had been hit by a car and was in a coma for years and it broke up his family. His mother and father couldn't cope. He was left living with his mother, but she withdrew into herself and lived her life for her comatose son, forgetting that the other son needed love and attention too. He goes wrong because of this. the problem I have writing is that he acts very Aspergers as he goes wrong. I don't know whether people will notice this or not and see it as unrealistic for a NT boy. On the other hand maybe he doesn't have to be a NT boy.

Sorry... I'm rambling... and the main thing is that I carry on with it... till it's finished.

Good luck with your writing Trinidy, Nightsoul, and all the rest of us.

That's really good Trinidy. I wish you success. I too don't find it hard to do dialogue on the page, ther's much more time to think about it than in real life.. You can mull over things for days before committing a character to something.

The problem I am having now though is that I've written about a boy growing up who has problems but not to do with Aspergers or Autism. His brother had been hit by a car and was in a coma for years and it broke up his family. His mother and father couldn't cope. He was left living with his mother, but she withdrew into herself and lived her life for her comatose son, forgetting that the other son needed love and attention too. He goes wrong because of this. the problem I have writing is that he acts very Aspergers as he goes wrong. I don't know whether people will notice this or not and see it as unrealistic for a NT boy. On the other hand maybe he doesn't have to be a NT boy.

Sorry... I'm rambling... and the main thing is that I carry on with it... till it's finished.

Good luck with your writing Trinidy, Nightsoul, and all the rest of us.

[quote="misteryb"][/quote]Many thanks

Ah yes I have noticed a lot of my characters are kind of.. cold... but! just because we see the similarities does not mean other people will Everyone has quirks
I have also learned to absorb the character fully. In fact, while I do not feel the emotions I "should" I am able to respond and react to some situations in real life towards others; if I try hard enough... because some of my characters are empathetic. Which I find completely strange and honestly I dislike writing as them sometimes because I get scolded too lol!

I ramble about my stories all day, everyday; I so understand ^^
Thank you for the luck And best of luck to you!

You can get a good understanding of social interaction through reading lots of books written by authors who are especially adept at that sort of thing. It's all theoretical, of course.I find it doesn't do much in living practice, but it does make writing easier. The one thing I still beat my head against walls over is describing body language, but it's hit-or-miss. Sometimes I can do it without even thinking about it, most times I can't even think of what my characters might do in the first place, much less come up with words to describe whatever it is.

Some best selling authors seem to specialize in dialogue that sounds a bit odd and isn't how people speak. I'm thinking about Murakami in The Wind Up Bird Chronicle, Dance Dance Dance, The Wild Sheep Chase, etc. Sometimes the strangeness of dialogue, the coldness or directness, adds to the characters personalities, but I suppose it helps if you know they behave/speak in an untypical way.

Also, dialogue in a story is very unlike real spoken language. It is generally much more to the point. Much less round and about and more 'aspie' anyway. I'm saying take courage and write what you know and what comes naturally to you. You can always adjust it later.

I haven't read the whole thread, because it's very long, so apologies if I'm repeating anything.

Professor Michael Fitzgerald from Trinity College Dublin (who diagnosed me when I was a child) has posthumously diagnosed some writers with Asperger's, and has released a book about Autism and Creativity (should be on Amazon). From what I've heard, he doesn't use the most scientific methods (if there is such a thing for posthumous diagnosis) but a lot of them are worth considering.
One major writer he's looked at is W.B. Yeats, who was definitely quite strange. Another one he asserts, but who I'm not as sure about, is Samuel Beckett.

These things should be taken with a pinch of salt, but it's definitely encouraging. A friend of mine who's more driven than me (and I would guess is an undiagnosed case) has released a zine with some minor published writers, and has done very well in an English degree.

I'm trying to experiment with stories that don't involve realistic social interaction between characters. I take my cue from cinema; with German Expressionism, Surrealism, and so on, and the way these movements contrast with Italian Neo-Realism. Realism is just a storytelling device. I feel it might be worth exploring this kind of thing. Has anyone else had much success with these kind of stories?

I've written 1,416 words of my new story. It's a fantasy/historical novel set in ancient Africa and starring a Nubian queen who gets driven off her throne by her sister. What I've written so far is actually planned to be the second chapter, but it provides backstory for the main character.

Now up to almost 3,200 words (over twice as many as I wrote last yesterday).

This is my first post, so please bare with me.

I think it's wonderful how talented everybody is. Whether you write for yourself or with the dream to be published, just so long as you enjoy it, that's the main thing.
I recently discovered that I'm an Aspie, funnily enough it was writing that helped me find out and it was a revelation in my case.

It took me three years to write (after numerous re-writes) but I was fortunate to get my first novel published, (Sci-Fi) The publishers must have liked it because I'm on a deadline for the sequel. The process was a surprisingly sort one after I got out of my own way. I'd been informed by 'everyone' in the industry that to be published is like winning lotto... only harder.

Point is no matter who you are, if you can write something that grabs attention, it doesn't matter what your affliction, for instance, I can't spell. And who knew I could write? (Apparently) everyone has an equal chance.

Don't get in the way of yourself!

I hope I can take my own advice because now I have to start a publicity trail, something new I have to learn how to cope with.

You're a great encouragement Boss.

Thank Grebles.

I think we (Aspies) tend to underestimate ourselves. We can do anything, we are brilliant, we just have to find our niche and go with it and not give up. (so easy to do but a cop out no matter if you're Aspie or not IMO)

My book is also about a character/s with Aspie tendencies BUT it is a strength not the weakness. To do things differently, to feel and see things differently is not a bad thing, you just have to use it to your advantage.
God, It sounds like I've written a self help book. LOL.

I like to write, or used to, I guess. I still want to write but I am so out of practice it just doesn't feel right. However I have a story I started that I want to continue, but the only problem is that I am getting mired down in the details. Also, I don't read very often anymore, at least, not fiction. So I get hung up, and say, "writers write what they read. I am reading very little so how can I write anything worthwhile?" The story is about an old man from michigan or something, and a old woman from mexico who are lonely, meet, become good friends and help each other live life. It's an extremely vague premise. But I think it will work. I can see the characters in my head...I also do what I call culture building, and I have stories centered around some of that. What I have a problem with in writing is, I don't know how to keep being consistent with my writing. How do I make sure I write every day without forcing it or blowing things out of my behind...? I'm not much of a novel guy in writing it seems, but I do like to write poetry now and then. How do I enforce this craft so that I feel like I have a stream of accomplishments as opposed to a few good poems? Oh wait, I think I have the partial answer to that.

I think that a lot of writers are autistic. It's an individual thing, and they can be as detailed as they want, and they can ramble, control, contort, do pretty much anything. At least, at an amateur level. REAL writing is almost where the story uses you to write it. But there is a connection.

I like to write, or used to, I guess. I still want to write but I am so out of practice it just doesn't feel right. However I have a story I started that I want to continue, but the only problem is that I am getting mired down in the details. Also, I don't read very often anymore, at least, not fiction. So I get hung up, and say, "writers write what they read. I am reading very little so how can I write anything worthwhile?" The story is about an old man from michigan or something, and a old woman from mexico who are lonely, meet, become good friends and help each other live life. It's an extremely vague premise. But I think it will work. I can see the characters in my head...I also do what I call culture building, and I have stories centered around some of that. What I have a problem with in writing is, I don't know how to keep being consistent with my writing. How do I make sure I write every day without forcing it or blowing things out of my behind...? I'm not much of a novel guy in writing it seems, but I do like to write poetry now and then. How do I enforce this craft so that I feel like I have a stream of accomplishments as opposed to a few good poems? Oh wait, I think I have the partial answer to that.

I think that a lot of writers are autistic. It's an individual thing, and they can be as detailed as they want, and they can ramble, control, contort, do pretty much anything. At least, at an amateur level. REAL writing is almost where the story uses you to write it. But there is a connection.

ADD. I hadn't read a book since high school. Until I read a popular series that I just had to analyse to its unfortunate demise.I figured if it could be published, surely I could produce something too... seriously anyone could.

My plot idea came to me like a battering ram and I had no problem committing to my story, it became one of my interests (obsessions) but now that I've written it, the publishers want the sequel and I'm finding that it needs a little more effort so I set aside a few hours each day to commit to it like a job and find that even if I contributing only a dozen lines or rewriting what I've already put down, it's something. It doesn't matter if you change it the next day or week because if you don't at least have your head in the work part of the day, I think you lose the plot (pardon the pun) completely and your motivation too.