Problems with Fiction Writing for people with ASDs

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Joined: 27 Jan 2011
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06 Feb 2011, 12:36 am

I used to have a lot of trouble getting started on my book, then had trouble continuing. I had a general idea of where I wanted the story to go, but wasn't quite sure how to get there. I've recently tried writing in a non-linear fashion, flushing out the important stuff first and then filling in the gaps. It seems to be working, so far.

TheSnarkKnight
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06 Feb 2011, 12:59 am

Bubbles137 wrote:

Kiseki wrote:

My main problems in writing have mostly been focus. It takes A LOT OF EFFORT.

I also am a perfectionist. The moment someone crtiticizes me I usually throw in the towel. So I keep my writing to myself, or show only my mother.

That said, I don't belong in this world so why not create one to live in? I've been doing this since I was a kid. I find it therapeutic to make up people who I can relate to and let them live lives I wouldn't.

That's kind of how I find it- it takes so much effort to write, even though I can picture the world inside my head. I love creating a new world though; I've been doing it since I was little too. That's why I like writing fairy tales.

At the moment, we've got a tutor who wants 'realist' writing, which I'm finding really hard. He also doesn't like adjectival writing, and since most of my work is visual description. He keeps criticizing it and saying he finds that amount of description "off-putting"

You only need to churn out 40,000 words for a work of fiction to be considered a novel. If you could find the time to sit down and write 1,000 words a day, you would have a first draft finished in just over a month. And the good news is shorter novels (220-350pp.) are popular, right now.

Also, some publishers have some specific preferences for how long they want your novel to be, depending on its genre.

YA Fiction-- about 50,000 words
Chick Lit-- about 40,000 words
Mystery-- about 80,000 words
Sci-Fi/Fantasy-- between 80,000 and 150,000 words

As for what your writing tutor wants, you might try showing more action in your story (use more verbs, less adjectives). Also, you should avoid using fancy words, since most people want their books to be easy to read.

Bubbles137
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06 Feb 2011, 4:27 am

TheSnarkKnight wrote:

Thanks for the advice! Makes it seem less scary broken down like that... I'm writing fantasy based short stories (mostly 3000-5000 words) so I think about 10-15 stories would probably constitute a book? Don't have to concentration/depth of writing to write a novel yet, lol.

I'm going to work in including more action. Atm it's hard coz my characters tend to be 'archtypal' (directly from fairy tales) instead of fully developed so the writing's more about the situation/world than the characters in it, but I'm going to try to experiment with more 'plot'...just need to think of one! 'Original' imagination's not my strong point- I can visualize worlds and describe them but it's a lot harder to invent new characters and events within it!

Dantac
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06 Feb 2011, 2:24 pm

My biggest problem is descriptions of stuff.. places, people, etc. I can do dialogue and plots pretty well.

If I ever wrote anything I'd probably do my book old style.. text on one page, a huge drawn picture on the other illustrating the setting and the people in it

I think it all began when I started reading the hobbit... my brain snapped. Tolkien descriptive trauma. Horrido ><

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