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

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I got into a extremely hard writing program at my school, and I was wondering if being able to write clearly is normal or abnormal for Aspies? I love writing - especially abstract poetry

My oldest son writes extremely well. My youngest son has had problems with abstract ideas, but we are working through that, and he too writes fairly well. I don't think it's an impossibility for Aspies to be good at writing -- from what I've seen on this forum, there are quite a few who seem to excel at it.

Kris

I'm apparently a really good writer when I apply myself. I'm also apparently a really good poet, also when I apply myself.

I've had a few ideas for short stories or something similar, but haven't committed any to paper.

I've also written a slam, and plan on writing a second eventually so I can compete at the slams we have at school.

In general, I like writing, though not as much as my preferred art form- film photography!

my english teachers think i'm one of the best writers in the class. my english teacher last year fervently urged me to publish my works in the school literary magazine...which i never did

I have never heard that being good at writing is especially unusual among aspies.

Writing has been my main obsession for most of my life. During high school, I wrote six pages of fiction every day, as well as a two-page journal entry, letters to my two friends, and assignments for school. I created and published a literary zine. I won some competitions and got my work published.

In college, I was a favorite of the creative writing faculty. They convinced me to major in it. They would take me aside and introduce me to visiting writers as their most promising student. I also taught creative writing to younger children.

Then I basically burned out. I was under so much pressure and receiving so much advice, I couldn't live up to everyone's expectations and my own at the same time. My writing suffered at the moment when it needed to be the best. And then I was out of college and had no idea how to get anything published as an adult. I still don't know how to. So I just write songs that I play at open mics and record onto my computer.

Depends on what kind of writing for me. I ain't a poet and I know it, but I've heard that my creative writing is very good.

Officially, I think they say that some aspies are supposed to be excellent writers, but not all.

I've been told that I'm a good writer, and I write songs.

Sometimes descriptions of the traits are different and often contradictory according to different sources. I've read that one of the traits of AS is the lack of sense of humor and imagination, but in colombian web pages they say that one of the traits is a very sharp sense of humor and unusual imagination, even in the same page or book one can read "lack of imagination" followed by "creativity, original point of view, etc...", so...

I wrote a 209 page story consisting of nonsense and random crap that came to my imagination the entire 5th grade year.

I am unsure of my aspie status. My imagination is mostly visual and I do a good deal of graphic and three dimensional work but I am prolific in poetry and regularly contribute articles to OVI magazine at http://www.ovimagazine.com/. My main aspie characteristic is my general dislike of crowds and the way humanity in general behaves. I have a few friends but mostly I live alone with a sparrow I rescued as a baby and who has grown up and lives with me in my one room apartment. I prefer the company of animals(all varieties) to people as they seem more open and honest.

It seems to me that writing as a skill is just as available as any other medium to aspies but, from what I've heard, visual art comes more easily.

I cant stand poetry and I don't write it. My imagination has always been pretty big, so its lead to some good stories.

I like to think I'm a decent writer - and when I took English, I had the grades to back it up.
However, I find it interesting, looking back, just how "non-NT" my writing was... there were detailed descriptions and piecemeal dialogue (emotional subtext? what's that?), but I had a lot of difficulty transitioning between the two, or between different subjects... fascinating.

I read an article today called "What Autistic Girls Are Made Of" (www.kypa.net/drupal/?q=node/816) that seems to indicate that girls on the spectrum are more likely to be gifted writers, whereas boys lean more toward the mathematical side. Perhaps that is part of the equation?

Edited: to insert URL and link.

i'm hyperlexic and because we understand things in text better we're born readers and writers. my writing assignments in school were always over the requirement.

I dont see why it would be abnormal, since we need some way to communicate with the world I think that because writing is perhaps less about reading people than in understanding the rules that govern writing, that aspies might be able to express themselves on paper in ways that they cant with the spoken word. I think aspies, and perhaps people in general, tend to write as they speak, although this is just a hypothesis, but that their speech mirrors the way they write, but its easier to see what they mean than if they spoke the same thing. So maybe they enjoy a way(myself included) of expressing thoughts that seem impossible to convey in speech, but even if abstarct and unusual, bring clarity to the writer in expressing themselves. I think photograhy, painting and other art forms could serve the same purpose for people with aspereger's.

thats just a crazy theory, but might have some merit. Personally, i enjoy and write abstract poetry(isnt most good poetry "abstract" anyways) and love to read, which i do much better than speaking. Creative writing ive never really tried, mostly writing essays which are all about facts and structure, which i do well at.

I too was considered a gifted writer in school, but hardly wrote anything I didn't have to, leaving a lot of potential ideas to simply stagnate in my head as opposed to being prolific. On the occasions when some creative writing assignment really gave me a chance to shine, the english teachers would ask, "where I'd been all this time".

I wish the stereotype about male aspies being great with math and computers applied to me; then I might be making a decent living. Hell, I can't even figure out how to post pics on this site.

This is one of my issues with the Asperger's stereotype. . .

Despite other Asperger traits, writing and understanding symbols and metaphors has typically been one of my strongests assests; at least in my mother tongue. I was ahead in reading and writing during primary school (but not before that, that I recall of) and I was eventually chosen to represent my school at a writing interschool. During my mid-teens I had to live abroad meaning that I had to deal with an English speaking environment; I adapted and my tendency to both write good stories and being able to intepret them well continued - I then began writing putitative "song" lyrics in English (they are mostly crap, though) and was the guy getting the best grades (within the guys) in Literature/English. During my last years of highschool (back in my country) I wrote a nouvelle, improved on my "poems" which I published at the school magazine, was getting straight As in Literature (learned a lot btw) and was usually know as the weird writer dude around the school.
I didn't pursue this much further during uni but I did get round to writing some much better poetry (IMO) around 2004 once I graduated.

So, thanks to the Asperger label being commented at a crappy online newspaper, some accountant at work figured out I might have it (or so I read in a certain context) and began teasing me that I was completely incapable of understanding metaphors because I didn't agree with an imagery thing she was commenting on (that wasn't really in itself a metaphor!).

. . .or the Asperger's stereotype might be statistically accurate and it's just me that I happen not to have all the traits.

I don't think there's any reason someone with AS can't be a good writer. Like most of you, I've always been inclined to the visual arts. But visual arts aren't that different from other creative pursuits. I think a number of Aspergers attributes are at the centre of what can potentially make a great writer.

Is extreme attention to minor details not key to exceptional writing? Or is describing life from a unique perspective not also key to writing interesting fiction? And surely if writing is something one takes a deep interest in, then one will focus intensely at honing their art; who better to do this than an Aspie?

I'll admit, sometimes motivation to write is tough when you have to constantly redo everything over and over before you're happy with it, but that's exactly how lots of great writers compose. It seems like the only issue AS writers face is being forced to perform under pressure. I usually find I can write very well when I want to as long as I'm able to let "inspiration" come to me and not have to rush it.

Recently I've been suspecting Aspergers of a lot of writers and poets; Gerard Manley Hopkins specifically (based on a brief study of his poetry and personal letters) is a prime example of someone with AS characteristics. And Hopkins is said to have revolutionized modern poetry. Moreover, poetry in general seems to be the perfect venue for Aspies.

Poetry analysis has always come easily to me. In high school and now in university I've always been the one to "get" things my classmates and professors seem to miss. I take great joy in noticing how a poem is comprised of many small details and instead of having to look at the big picture first, the best way to analyse a poem is to figure out the parts and then put it together to make a big picture. In a way, disecting poems and discerning meaning and the poet's intent is easier for me than most other types of reading.

I recently read somewhere that George Orwell is suspected to have had aspergers. THis would not surprise me slightly. The type of attention to detail and scientific nature of his writing has always stood out to me (ie. in his short works like: Shooting an Elephant or Animal Farm). Or, if anyone wishes to understand his writing style and find out in his own words how come he was able to hone his inner aspie-writer, read Orwell's Politics and the English Language and Why I Write. I guarantee, they will change your life!

Are there any other English majors/writers out there with AS who would agree or can think of other notable writers who exhibit similar signs of Aspergers?