Writing, and how my autism affects me

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I have been an author for over 30 years, have had a lot of stuff published here and there over the years. I was diagnosed on the spectrum only late last year (at age 39!), so I am very new to my diagnosis, and still learning a lot about Autism and the way it affects me.

Writing-wise - I have always had trouble with dialogue in my writing, yet not when writing dialogue in my non-fiction autobiography, only in my fiction works.
Strange, I know, and I have not really figured out why yet, but I am guessing I will one of these days!
I feel that my autism has helped my writing in some ways, but has also prevented me from accessing specific things too...

When writing dialogue in my non-fiction work , I am very good at that because I have memories (distant, but memories all the same) of general conversations people have had in the past, so it's easier for me to build from that.

Fiction is another thing all together.

I used to write very dark fantasy and horror fiction almost all of the time, yet I have not written fiction in many years, as I have found that it's rather boring when no/little dialogue is contained within. I am not saying that I CANNOT write dialogue in fiction, just that it's very (very) hard to.

Imagination seems to be the key here... I have trouble using my imagination to create dialogue of what a person would say etc, yet I can use my imagination to create scenes incredibly well!

This is probably also due to my very poor social skills also, I am basically a recluse, and have no real idea how to communicate with people other than online and in written word (letters back and forth).

Any help or ideas on this? Does anyone else who writes have the same issues?

I am also a writer (though unpublished) of horror fiction, with a diagnosis for autism late in life.
Lovecraft, who was very probably an Aspie, also had had problems writing dialogue. And while Robert E. Howard, another probable Aspie, had used a great amount of dialogue, he very often had characters in 20th century settings using language you'd expect in the Hyborian Age.
I myself have struggled with conversations between characters, finding the dialogue unrealistic too often. So I tend to focus on using dialogue as a means to express information in order to move the story forward. That passing along information, I've found, passes well enough for realistic conversations between characters.

Hi Kraichgauer,

thanks so much for your info. I believe Robert E. Howard and myself have much in common lol.

Many years ago , I wrote a terrifyingly grotesque scene set in an ancient Japanese world, and when I shared it online, it was completely bastardized because "the dialogue" (there was a LOT of it) was more akin to Ancient English!

It crushed me totally, and I gave up using dialogue altogether unless it were totally necessary, but (as mentioned previously), I am able to write dialogue in my own autobiography books, as the dialogue stems from direct memory, and not imagination (but I am able to paint a very vivid scene which is from imagination - go figure!).

Perhaps you'd like to team up and co-author something with me in the horror vein?

Writing believable conversations (and people in general) has always been a problem for me. Looking back even on the stuff I did as a kid, every last character was me in some way, often obviously. I tend to live my characters to this day - possibly not good for me but it can technically work (see post on fanfics above)