Help writing an autistic character in fictional novel?

He 'just' thinks about it???

Hi Claire, 

Interesting thread of thoughts.

Please seek permission from NAS to ask members questions about your book. 

Thank you and good luck with everything,

Kalliopi Moderator

Claire, I applaud you for seeking to dispel the stereotypes of autism. I am a writer myself and so know the importance of creating believable characters.

I agree with Hope that perhaps he should not have any special gifts. He could, perhaps, know a lot about a certain topic that isn't too far out, but give him a good reason for wanting that specific knowledge and don't make him obsessed with learning more about it.

You might be surprised to hear that most of the autistics I've come across do in fact appear to understand sarcasm, irony and all that. That's not to say it's the general trend, but of all the members in the large social group I attend there is only one person there who I know takes things very literally.

I'm still inclined to re-state the concern I expressed earlier, about using actual people's experiences in a fictional character.

Most writers have difficulty creating their central characters, and some confess to building a large proportion of a character around someone they know.

The danger here is that someone discloses a lot of their personal experience trying to help you. With the best will in the world, trying to create the character you want, you may be sorely tempted to borrow overmuch from one helpful individual. But you could also, inadvertantly, borrow some details that would identify your source character.

This room needs to be a safe place for people to discuss their issues and needs. Though well intentioned I'm sure, you do risk compromising that security.

I do think you should give some thought now as to how you avoid overly basing your fictional character on one helpful individual. At least that would help you in deciding how to go about creating an autistic character.

I don't think that incorporating Autism into fiction is necessarily exploitatitive, although it does need to be handled sensitively.

I think you should avoid giving your character any extreme talents or gifts because this would only serve to perpetuate the savant stereotype. People with Asperger's, myself included, usually have an uneven skills profile, even within a subject area. For example, being really good at spelling out complex words but lacking comprehension in English, or being able to memorise Scientific facts but not being able to conduct practical experiments in a school laboratory. The different areas of strength and weakness will vary in different individuals. My own strengths are having a good memory for facts in subjects that interest me, and good at understanding factual information and putting together well researched arguments. I struggle greatly with Maths and understanding complex fiction.

Some Autistic people are great artists, but there is already a stereotype about Autism and art. Conversely many people with Autism struggle in this area, due to having fine motor skill difficulties.

Okay, I seem to have failed to express myself correctly. Let me clarify a few things.

The reason the character is autisic is that I thought I could do some good by making him this way. I actually do have experience with autism - I'm a secondary school teacher and I have taught a few students with autism, though I admit those who have the condition more severely were never in any of my classes. I have had training on it but not a huge amount; enough that my school and the government would deem necessary, I suppose. The character didn't start off as autistic. He was originally going to be just a kid who gets bullied, as lots of kids do, but I felt that if he were autistic, it might raise some awareness, promote tolerance and highlight some of the issues that autistic students face at high school (the book is aimed at teens and young adults, those who are most likely to be the bullies of autistic teens, so maybe if they read it, it might do some good?). What prompted this was a shocking piece I read about higher bullying rates and more suicidal thoughts in those with autism. But I'm not going to do much good if I can't get it right. Like you said, I want to convey a meaningful and constructive message, and who better to help me do that than those who have been there?

It was nothing to do with boosting sales, though I accept you only have my word for it. The character is one of four whose perspectives are going to be explored equally. He is not the 'main' character; he is one of them. I don't think it's exploitation of a disability; does that mean that no fictional characters can be in a wheelchair? Or deaf? Or blind? I don't really think it's exploitation; I guess it's a matter of opinion.

I don't feel like I'm 'quizzing' people; if they don't want to answer, they don't have to. I certainly won't completely take their lives and turn it into a story, though I again accept you have only my word for that. I'm a nice person, I don't want to make anyone feel uncomfortable or hurt anyone and I certainly don't want to capitalise on someone else's misfortune. I just wanted to handle an issue as sensitively as possible.

As far as permission for research goes, I wasn't aware I needed any. If that's the case, then I'm sure the thread will get closed down and/or removed and that's fine. I didn't mean to break any rules. I have posted this exact same thread elsewhere and had nothing but positive responses.

I'm really sorry if I offended anyone.

(Oh and he doesn't commit suicide. He just thinks about it.)

Two points:

a, You dont seem to have sought permission as required to use this forum as a research vehicle. This failure to observe protocol is cetainly annoying some.

b, Without any personal experience of Autism, you would need hundreds of hours of consultancy to be able to characterise a person with an ASV credably.

My first reaction to this is why you want to include an autistic character who commits suicide.

There is a trend now to include autism respresentations in fiction, since Strange Tale of the Dog in the Night-time, maybe it sells books better.  In the 50s it was the fat kid - Billy Bunter, then the ADHD kid - Dennis, although perhaps there were more affectionate aspects. But I just want to express my disapproval of exploitation of disability in this way. If it is informed and accurate and conveys a meaningful and constructive message it is good.

But you are starting from no insight (in your own words in danger of sounding like you have no idea about autism), and just seem to want to thread an autistic "victim" into the plot, and quizzing people on a website intended to help people on the spectrum, and protect them, to me this sounds all wrong.

There is a further danger, and it is like the dissertation writers we get...someone puts personal information on here, and you lift it and incorporate it conspicuously in your character, and that discloses something privately communicated on this website.

I will wait and see what other respondents say, but I feel this is fundamentally wrong. You shouldn't use this forum as a quarry for a fictional character.