Unspoken (In the story) but 'confirmed' disorders in a story?

[Naruzeldamaster]

There's not many of my stories that I would like to do this in. Where like, there's characters that are "ADHD Coded" but like, it's never confirmed one way or the other that they are. One of my favorite games has some characters like this. It's never stated what disorder they have nor how deeply they have it. But it's very clear to those who know said disorders that they are at minimum on the spectrum. There's like 3 or 4 characters like this in game. And they're beautifully written. (And treated well as people besides)

I would like to write a couple characters like this, but I have no idea how.
The character being 'coded' like they have x thing, but it's a high fantasy setting so it's a more or less unknown condition is what I want to achieve.

 

[Mad Swede]

You do like to make your own writing life difficult don't you?

In a high fantasy setting where diagnoses of these sorts don't exist (as would be the case for my dyslexia) the character concerned may not know what is causing their problems. Neither does anyone else. That leads to a very different character from one who knows why they aren't the same (eg a soldier who got a terrible head injury in battle and has had problems ever since).

Acceptance will be an issue, and it will vary. By acceptance I mean how society looks at those who differ in some way or, put more politely, how society sees eccentricities. This is an issue in real life, and it varies between countries and cultures. If you as an author are going to include characters who are intended to be neurodivergent then your world building needs to take a fairly deep dive into societal attitudes, since this will have a significant impact on the character and their interactions with others in that setting. As an example, in a society where most people can't read and write someone with dyslexia won't stand out and so will be accepted as relatively normal. A military veteran injured in battle will probably be accepted in a way that someone with an undiagnosed condition might not be. So you need to think about how your characters would develop in the setting you have created. Here it might be good to seek out older people diagnosed late in life, because their experiences will be quite different to young people who were diagnosed early and got support

Not using terms and having a setting where the condition isn't known makes for a very big writing challenge. As the author you have to convey the characters many nuances and differences without making the character unsympathetic, at the same time as making it possible for neurodivergent readers to identify with the character. Thats a fine balance which is very difficult to pull off.

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

You do like to make your own writing life difficult don't you?

In a high fantasy setting where diagnoses of these sorts don't exist (as would be the case for my dyslexia) the character concerned may not know what is causing their problems. Neither does anyone else. That leads to a very different character from one who knows why they aren't the same (eg a soldier who got a terrible head injury in battle and has had problems ever since).

Acceptance will be an issue, and it will vary. By acceptance I mean how society looks at those who differ in some way or, put more politely, how society sees eccentricities. This is an issue in real life, and it varies between countries and cultures. If you as an author are going to include characters who are intended to be neurodivergent then your world building needs to take a fairly deep dive into societal attitudes, since this will have a significant impact on the character and their interactions with others in that setting. As an example, in a society where most people can't read and write someone with dyslexia won't stand out and so will be accepted as relatively normal. A military veteran injured in battle will probably be accepted in a way that someone with an undiagnosed condition might not be. So you need to think about how your characters would develop in the setting you have created. Here it might be good to seek out older people diagnosed late in life, because their experiences will be quite different to young people who were diagnosed early and got support

Not using terms and having a setting where the condition isn't known makes for a very big writing challenge. As the author you have to convey the characters many nuances and differences without making the character unsympathetic, at the same time as making it possible for neurodivergent readers to identify with the character. Thats a fine balance which is very difficult to pull off.

I like a challenge from time to time yes. But as you say this particular one is a bit muddy/difficult to mess with. Which is why I'm debating doing it at all.
I mean part of me WANTS to, but I know it will require a lot of research. And a lot of careful planning even for minor characters.

I have a mute character and a blind character already, and those will probably be easy enough. If I decide to include a Neurodivergent under the hood. I'll have to look into those particular conditions. And I'll have to be very careful at how I portray them and how their cultures treat them. It's not set in stone yet if I'll do it or not. But it's Tempting.

 

[Romy]

On the auti side you might check out Brother Juniper. Known as the 'jester of God' and suspected autistic there are some wild stories about him. Not all... 'auti friendly' but it could give you inspiration how this is handled when not knowing what the issue is. Important to keep in mind is Assisi once claimed the world would be a better place if there were more Junipers.

The opposite is also difficult. It seems hard not to have a super detective figuring out murder cases on the smallest details without people tagging him as autistic. My view on the world is from an autistic standpoint, it sometimes shows in characters. The differences are subtle but I had severe issues studying sociology because for me that was theory, really not how people work. At that time I did not now yet it was me. It is one of the topics I try to avoid.

 

[Karlin]

I had the opposite experience. I'm a "pantser", was writing, and at some point realized that one of my characters was probably somewhat autistic. So I read up on the subject, starting considering that in my writing, and then... realized that my being aware of this was affecting my writing, and not in a good way. The character is who he is, an eccentric socially awkward genius. Having an official diagnoses in my head skewed things- I was trying to make the character fit the official image in my head, rather than live his own life.

This is a personal pantser's viewpoint. Once the characters get real, I don't conciously control them.

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

I had the opposite experience. I'm a "pantser", was writing, and at some point realized that one of my characters was probably somewhat autistic. So I read up on the subject, starting considering that in my writing, and then... realized that my being aware of this was affecting my writing, and not in a good way. The character is who he is, an eccentric socially awkward genius. Having an official diagnoses in my head skewed things- I was trying to make the character fit the official image in my head, rather than live his own life.

This is a personal pantser's viewpoint. Once the characters get real, I don't conciously control them.

If it helps I don't plan on forcibly (keyword) introducing any characters who are neuro spicey (I don't know if that's offensive or not, but some friends I know who are 'spicy' call themselves that so.) just yet. If any of my L33T Clan members appear to me as such, I'll do the research then and see if it works. The thing with this clan, they're a bunch of 'odd balls' who go 'against the grain' and they all have special interests. There's no chance at least one of them isn't neuro spicey, if they aren't, good chance they're very lightly on the spectrum. Who I don't know yet, but I'll let the magic happen if/when it does.

I have one character who appeared to me as blind and one character who is mute.

Both of them are actually badasses in a scrap.

The mute lass is a bard who uses her 'voice' to demolish structures. She can communicate telepathically but only while within earshot, however she still can't make proper audible sounds. (barring little grunts and 'hms' etc) When the party meets her she had gotten her 'voice' stolen by sirens. (The proper Fae kind, not the pop culture sort) so she can't 'talk' to the party when she's introduced. My logic is that she's using the bard magic to communicate as opposed to her actual voice.

The Blind character is a Dwarven Blacksmith who's tall for a dwarf. His passion for his craft is comical (Please don't start a conversation about metal with him if you value your time) but he's also a samurai who can slay dragons. Brother could probably clap a lot of fictional samurai depending on how actual samurai they are.

 

[Romy]

A blind blacksmith that is easily distracted when you talk to him about metal What could go wrong

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

A blind blacksmith that is easily distracted when you talk to him about metal What could go wrong

Oh it's next to impossible to distract him while he's working lol but get him talking about his craft while he's off the clock, it'll never end. Brother knows he has his special interests (and he's usually pretty good at 'catching' himself before it gets too out of hand) but he also knows he's gotta job to do.

He had already honed his craft to near perfection well before he went blind. So he's basically like Daredevil but for blacksmiths lol He's only been blind for a hundred years, but in terms of dwarf life spans, that's more than enough time to adapt. My Dwarves are 'born from the earth' so they live the longest out of all my species.

 

[Romy]

If your mountains are characters, 100 years is nothing

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

If your mountains are characters, 100 years is nothing

Exactly lol bout the only species that doesn't live a stupidly long time in my story is the regular old humans.
The interesting bit is nobody is racist to them about that. Like how most of the time elves view humans as 'children' due to short lifespans. That trope always bugged me/rubbed me the wrong way.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

For the record, I love 'neuro-spicy.' It's just a happy term and it pleases me.

"Disorders..." We write Urban Fantasy and believe that it should, indeed, be urban. So, we look at pretty much everything - every designation - that doesn't fit into the Default category in media for "Person," Straight, White, Cis, Abled, Male, as writing beyond the common narrative. It's not actually as difficult as other things, but it sure does scare the hell out of writers just reaching out. Even when we're neuro-spicy ourselves.

In the Books of Binding we have so many characters who don't tick the box for Human, let alone default anything, that saying, "Yeah, he's a Great White. Hell of an attorney, too. Did he bring the new boy with him? Wait, wait, no. Not that guy. I know him from that thing... Tall Black guy? Yeah, that's Donovan. I'll be right over."

In the main cast of Binding, we have a mixed-bag of the neuro-spicy, looks a lot like Freshman Orientation, addiction, medical-professional addiction, mutism, hearing differences, a truly frightening amount of childhood abuse until we all stop and think back, sexual orientations from here to the moon, a few writers, a few immortals, and just chuck the DSMV and in the very first book, Faerie Rising, we managed to get all the way to release before we realized we'd forgotten any Straight, White, Cis, Abled, Males.

Nobody notices.

Here's a little encouragement.

Reaching Beyond the Common Narrative

Writing Neurodivergent Characters in Fantasy

Can I? When Doubt Kills Your Ideas

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

For the record, I love 'neuro-spicy.' It's just a happy term and it pleases me.

A lot of my online friends who are some form of 'Neuro Spicey' or other disability use that term to describe themselves (not all of them have confirmed what they have, but one did say he has ADHD) and I like it too. It's a heck of a lot less demeaning than 'on the spectrum' or neurodivergent (though it's up to the person how demeaning that is, I don't mind being labeled as having a personality disorder but I don't like when my parents tell complete strangers I have one before I meet them) I think we should adopt it as a 'proper' term to describe someone with these disorders. It's a lot less shocking to hear than 'oh you're on the spectrum' from a doctor.

"Disorders..." We write Urban Fantasy and believe that it should, indeed, be urban. So, we look at pretty much everything - every designation - that doesn't fit into the Default category in media for "Person," Straight, White, Cis, Abled, Male, as writing beyond the common narrative. It's not actually as difficult as other things, but it sure does scare the hell out of writers just reaching out. Even when we're neuro-spicy ourselves.

In the Books of Binding we have so many characters who don't tick the box for Human, let alone default anything, that saying, "Yeah, he's a Great White. Hell of an attorney, too. Did he bring the new boy with him? Wait, wait, no. Not that guy. I know him from that thing... Tall Black guy? Yeah, that's Donovan. I'll be right over."

In the main cast of Binding, we have a mixed-bag of the neuro-spicy, looks a lot like Freshman Orientation, addiction, medical-professional addiction, mutism, hearing differences, a truly frightening amount of childhood abuse until we all stop and think back, sexual orientations from here to the moon, a few writers, a few immortals, and just chuck the DSMV and in the very first book, Faerie Rising, we managed to get all the way to release before we realized we'd forgotten any Straight, White, Cis, Abled, Males.

Nobody notices.

Here's a little encouragement.

Reaching Beyond the Common Narrative

Writing Neurodivergent Characters in Fantasy

Can I? When Doubt Kills Your Ideas

As far as 'obviously the thing' goes, I don't think I'll force it, if a character appears to me as having x thing, I'll do the research and hope for the best.
As said, I already have a Blind and a Mute character planned in the first book. Second Book may or may not have more characters inbound.

 

[Mad Swede]

A lot of my online friends who are some form of 'Neuro Spicey' or other disability use that term to describe themselves (not all of them have confirmed what they have, but one did say he has ADHD) and I like it too. It's a heck of a lot less demeaning than 'on the spectrum' or neurodivergent (though it's up to the person how demeaning that is, I don't mind being labeled as having a personality disorder but I don't like when my parents tell complete strangers I have one before I meet them) I think we should adopt it as a 'proper' term to describe someone with these disorders. It's a lot less shocking to hear than 'oh you're on the spectrum' from a doctor.

You should be aware that the term "neurodivergent" is an expression created and used by people on the spectrum. Calling it demeaning is a very short cut to getting thrown out of groups for people on the spectrum. As for the term "on the spectrum", if I were you I'd read up on the history of the autistic spectrum as a concept (search for the term and for the name (Dr) Lorna Wing) because then you will understand both why the term exists and also why the autistic community began using the term "neurodivergent".

As far as 'obviously the thing' goes, I don't think I'll force it, if a character appears to me as having x thing, I'll do the research and hope for the best.
As said, I already have a Blind and a Mute character planned in the first book. Second Book may or may not have more characters inbound.

I suggest that you read the first two books in the Discworld series by the late Sir Terry Pratchett (The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic). Pratchett has a blind master craftsman as one of the side characters, and you might want to see how he handled that sort of character.

 

[pmmg]

It would be hard to know if my characters have disorders or not. There is no one in their time to diagnose it, and the language is not there to even call it something. And the story is just so full of stuff, it would be hard for any to notice. They have work to do, and difficulties are just things to be overcome.

Secretly, I know one character does have neuro-like symptoms, and one characters has the beginnings of cancer and does not know. Other characters have disorders of one sort or another. Many characters have taken wounds that affect them life long. And some have symptoms of PTSD, but cannot stop to processes it. There is a lot of grief and hope and twisted characters all trying to make the best of. I am not sure how it will all play out in the end, but...it will come to an end.

None of the characters would ever know to think, oh, this is my adhd popping up again. And, there is not really any relief for them if they did. The world is pretty much do or get overwhelmed. It has no mercy for disorders.

 

[Naruzeldamaster]

You should be aware that the term "neurodivergent" is an expression created and used by people on the spectrum. Calling it demeaning is a very short cut to getting thrown out of groups for people on the spectrum. As for the term "on the spectrum", if I were you I'd read up on the history of the autistic spectrum as a concept (search for the term and for the name (Dr) Lorna Wing) because then you will understand both why the term exists and also why the autistic community began using the term "neurodivergent".

I can't speak for everyone that has a disability, least of all someone who's Neuro Spicey. But I personally feel annoyed when folks feel the need to talk to me a particular way because they know I'm disabled/neurodivergent. (It makes communicating with others difficult because some people expect me to not be as high functioning as I am) I'm fine if I'm the one telling x person I'm disabled, but when my parents do it they use this tone. I imagine there's a few of us that feel the same way under similar circumstances. I wasn't saying that everyone finds it demeaning, but if I feel it a little bit, there's a good chance some others do as well. Even if they're proud of the term. I don't mind the term itself. But I do wish folks wouldn't put me in a box because of it.

I suggest that you read the first two books in the Discworld series by the late Sir Terry Pratchett (The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic). Pratchett has a blind master craftsman as one of the side characters, and you might want to see how he handled that sort of character.

Noted, I'll check those out. Out of curiosity would you happen to know any other books that have examples of Blind and/or mute characters.

The situation with my mute character is a little different (She can use telepathy but it's very short range (You need to be within physical ear shot) and easy to scramble the signal, and it gives her headaches to do it too long. So her sentences are very brief/short.) but I still plan to write her as if she had no voice at all. She can and does get her voice 'stolen' a few times throughout the series. But she's a hardy one and has adapted to not having the telepathy when needed.

 

[Mad Swede]

I can't speak for everyone that has a disability, least of all someone who's Neuro Spicey. But I personally feel annoyed when folks feel the need to talk to me a particular way because they know I'm disabled/neurodivergent. (It makes communicating with others difficult because some people expect me to not be as high functioning as I am) I'm fine if I'm the one telling x person I'm disabled, but when my parents do it they use this tone. I imagine there's a few of us that feel the same way under similar circumstances. I wasn't saying that everyone finds it demeaning, but if I feel it a little bit, there's a good chance some others do as well. Even if they're proud of the term. I don't mind the term itself. But I do wish folks wouldn't put me in a box because of it.

The way other people perceive you has nothing to do with the term itself, it's down to their attitudes. Don't criticise a term created and used by the community in question just because non-members of that community have poor attitudes.

Noted, I'll check those out. Out of curiosity would you happen to know any other books that have examples of Blind and/or mute characters.

You won't have heard of it, but there is a classic British childrens fantasy series called Green Knowe by Lucy M Boston, where the second book The Chimneys of Green Knowe features a blind protagonist.

As for mute protagonists, try The Vagrant by Peter Newman.