Writing fantasy and Aspergers Syndrome, How does it affect you?

[Valoren]

Hey guys, as a mild sufferer, yes I've been dignosed professionally before you ask, is there anyone here that also has the disorder and finds that it helps some areas of their writing while making other areas a living hell to get right?

I personally struggle with writing dialogue and facial or body expressions, writing scenes that require a ton of speaking subtly moving characters that need to act and react in a believable manner can be bloody hard for me at times, But i find that description and drawing people into things like sights smells and sounds within my worlds is incredibly easy.

How do you find that it affects your abilities to write? I am very curious to get a discussion going about this and find out what you guys think.

 

[Jabrosky]

I personally struggle with writing dialogue and facial or body expressions, writing scenes that require a ton of speaking subtly moving characters that need to act and react in a believable manner can be bloody hard for me at times, But i find that description and drawing people into things like sights smells and sounds within my worlds is incredibly easy.

As another Asperger's writer, I have the exact same issues as you do. I love describing people's appearances, creatures, and settings, but not so much dialogue and expressions. However, at least the expression issue has a medicine for it out there: The Emotion Thesaurus, a book I own and find a valuable resource.

For me the biggest issues are plotting and commitment. I don't think my Asperger's has anything to do with these though.

 

[Valoren]

As another Asperger's writer, I have the exact same issues as you do. I love describing people's appearances, creatures, and settings, but not so much dialogue and expressions. However, at least the expression issue has a medicine for it out there: The Emotion Thesaurus, a book I own and find a valuable resource.

For me the biggest issues are plotting and commitment. I don't think my Asperger's has anything to do with these though.

Plotting and commitment, I hear you on that, but I put that down to either anxiety or laziness, I'll look up that emotion thesaurus, There's a lot of nit picking I do over small things like "Said" and being afraid to use it as well as a lot of writer centric worries that readers really couldn't care about but I put that down to the fact that even though my first novel is done I'm still a new writer who's unpublished so I have a long way to go, but then again so does Stephen King, you don't stop improving untill you either stop writing for good, or die, hopefully with a pen in your hand, or in my case a keyboard!

 

[Steerpike]

As an aside, they've dropped Aspergers from DSM-V and I'm curious whether it is semantics or whether there is a practical effect of that for people who have the diagnosis.

 

[Valoren]

As an aside, they've dropped Aspergers from DSM-V and I'm curious whether it is semantics or whether there is a practical effect of that for people who have the diagnosis.

Nothing changes for me, slapping a different label on something will not change the way I see things, though it's probably going to look worse on a job application if I have to put I'm autistic. As far as I know nothings going to change for me.

 

[Steerpike]

Nothing changes for me, slapping a different label on something will not change the way I see things, though it's probably going to look worse on a job application if I have to put I'm autistic. As far as I know nothings going to change for me.

Thanks, Valoren. Wasn't trying to derail your thread, but when I heard the news reports on it they never really provided a perspective from someone with Asperger's, and I was curious.

 

[Valoren]

All good mate, curiosity never killed anything, except boredom, time, and that guy who stuck his head through the fence in that old vanila coke ad, because lets face it, they'll get that shit into you one way or another. Does anyone here even remember that advert!?

 

[Ireth]

I'm another Aspie. I sometimes have difficulty writing dialogue, though more often the difficulty comes with facial expressions and mannerisms. Seems to be a common thing, if this thread is any indication.

 

[saellys]

I'm sure I'm on the spectrum. (I haven't been diagnosed, but I think splitting hairs about whether people are "officially" Aspie is silly given the time, money, and social stigma involved in diagnosis.) Among other factors, I have a lot of difficulty with nonverbal cues. Because I'm a glutton for punishment, I went out of my way to write half a novel about a character who is exceptionally skilled at reading people. It has turned into a sort of "how many ways can I describe what people's eyes are doing?" game, which is more fun than I expected.