Why Autistic Characters Should Be Included in Speculative Fiction and How to Write Them Well

Greetings! I’m Daley Downing, author of the YA fantasy series, The Order of the Twelve Tribes, and the wonderful Beth Dawson has asked me to be here on behalf of the Phoenix Fiction Writers.

Today I’m here to discuss a topic that many writers and readers may not immediately think of when we bring up the genre of speculative fiction: neurodivergent characters.

What’s neurodivergent mean? It means people with neurological conditions that set them apart from the brainwaves and perspectives of the general population. This includes the autism spectrum, disorders like bipolar or manic depressive, and learning disorders such as attention deficit.

Neurodivergent characters are already lacking in contemporary fiction, though they are all around in the real world. Just because spec fic focuses on environments and cultures that probably aren’t, and may never be, real, why not include these folks in fantasy and sci-fi? In a genre that explores all the possibilities, why wouldn’t that mean people (or even other beings) that face these challenges or circumstances?

Here’s another, very important reason to include such “atypical” matters in your invented worlds: Some of your readers may in fact be autistic, have ADHD, depressive or anxiety disorders, among other conditions, and it may be extremely difficult for them to find fictional characters they relate to.

“But I don’t think I know anyone who’s neurodivergent,” you might be saying to yourself. And in real life, that could very well be true. Guess what, though – you’re reading an article by someone on the autism spectrum right now.

Yup, that’s me. I have high-functioning autism, and so does my oldest son. We both prefer to read speculative fic. But we usually can only read about neurotypical (or NT) characters, and sometimes that translates into our struggling to understand their motivations, or particular plot points. Not that this should be interpreted as: Most books about normal people stink. Because that’s not what I’m suggesting at all. It just means that having the chance to read more about characters we truly relate to, from our own atypical nature, would really rock.

In my YA fantasy series, The Order of the Twelve Tribes, I have two characters who are autistic. Both are female, which is less common for fictional spectrum folks to begin with, and that’s partly why I made that choice. I also write somewhat from my own experiences, so as to feel assured that I’ll be giving the reader an authentic point of view. While not every single human on the spectrum is exactly the same, nor will their lives or thoughts be completely cookie-cutter (just like everyone else, in that regard), we do share several “baselines.”

So, here we arrive at my next spot of discussion: How do you write (for example) an autistic character that feels real and that readers (spectrum or other or NT) can connect to?

This can be tough for an NT writer, since an NT writer won’t be in the head of an ASD person, no matter how much they try. If you are an ASD person, then creating a realistic character could be the easy part. But I still find writing my autistic ladies (Avery and Madison) a challenge, because I’m aware that much of the reading world doesn’t comprehend things from a spectrum perspective. So my goal is to craft their arcs and plots in a way that other ASD readers would nod along with, while providing insight into a situation many NTs just can’t grasp.

(If you feel your head exploding, it’s totally okay. Mine does, too, on occasion.)

How do you go about this process, then? In this instance, I strongly recommend actually being a neurodivergent human. It’s just like anything else: Lived and known things will ring truer. However, if you’re NT, don’t fret; you can still write a realistic ASD character.

One: Do your research. It’s one of the most lobbed-about phrases in the writer-verse, but for intensely good reason. It’s crucial to your craft, and to your reputation, to find out as many details as you can about a subject new to you, before you include it in your work. This is the same whether you’re writing about deep sea diving, quilting, geothermal energy sources, or autism.

Two: Do your research well. This should also seem like an obvious piece of advice, but the fact is, most people aren’t aware that when it comes to what’s in textbooks or medical journals about autism, it’s not very balanced. For example, many in the medical and educational professions feel that autism itself is an affliction and we suffer as a result of having it, and wouldn’t it be better if we could all just learn to act like everybody else, or even more, if they developed a cure. Most autistic people don’t believe we’re afflicted, that the good outweighs the bad, and we would refuse a cure, were it offered to us. A few hours in #ActuallyAutistic communities online would reveal a very differing view to what the textbooks provide.

Three: Use the grassroots approach. Don’t rely on the medical journals. Find autistic individuals, or their families, who are willing to answer your questions. Go for a range of the spectrum – Asperger’s, versus Pervasive Developmental Disorder (or PDD), versus low-functioning, and non-verbal. Discover the ways we’re similar, and different; what treatments we recommend, and the ones we don’t; what jobs and interests and family lives we have, that do make us human beings and not a bunch of statistics.

Now that I’ve said all of this, I still know that many authors will probably never include an autistic character in their work. We are a minority, and we’re used to not seeing ourselves everywhere. But I do truly hope that more writers – especially spec fic writers – will start to believe that diversity really should mean neurodiversity as well.

Bio: Daley Downing is a stay at home parent, author, dancer, and cat whisperer. She spends her days wrangling special needs children, reading, watching Jeopardy!, and attempting to write more than she did in the previous 24 hours.

You can visit her at:

https://daleydowning.wordpress.com/ https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16757931.Daley_Downing