Writing a character with autism

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Babyeeblu

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Looking for any pointers or tips on writing a non-verbal charactee with autism. He isn't a major character but is present throughout. Especially needing help with how that character would react in high pressure situations where violence could break out.

I've been doing research and have some ideas but I didnt know if anyone had some experience who could share some insight.
 
Though I've met many afflicted people over the years, I'm by no means an expert or even minimally educated regarding the subject. But, two factors make your question difficult to answer.

First off, 'autism spectrum disorder,' sums it up nicely. It's a wide/vast range of possible symptoms and how they manifest themselves. It's not that there are simply many symptoms, but that the individual might demonstrate a few here, another there, of the range, and the degree of severity of those symptoms also covers a vast range. Secondly, just as with those not afflicted, an autistic person is still an individual...meaning, their unique personality will affect how their symptoms display themselves, and like all people, their responses will differ.

Point being, this is a very difficult subject that tends to lend itself due to the vast range and complexity, to being presented via stereotypes. Those stereotypes simply to demonstrate that a character is afflicted, tend to be exaggerated or taken from the extreme points of the spectrum. That I can assure you with any race, culture, religion, affliction...etc. is sure to raise the hackles of many folks.

So, what I'd suggest is some significant investigation into the subject of autism, related directly to the situation you're presenting. I'd then consider the range of what you discover, and then select a modest medium, instead of an extreme example. I'm sure it won't be as dramatic or obvious as you might imagine. But, it will then be presented in a form that isn't offensive.

You might want to ask yourself first, before all of that, 'why does the character need to be autistic?' If they don't...then why do it?

K2
 
There is no simple answer to your question. People on the spectrum react to specific situations in a myriad of ways depending on their own circumstances including catatonia or super hyper and routines and rituals. My direct experience is with children and most of them in situations where they felt threatened would withdraw -- maybe hide in a closet or under a desk -- and often invoke their own particular ritual -- reciting numbers, finger movements, etc. others could be agressive. But each was different and while you might think you could predict it's never certain what will happen.

But perhaps someone here has more direct personal knowledge.
 
What K2 said. There's a huge amount of different places on the spectrum. I suspect (based on a little personal experience) that many of those places are no different at handling most high pressure events than us, and some are frankly fantastic. But that's about as far as I can go.
 
Babyeeblu said:
Looking for any pointers or tips on writing a non-verbal charactee with autism. He isn't a major character but is present throughout. Especially needing help with how that character would react in high pressure situations where violence could break out.

I've been doing research and have some ideas but I didnt know if anyone had some experience who could share some insight.
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It depends on the person and where they are on various parts of the spectrum.
Eg if noise is a trigger, that might lead to a flight reaction. For someone else it might be smell. For another it might be change, or fear.

Anyhow, bolting is very common when an autistic person is overwhelmed but so too is obsessive behaviours.

I’m in the final drafts (whoo-hoo) of a book featuring a secondary character with (unspecified) autism and my guidance would be to let the character lead and the autism to be secondary. Autistic people have such a huge range of behaviours.

it also helps if you are more than passingly familiar with more than one autistic person, I expect :)
 
Re:research. Possibly you have done something like this, but:

If you look up Kevin Chapman on YouTube (UK person - not the American actor), he does a vlog that involves his family. He has an autistic son, and the vlog is really centred around him. He brings up a lot of issues involved with looking after autistic children, albeit as part of normal family life in the UK. I believe he does this as a way of helping other parents in the same situation, as well as educating others what it is like.

(I know him through his Football Manager content as Lollujo, but because I follow that I also get his other channel recommended.)

Also wot everyone else has said.
 
Elizabeth Moon wrote The Speed of Dark with just such a character.
However since she was well acquainted with someone with such a disorder she had a lot of material to work from.

en.wikipedia.org

Elizabeth Moon - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

I think a key here is that the character was the narrator and the MC so it was much more important to get it right.

So yes; research; research; research.

I have had some experience with persons with Asperger Syndrome.
In my books I have two characters who exhibit mild symptoms, though I don't call attention to it by defining it.
It's more of an Easter egg item for those who are in my circle--though if anyone else notices then that's just icing on the cake.
What's most important is that it allows those characters to function a bit outside of the norm at times.
Basically the symptoms are a part of their character while they aren't overtly labeled.
 
I agree with the above that you shouldn't fall into stereotypes for this character or overemphasize the fact that they have autism. Autism should not be their defining character trait, just as you wouldn't have "she's [this race]" be the defining character trait of a minority character. A lot of the tics of autism are understated or might go unnoticed by someone who isn't looking for them. High-functioning ASD can sometimes be mistaken for introversion. In periods of high-stress, the reactions of those with ASD vary about as widely as the reactions of people without ASD. Some will just clam up or draw into themselves, others might distract themselves from the stress by focusing on a repetitive or ritualistic action. With enough practice, some people with ASD can develop the ability to 'refocus' and/or 'reset' among the stress and continue to function 'normally.' Every person on the spectrum is different and thinking of this character as a person first will greatly help in your ability to create a believable character with autism.

So the long and short of it is that you should be able to do this quite well as long as you don't fall hard into stereotypes of autism, and so long as you treat this character with autism as a person who has this 'disability' but having autism doesn't fully define them as a person.
 
One thing I'll add which others have eluded to, is 'I' would NOT use the words 'autism or autistic' and the like. Instead, just show what you ultimately choose as their reactions, yet don't apply a label or explanation to it. Like @tinkerdan mentions, those who are familiar with autism might have an 'ah-ha' moment. Those not might be made curious and inspired to investigate, ultimately having one of their own.

The moment you label it, you just set yourself up to be accused of stereotyping/profiling by those who will want to correct your version to reflect 'their experience.'

In the end, that's the better way anyhow... Since all you're doing is stating 'this person reacts in X way.' Let the reader put a name to it ;)

K2

P.S.: On a lesser note, my current protagonist has severe PTSD. I show it often in many forms--accurately--throughout roughly 3 novels and 360,000+/- words. But, not once do I ever say, 'she has PTSD.'
 
>'why does the character need to be autistic?'
Absolutely this. Forgive me for sounding a bit preachy on this, but I'll launch anyway. This is in no way intended to scold or criticize.

To me, a character in a story is first of all a character. They are there to serve the story. In that respect, they don't need to be anything in particular. They are the MC or the villain or the faithful companion and so on.

If I start with autism, I'm starting at the wrong end (with one exception, see below). I could start with a character who is fat or is Italian or is missing an arm. In every case, I've started with a stereotype, a cartoon rather than an individual, and certainly not a character who has a role in a story. Such a representation will almost always read hollow, shallow, one-dimensional, because I've started with a trait rather than with a person.

The exception to this is if my story is *about* being Italian, about being overweight, about being autistic. There's room for argument whether such a story really belongs in the fantasy genre or in literary realism, but that's a separate thread. Just in terms of character creation, it's important to know why each and every character is there in the story, what role they serve. Even the minor characters--I'd argue especially the minor characters, when it comes to making a fantasy world feel true.

For myself, here's a possible angle I might take. You can consider it or not.

Do some research on autism (you've done this). If there are aspects along the spectrum that seem to hold potential for my story, I'd look more deeply into those aspects--behaviors, difficulties, perceptions. Where it feels right, I'd incorporate those into a character and see how it played out in specific scenes.

As others have said, I would not use the terminology of autism (remember, I'm assuming we're not working on a book about autism, we're working on a book about dragons, or whatever ... although a dragon with ADD has potential ...). I would just write the character with these intriguing traits. If some readers interpret that as the character is autistic, that's fine. If it goes right by, that's fine too. Because the book isn't about autism.

Well, you did ask. That's me being brief. <g>
 
I dunno. People are just neurodiverse (if we’re talking terminolgy I think that’s the current correct one). If we have to make the story about that to include an autistic character doesn’t that turn the condition into something it isn’t? I mean half my immediate family is has ASD. That’s as relevant to a story centred on the ones who aren’t as the ones who are....
 
Let me try a different angle. Let's assume we have a character who is a sociopath.

If we're writing modern urban fantasy (or literary realism) we can probably get away with the label. This guy's a sociopath, someone says, to pick a clumsy example. The author is going to assume the reader knows what that means, and can probably get away with that. As others have pointed out, saying "that guy's autistic" is more problematic.

Anyway, in a more traditional (pre-modern) fantasy setting, a term like sociopath is going to be out of place. So what do I do as author? Pretty much as I said above: I research sociopathy and sociopaths. I don't slavishly reproduce all the aspects; I choose which traits and behaviors seem to offer potential. When it comes to writing, I incorporate those into the character. At which point, it's really more about writing an interesting character than talking about or using sociopathy itself. The book's about the character, not the characteristic.

Anyway, that's how I approach it. I'm not being prescriptive.
 
To build on what @sknox is saying, I don't think genre fiction necessarily benefits from characters that have drives and reactions that are relatively "alien" to the way your reader thinks. The problem is that you are trying to portray a weird story already, and a character that reacts or thinks in a very different way either has to become a major focus of the story (to really get underneath their differences) or they are going to be relagated to wall paper - and I don't see the point in using an autistic character just to provide 'color'.

SFF characters aren't "real" people - they are people that are in extraordinary circumstances who will make extraordinary choices - in most ways they need to be somewhat average for their plights to translate to the reader empathically. Or, their differences have to be part of their jeopardy.


But I don't know what the OP is writing - I just think it is worth filtering the scene in question through the filter of "What does this character do for the story?" and "Will their agency translate?"
 
So - are we saying that a neurodiverse person can’t be the person in an extraordinary position making choices? What about someone like Albert Einstein or would he not have a place in a sf story?

Seeing the quirks of neurodiversity as if they are not normal in some way is - for me - bizarre. As if they can’t be the balanced free thinker we need in a sf story or they can’t be average people? (Many neurodiverse people go under the radar - especially women who are chronically under diagnosed for exactly that reason)

I think for many people with ASD (and there are members of our community closely linked to this important subject) that’s pretty upsetting. That they are kooks who we (the collective we, the neuro normals) can’t understand in a story.
 
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I guess to clear things up a bit....the decision to have the character be autistic was not just an "oh lets give him a disability" it did come about more organically and was a product of me feeling like certain behaviors of his fell on the spectrum. I do not have any plans of labeling it autism as I am sure it would create more issues or questions of misrepresenting. I think my main concern was with getting into those high stress points of the narrative and not appropriately handling the situation....does that make sense? Am i over complicating this? I feel i know how the character would react.... but if people identify the character as being on the spectrum and then disagree with my character choices as being unrealistic or misrepresentative, am i just making more trouble for myself? Or is it totally fine to just have him be him and not read into it?
 
Babyeeblu said:
I guess to clear things up a bit....the decision to have the character be autistic was not just an "oh lets give him a disability" it did come about more organically and was a product of me feeling like certain behaviors of his fell on the spectrum. I do not have any plans of labeling it autism as I am sure it would create more issues or questions of misrepresenting. I think my main concern was with getting into those high stress points of the narrative and not appropriately handling the situation....does that make sense? Am i over complicating this? I feel i know how the character would react.... but if people identify the character as being on the spectrum and then disagree with my character choices as being unrealistic or misrepresentative, am i just making more trouble for myself? Or is it totally fine to just have him be him and not read into it?
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If it helps at all I’m happy to beta some short scenes where this happens - I’m more than passingly familiar with certain types of ASD behaviour under stress.
 
Jo Zebedee said:
If it helps at all I’m happy to beta some short scenes where this happens - I’m more than passingly familiar with certain types of ASD behaviour under stress.
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Whenever I actually get to writing those bits I will let you know! There are really only 2ish points where it would come up, the main being where it would get physical. Im unsure as to how well his character would do in combat. My gut is that it would be overwhelming for him, but I dont want to sell him short if its a logical thing for him to be more adept.
 
Babyeeblu said:
Whenever I actually get to writing those bits I will let you know! There are really only 2ish points where it would come up, the main being where it would get physical. Im unsure as to how well his character would do in combat. My gut is that it would be overwhelming for him, but I dont want to sell him short if its a logical thing for him to be more adept.
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It’s entirely down to the character. They could be obsessive about martial arts or they could be terrified of conflict. Understand your character first, not what their condition might mean :)
 
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