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writing an autistic character when you are not autistic - a masterpost

completely double spaced version on google docs here – this post is more blocky for the sake of people’s dashboards, but still long so people will be less likely to glaze over it. my apologies if that makes it hard to read

things to look for and avoid in an autistic character

• symptoms only manifesting as “nonverbal and rocking” • super smart / living calculator • super dumb / doesn’t understand anything • all the symptoms you can come up with for them are “awkward” and “has special interest(s)” (please do more research) • trains, technology, and/or math as special interests • acting like a child • getting treated like a baby • unreasonably cruel and uncaring about others’ reactions to them being cruel • if they’re comparable to sheldon from the big bang theory, start over • animal comparisons • a lack of feelings • please no stories about what it’s like to be autistic told by allistics

the right way to write an autistic person

• lots of symptoms, including secondary ones not included on a general diagnosis requirement list (here’s a list i rather like that was made by an autistic person – their blog is also a good resource) • having a good amount of general knowledge and actually talking about it (i cannot believe that i have to say this) • talking about things outside of special interests (again…. come on……….) (special interests are usually the default things our brains go to when theres no stimulation or we want to entertain ourselves – it isn’t literally all we think or talk about ever. if a conversation has no connections to a special interest, reconsider having your autistic character bring it up in a context that is not an introduction.) • explicitly expressed to be capable of attraction and romantic feelings – if your character is an adult, add sexual feelings to this point • capable of general functioning, just with a disability that makes it more difficult – not a walking disability (….sigh) • a wide amount of feelings and emotional turmoil (but perhaps only being able to express it in limited ways) • we’re people • just people whose brains are wired differently

things to avoid in research for an autistic character

• autism moms / autism blogs and websites not run by autistic people • any affiliation with autism $peaks means you should walk away and never look back • a scientist trying to create explanations for what autistic people do without actually asking / not mentioning asking autistic people • anything about a cure for autism • a person that “worked with autistic kids” phrased in the same way as “worked with animals” • talking about autistic people as if they are mysteries, are like animals, or are otherwise othered weirdos instead of people

things to look for in research for an autistic character

• actual autistic people talking about their experiences and symptoms • just stick to that and you’re good but it’s hard to find sometimes ngl. just look for the above red flags

things i would personally like to see in an autistic character

• less easy to swallow sadness and more destructive anger. i would love to see a canonically autistic character who was frustrated easily by small things and had trouble communicating why • not a story about being autistic, a story that happens to have a character or characters who are autistic – it isn’t pointed out or questioned, they’re right at home with the rest of the cast and not othered (a la symmetra from overwatch) • intensive sensory issues / small sounds making large reactions • clear communications about not liking x sensory thing (for example being touched) • poor motor skills / clumsiness and not being laughed at for it • walking funny (body bent downwards, walking very fast, walking slowly, big strides, shuffling, stiffness, etc)  – no one treats it as if it’s funny or something totally strange • a big personality that has a presence so they can’t be cast aside (but feel free to have quiet characters too) – if this was along with being nonverbal they would probably leap to being one of my favorite characters ever • a fear of asking for clarification on sarcasm or jokes because of past experiences and an arc about the character becoming more comfortable asking questions

>> if any fellow autistic people want to add something, feel free <<

allistics are encouraged to rb this

Hello! So what I've noticed in my writing is that the 'bad guys' the antagonists, generally become the same thing. As in: an organization out to get protagonist and they avoid said antagonists. I was wondering if you had any advice on how to add variety to 'villains' in stories. Because the only other kind of villain I can come up with is one who tries to to take over the world or city and that feels over used and stale....

It might help to try exposing yourself to more stories, because there are many different examples of antagonists out there and a good chunk of them aren’t trying to take over the world.

I’ll direct you to this older ask about writing interesting antagonists as a start!

An antagonist isn’t always a straight-up “bad guy”, in fact, the best antagonists aren’t horrible people. They’re just people opposing the protagonist– that’s what “antagonist” means. They don’t have to be evil or crazy, they just work against the main character. Sometimes they’re just normal people with a bad reputation. 

You need to think of your antagonists like any other character, just with goals that clash with the main cast instead of a “bad guy”. Try thinking smaller than “taking over the world”, what if the antagonist was only a threat to the protagonist’s world or way of life?

“Taking over the world” is an easy conflict to fall back on because it’s kind of black-and-white, but the best conflicts aren’t that simple.A bigger conflict doesn’t make a better story. The world is swimming in shades of gray and good antagonists (and protagonists!) show that. 

Good antagonists also tend to be tied to good protagonists– to find variety in conflict, look at the main characters you create. If all their goals are to save the world, then you’d have to have a main antagonist trying to take it over (or some variation). If the protag’s goal is to win a competition, then the antag would likely be someone on a different team, a rival, or maybe their own insecurity.

It also all comes down to details. Your antagonists need motivation. Why are they trying to take over the world? Did the effects of climate change make them think humans are a plague that need to be destroyed? Do they have a power complex and need to subjugate others to feel better about themselves? Are they immortal and bored?

Start treating your antagonists like real characters instead of a plain force that works against the protagonist. They’re people too (most of the time, man vs environment is a thing) and that means they’re going to have motivation, depth, feeling– everything that your protagonist needs to be “developed”, they need as well! It’s true that you may not be able to explore that development as heavily because they aren’t the focus of the story, but you can use the information to craft them so they work specifically in your story. A cliche antagonist is likely a sign of a cliche story in general.

Here’s Ways to Flesh-Out Characters, and then the only extra thing that would make someone an antagonist is that they’re opposing the protagonist. Try to creating more personal conflicts (revenge can be a decent place to start) and variety of antagonists can come out of that.

Good luck with your antagonists!

smol 

Touch by Lucz Anne fowler

In celebration of Weird Autumn being released, here’s Mae playing some bass

ok, i’ve decided to make a tutorial on how to prepare these graphite blenders (english is not my first language so keep that in mind) hope i explain myself well:

i think they’re called stumps in english, whatever, the point is i’ve seen a lot of artists ditching them and recommending using q-tips instead becaue “they’re hard and don’t blend well” or using them right away, so i thought i would show you how to soften them. some of you may know this but i’m sure a lot of you don’t

step 1: buying them (i recommend getting 3, the smaller one, a medium size one and a large one)

step 2: search a hard surface (the floor is great) and get a hammer

step 3: get one stump and start hammering it, you have to hammer the whole stump but go a little bit harder on the tips

step 4: roll the stump and hammer all sides (don’t go crazy it has to stay round) it may take a while

step 5: to know when you’re done you gotta squeeze the tip, it’s gotta be soft enough to form an oval between your fingers but not flaten right away

step 6: choose the softer tip and put the stump vertical with the chosen tip up, hit the floor repeatedly to get rid of the other tip, keep doing that until the bottom is flaten, you should end up with something like this:

step 7: once you’re done, put tape around the point, right where the cone of the point starts forming

step 8: get some sandpaper and sand the tip (horizontally like in the gif), keep the sandpaper in your case because that’s how you “clean” the tip

i had these for almost 7 years (yeah i know they look nasty, art isn’t clean) 

and they work perfectly

Source

Egyptian Mythology

Popular Gods