An Aspie's Guide To Writing

Despite it's inherent therapeutic nature, writing and Asperger's don't get along all that well. The rules and regulations of writing - grammar and spelling, for example - are not the problem. The biggest problem, at least for myself, even more so than metaphor, symbolism and figures of speech is dialogue and character interaction. When I write it's often how I'd like to see the world; the characters are of exaggerated versions of myself or those I know. Still, I often fear my lack of social skill leaves my characters quite cold and alienating, or worse - stereotypical. With no true knowledge or experience to fall back on, I can only write what feels right to me; my own vision of the world. It's why I often write in a fantasy setting, where a certain level of strangeness can be forgoven. It's also why I enjoy sticking close to, or even perverting genre conventions. It gives me the safety of a strong set of rules and guidelines, but allows me then the freedom to put my own unique perspective or spin on it. Crime and mystery, procedural drama and especially old style noire are particular favourites of mine. My own writing style is more akin to sitcom writing. I'll first come up with a strong group of characters and then create a bullet points list of plot elements to put them in and then allow the characters to connect the dots. This not only allows strong characterisation throughout, but allows the story to grow in unexpected ways. And if it surprises me, then surely it will surprise the reader. I'll keep this short as I'm writing on my iPhone and even this much has taken forever. I'll leave you with a philosophical, t-shirt ready sound bite: I collected my thoughts like butterflies and pinned them to a board But in the end, they were little more than spaghetti on the wall - a waste of good food and one hell of a mess Peace. Consider yourself Aspergified:)