Writing Autistic Characters: 50 posts from scriptautistic
Happy Nanowrimo! In honour of national novel writing month 2017 we
have put together this list of 50 of the most useful questions and answers
from our blog this year. We hope you find them useful – happy writing!-the scriptautistic mods
Meta
- Our masterpost list
- Finding an autistic sensitivity reader or beta-reader for your story
- How to research autism without falling for tropes
- How do I incorporate a character being autistic into the plot without making it be about them being autistic?
- Autism resources
Representation
- What sorts of characters would you like to see more of?
- What are common stereotypes about autistic characters?
- Do you have any advice to keep from infantilizing an autistic character?
- Is it ok to write ASD characters that are not loved and accepted straight away?
- Would it be bad if I make a non-human character autistic?
- How do y’all feel about a story about an autistic guy who grows to dislike his autism?
Comorbidities
- Similarities and differences between OCD and ASD
- What is the difference between down syndrome and autism?
- Encouraging abused children to stim again (effects of child abuse)
- Are autistic people more likely to get migraines?
- Tips for writing an autistic character in a psychiatric hospital?
- The effect of a mental breakdown on a character’s routines
Emotions and empathy
- What does hyperempathy feel like?
- What would a low-empathy character feel and do when trying to comfort someone?
- Showing love without saying “I love you”
- How would my character use facial expressions?
Sensory sensitivities
- What does understimulation feel like?
- How might a person with sensory sensitivities cope with living in an unpleasant environment?
- Can a character’s autistic traits change as they get older?
- How does it feel to have auditory processing disorder?
- Why would an autistic person might hit their head when overloaded?
Stimming
- How can I write stims?
- What does stimming feel like?
- What unobtrusive stims could my character use?
- Would a character stim differently depending on their emotions?
- What is the effect of repressing their stims?
Education
- Does autism give disadvantages for certain subjects at school?
- Is it realistic to send someone with autism to a special needs school?
Ableism
- Well-intentioned but rude neurotypical people
- Bad therapy
- Might a police officer consider an autistic person a threat if they were having a meltdown?
Communication
- What might cause my character to be temporarily nonverbal?
- What are some causes for an autistic person being nonverbal?
- Might my character use filler words like “um” and “er”?
- Could an autistic character pick up on sarcasm?
- Could you use signing to communicate with an autistic toddler?
Other
- Is it possible for a character’s family/friends to not suspect that the character is autistic until adulthood?
- A character’s friends asking them to stop infodumping
- How to write a sex scene with an autistic character
- What problems might my character have around keeping a pet?
- What could be some difficulties with being an autistic cop?
- Flying and being at the airport while autistic
Fun posts
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