New Asperger/autism blogroll

Since my real blog is focused on writing for people with Asperger's Syndrome & autism, I've decided to start a new blogroll on the topic. Mostly Aspie writer blogs, but I'm flexible.

Don't have time today to accumulate a lot of blogs for this list. But if anyone for any reason reads this blog, please suggest any Aspie writer blogs you know of. Or generally Aspie creative blogs or other Aspie blogs. And do follow my other blog--- link in right sidebar--- if this topic interests you.

Have You Used Beta Readers?

Have you ever tried using a beta reader to get reactions to your writing? I haven't yet, though it seems like it might be something to try.

You see, I am NOT a believer in critique groups. I'm already hypercritical of my own work, and I KNOW what's wrong with it--- everything. And since I'm a person with Asperger Syndrome (autism spectrum disorder) and seem to radiate a 'vulnerable person' vibe, I'm afraid I might end up being the target of the über-negative critique group members (and every group has a few).

A number of people have written blog posts on beta readers. Here are a couple:
Beta Readers: The Magic Elves of the Publishing World
Ask Jami: Where to Find Beta Readers

I think one has to be very selective about a beta reader. They need to know and enjoy the genre, and they have to be OK with you and your personal style and, well, everything about you that might affect your story. For example, if you write faith-based fiction from an LDS church or Catholic point of view, you don't want an Evangelical beta reader who insists on correcting your 'wrong' theology--- even on points of your story that you didn't think HAD a theology. Or if you write a lot of sports activity into your story, you don't want a sports-hater who can't enjoy that aspect of your work.

There are two extremes people go in to when asked to read someone's unpublished work: the cheerleader and the critiquer. The cheerleader lavishes insincere praise on almost everything, the critiquer comes up with laundry lists of things allegedly wrong with your story. Both extremes are unhelpful.

What I think a writer needs from a beta reader is REACTIONS. Good or bad reactions. They don't have to come from an expert writer or editor, either. An ordinary unsophisticated reader can tell you whether your story was something they couldn't put down or something they couldn't manage to finish. They can tell you it was boring for the first 30 pages and then got exciting. They can tell you they identified with THAT character but found THIS character unbelievable and boring.

The writer using beta readers needs to be clear to them about what he wants from them. Some writers use beta readers to check out a specialty subject they don't know much about: a hunter or gun owner to make sure they didn't make any firearm mistakes, or a cop to catch police procedure mistakes. From these beta readers, you don't need or expect any remarks about plots or characters, and you ought to make it clear that this is what you are looking for.

For the general beta reader, specify what you in particular are interested in knowing. For example, if you have a tendency to write un-compelling characters, you might ask for reactions to the characters--- which ones they liked or disliked, which ones they would liked to have seen more of, which ones they would have liked to have seen less of.... If you write great characters but dull plots, ask plot questions.

When you receive your responses, you must remember that you aren't a schoolchild and your beta readers aren't your English teacher. You need not 'correct' everything they see to be a flaw. You need not 'correct' anything! It's still YOUR book. You should feel free to ignore anything you don't think is valid, and also anything that may well be valid but you can't do anything about. For example, if a beta reader didn't like your 'voice' or your 'style'.

How do you go about finding a beta reader? I haven't a clue. I'd use my writing friends, but as a not-untypical person with Asperger Syndrome, I don't have writing friends that think of me as 'friends'--- more like 'that annoying gal I once interacted with online'. I suppose when the time comes I might put out a call on this blog and on the Facebook groups I founded and take part in.

One suggestion that I haven't yet read elsewhere: why not ask for beta readers for your first chapter only to start with, or for a short story? It's less of a commitment for them. And if they beta read chapter one and didn't find it utterly awful, they might be willing to read more.

In fact, for short first chapters and sections of longer first chapters, you might post it on your blog and ask for beta-reader reactions there, and offer the rest to anyone who liked it enough to read on.

How about you: have you used beta readers? Did it work out well, or not so well? Do you have any ideas to make the beta reader process go better? Or on how to find good beta readers?

My Facebook writing page:
http://www.facebook.com/NissaAnnakindt

Decluttering Day an Essential Task for the Asperger/ADHD Writer

My cluttered stacking trays

A cluttered environment isn't essential to being a creative person--- in fact, excess clutter makes it take longer to get things done. In fact, the worst results of clutter can put writing to a halt--- perhaps a permanently-lost notebook of story notes will put a story forever on hold when the writer can't recreate it from memory. Or the lost-and-unpaid bill will result in the power or the internet access being shut off when it is needed.


For the person with Asperger Syndrome, or autism spectrum disorders, or ADHD, it is doubly hard. For people like us, we are coping with brains that work differently. And most books on how-to-organize are written for the neurotypical person, not for us.

For example, neurotypical people can store important papers in file cabinets with good results. For the Aspie or ADHD person, putting an important paper in a file cabinet feels like making it disappear forever. And so we accumulate paper stacks full of important papers and tell everyone not to touch them.

My paper stack, this morning

 A solution for the paper stack problem is to use stacking trays, as shown in the first photo. But over time the stacking trays can get all cluttered up with old projects and things that belong elsewhere. It's time to declutter.

Decluttering can be tough, though. There are several old/suspended/abandoned projects resting in my paper stack and stacking trays that will have to be rehomed into the Dreaded File Cabinet. To make room it's likely that some of the contents of the DFC will have to be discarded. And it's hard to let go of things--- papers that represent happier times of the past. Objects that were once of value may also have to get tossed during decluttering, and when you've suffered a reduction in income it's hard to let stuff like that go since if you want to replace it you won't be able to afford it.

Right now, I feel like my current clutter-level is holding me back from doing some of the writing-related things I want to do. I haven't written any poems in a while because the legal pad I write poetic first drafts on has disappeared in the clutter-piles. So today, I declutter. Maybe not a complete declutter leaving my writing area neat as a pin, but enough decluttering that I can hope to write with renewed enthusiasm and purpose tomorrow.

Recommended Book: Organizing Solutions for People with ADHD, 2nd Edition-Revised and Updated

How about you? Is your writing area cluttered right now? Do you feel the clutter is holding you back? What have you done to combat clutter, and did it help?

My Facebook writing page:
http://www.facebook.com/NissaAnnakindt

IWSG: Writing While Depressed

This post is for the Insecure Writer's Support Group blog hop.

Recently my therapist told me I'm depressed. Don't know why he thinks THAT--- maybe it's that during that session I was talking about death all the time? But anyway, I've come to agree with him on the depression thing and so lately I've been coping with Writing While Depressed.

Now, my writing life is pretty messed up already--- first, because of my Asperger Syndrome, and second because of my ongoing struggles with writer's block. In observing myself and my writing process, I think clinical depression adds something to the mix.

In non-depressed times, when starting a writing project, I usually have a few really good, upbeat days when I very much believe in my project and don't have any particular doubts about it. When Writing While Depressed, I have ideas for writing projects that I believe are objectively as good as any others I've had, yet on the very day the ideas occur to me I begin to have 'this idea is dreck' self-talk flitting around my head.

I try to tell myself that this is just the depression talking. And my depression really has got to stop swearing in Yiddish. So far this has helped me to hold on to the writing project in question in spite of the doubts.

Because this writing project is my first attempt at the mystery genre, I'm following the exercises in Writing Crime and Suspense Fiction by Lesley Grant Adamson in order to get the outlining/plotting done. I think of it kind of like an experienced writer is taking my hand and leading me through the world of building a mystery story.

Instead of working out this preliminary stuff on my computer, I'm using a composition book and writing with my lucky purple-ink gel pens. This seems to be a good way of doing it, except that Ender the kitten keeps jumping in my lap and wanting to sit on the composition book.

I'm also fighting the depression's effects with by starting the writing day with exercise. Due to the current Wind Chill Apocalypse I can't go outside and walk, but I put on loud music and the house and pace briskly for a half-hour.

I'm also thinking of breaking out my Lawrence Block 'Affirmations for Writers' audio and playing it. It's a bit on the New-Agey side but there is nothing that really goes off the deep end in it, and I think it does make me feel more confident about my writing.

In a number of how-to-write books I've read that when suffering writer's block one must always remember that it ends. Which doesn't feel all that true in my case, but this depression-induced supercharged writer's block will certainly end, as the depression will end (and come back--- did I mention I'm depressed?)

One thing that HAS perked me up is that since I'm writing a novel centered around a crime, it gives me a great excuse to wallow in all the true-crime books and television programs I like--- because it's research, you see. True stories of murder have been one of my Special Interests since I was a kid and sneaked a peek into some old books about Leopold and Loeb, and the Boston Strangler. Reviving this Special Interest helps me to have a more positive attitude toward my writing project, as anything strongly connected to a Special Interest is something I can feel positive about.

A final factor in Writing While Depressed is that I am far more conscious of being an isolated writer. In fact, depression makes me a more isolated writer than usual since I'm less likely to seek out some semblance of contact with other writers on Facebook and such. In me depression generates a lot of self-talk about how other people don't care for me and never will, and if people don't like me in person why would I expect them to like my writing? I also tend to isolate myself from God, avoiding prayer and even thinking about prayer, though I have forced myself to watch the daily Mass on EWTN a few times (a great 'pill' for depression).

Well, this has turned into a depressing post, hasn't it? But the upbeat part of it that I cling to is that depression isn't forever, even when it feels that way. Even in the worst part of a depression you can always be surprised by a fleeting moment of optimism or good cheer. Cherish those moments. And know that things will get better.

Unless there's a zombie apocalypse. I hate it when there's a zombie apocalypse.

Are you undergoing any special writing challenges right now? How do you cope? Or not cope?

My Facebook writing page:
http://www.facebook.com/NissaAnnakindt

Organizing for NaNoWriMo: Asperger - AD/HD Edition

 

NaNoWriMo 2013 begins Nov. 1st, which means that now is the time to make last-minute preparations. Since NaNo is a step up in writing intensity for most of us, chances are that our everyday ways of organizing our writing life might not hold up to NaNo.

Spending an hour looking for a few notes in a massive paper pile is NOT the way to succeed at NaNo. We need to be able to have a system to deal with the notes we generate, with the reference books we may need close to hand, and someplace to put our cups of tea and our writing snacks that don't put our precious paperwork at risk. And some of us are NOT organized people.

This is particularly a problem for people with Asperger Syndrome, autism spectrum disorders or AD/HD. Those books on how to get organized often have suggestions that don't work well for people like us.

One example: file folders and file cabinet drawers. Many people use these tools with success, but for someone with the above-mentioned conditions, putting a paper in the file cabinet is a little like throwing it off the planet--- the paper feels 'gone for good'. So instead we stack up our important papers, and our not-important papers, and candy wrappers, and a book on the history of Esperanto we were using four writing projects ago, into a massive Sacred Paper Stack that no one is allowed to touch. There are better ways to deal with it, though.

The picture at the top of the post shows stacking paper trays. Buy one or more sets of these and instead of building up a paper pile, you can sort the paper into a few major categories to make finding papers easier. Or at least possible. It also gives the papers some support so you don't have the problem of a too-high paper pile falling onto the floor.

What if you already have one or more paper piles cluttering up your writing area? It might take HOURS to sort them out. But you don't have to. Get some of those plastic sweater boxes from the dollar store and transfer your paper stacks, intact, into them. Sure, you've got to sort them out someday. But with plastic boxes, that day doesn't have to be today.

Other important tools: a three-ring binder with a set of dividers. You don't even have to label the divider sections in advance. But they can sort out some of the most essential paper generated by NaNo.

For example, I like to print out a copy of every day's work and put it in the binder. That way a computer death doesn't mean the loss of my novel even if I didn't back up, plus I can work on the novel by writing by hand and still refer to my previous day's work without turning on the computer. Other things that go in the binder sections: notes, outlines, research I will need, and perhaps a list of things to worry about during the second draft that I'm not going to be bothering with during NaNo.

A notepad such as the blue legal pad in the picture is great to keep within reach during a writing session. Write down character names, place names, and other bits of info generated in the heat of writing you want to remember for later. You DON'T want to have to page through three chapters for an hour looking for the name of a cab driver who plays a minor part somewhere near the beginning when you are in the home stretch.

A composition book in a pretty color can be a useful aid. You can transfer some of the essential info such as major and minor characters' names into a composition book. You can even write your novel, longhand, into composition books. Or use it for journaling your NaNo novel project.

Writing tools such as pens and pencils should be on hand. Keep spares. Know where the spares are kept. I have a plastic bin where I chuck newly-bought pens and pencils until I need to rotate them into the actively used category.

Another essential you need to arrange NOW is some empty bookshelf space near to the writing area. I have a very small shelf on top of my writing desk that holds books I want particularly handy. Another bookshelf is only a few feet away. But bookshelves like these get cluttered over time. Move some non-essential books elsewhere so that you can move any books you decide you need close-to-hand to a good location.

Those URGENT papers need a good home, especially during NaNo. If you don't already have a system, find a clear sacred space to put paper items that come in to your life that need to be handled NOW. Bills, for example, or government forms. In the heat of NaNo this sort of stuff can too easily get buried in a paper pile and forgotten until Too Late. And then you are sitting in a house with no electricity writing by candlelight--- if you can find a candle.

Organizing things in the rest of your life can also help during NaNo. Those essential chores of doing laundry and making meals can be streamlined and organized to help you get them out of the way in less time and with less effort. (If you are well-to-do, of course, you can eat fast-food and restaurant meals for all of NaNo and not use your kitchen for anything but a place to store the tea and snacks.)

SO: are you doing NaNo? Are you doing anything right now to organize your writing area for the NaNo onslaught? Do you plan to do it before NaNo hits?

My page at NaNoWriMo:
http://nanowrimo.org/participants/ilsabein
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Writing in the Crosshairs blogs about Discouragement

It was a discouraging day for me, what with discovering that my eating money for the month has been reduced by more than 1/2, and that the food bank I'd been urged to go to turned out to be too challenging and uncaring for an autistic bum like me to navigate.  And then I got home to check on my blog and saw this in the blogroll:

Writing In The Crosshairs: ARE YOU DISCOURAGED?

Yes, Writing in the Crosshairs, I am discouraged. There's this nasty voice in my head that keeps telling me if I can't even handle the little things in life that even people with Down Syndrome or schizophrenia seem to manage,  how can I possibly manage finishing a novel (or novella) and self-publishing it?

But the article on Writing in the Crosshairs was very encouraging to me. Particularly the references to Lord of the Rings and Vincent van Gogh. (I really like Vincent van Gogh since he may have had an autism spectrum disorder, and, according to Doctor Who, he's a friend of the Doctor.)

One of the best things in the blog post was the advice not to compare yourself to others. I guess that's good, to compare myself not to famous writers like Orson Scott Card or Karina Fabian but to last-week-me and last-year-me. (I don't want to think about two-decades-ago me who was younger, prettier, and could write without all the conflict, indecision and angst that I currently bring to the task.)

Anyway, I'd like to know, are you discouraged? Have you found good ways to cope with it? Do you think the Writing in the Crosshairs blog post is a help to discouraged writers and bloggers?

The kitty in the picture above is kitten Therese my dwarf kitten. I posted it here to remind me to wash the cat.

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Indie Life: Using Asperger Special Interests in Fiction Writing

 

This post is a part of the Indie Life blog hop, in which we blog about life as an indie writer.  We are also remembering on this day the events of the Sept. 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Welcome to my blog! For those who don't know me, I am not only an indie writer, I am a writer with Asperger Syndrome, a form of autism. One of the symptoms of Asperger Syndrome is special interests.

A special interest is a somewhat obsessive interest in certain things that brings a certain degree of happiness to those with Asperger Syndrome. They can be something useful, like an obsession with computers like Bill Gates has, something relatively normal like being an obsessive Star Trek fan, or something a bit odd like an obsession with railroad schedules or collecting doorknobs.

When it comes to writing, incorporating some of your special interests into the fictional work can have certain benefits. First, it helps keep up the writer's interest in the work of fiction in question--- an important issue for a writer who often begins and then abandons fictional projects. Also it can create reader interest when the special interest used is one many people have some degree of interest in.

Bringing the passion that the typical aspie has toward a special interest into a fictional work may pay off in the fact that a novel written out of a great passion is usually more compelling than same-old, same-old fiction. And, finally, the special interests you use in your fiction can help define the themes and topics which make your writing unique. Think of the Valdemar novels of Mercedes Lackey (who as far as I know does not have Asperger Syndrome). She often writes about child abuse, misunderstood children, horses, falcons/falconry, and, in a disguised manner, cops (the Heralds of Valdemar).

In my own WIP Starship Destine, I have used a number of my special interests. One of my earlier special interests is an obsession with the Star Trek series, particularly the original one. Starship Destine, like Star Trek, is starship-based science fiction. Some of the characters in Starship Destine are the extra characters I made up for Star Trek stories.

Another special interests I have is languages, and in particular created languages and international auxiliary languages like Esperanto  (learn Esperanto here).  I speak Esperanto pretty well, and I know some of a couple of other similar international auxiliary languages that never got the speaker base that Esperanto has these days. I could have incorporated this interest into my story by simply creating an idealized future society where all Earth people have agreed to speak Esperanto as a second language and thus done away with language problems--- at least until they meet their first aliens. But that kind of story isn't me. In Starship Destine there are no less than 3 international auxiliary languages in use--- the two major political factions each have their preferred IAL, and the Fleet uses a third to show its attempted neutrality.

I also have an interest in politics, as well as a dismay at the anger and hatred over political divisions today. Because I don't want to project contemporary politics into the future, I have replaced today's conservative/liberal dichotomy with a different one: we have the Omaynists, which include ALL of today's conservative/liberal/socialist/'reactionary' factions, who are characterized by the fact that they actually believe in things, and usually share the idea that at least sometimes it is good to tell the truth, and the Alliterists, who openly boast of telling lies and who admire the evil dictators of the past such as Caligula, Stalin, Hitler and Kim Jong-il.

Now, as beneficial as special interests can be to your fiction, there is a downside. Aspies can run on and on about their special interests to the point that they bore people. Think of all the details about whaling in Moby Dick, written by probable aspie Herman Melville. By modern standards at least he should have cut some of that out. And if he was a typical aspie, he might easily have added two or three times as much of those whaling-details. It's kind of like the social skills we aspies have to learn, that we have to limit the amount of stuff we say about our special interests to others, just give them very brief highlights to avoid boring them.

Another trap is letting your special interests eat your writing time, if not your life. That's a constant temptation for me in this project. One of the languages I use in the story, Universalglot, is a very obscure one, and a language I don't know very well yet. I'm very tempted to spend my writing time studying Universalglot or working on my Universalglot Facebook page. The essential thing is to set a fixed rule--- your writing time is for your writing. Your special interests you work with at some other time--- usually after the day's writing work is over.

After all this, I bet some of the neurotypical writers out there are beginning to wish that they were lucky enough to have Asperger Syndrome and the attendant flock of special interests. Don't despair, your more ordinary interests can take the same role in your writing. And though you may not have the same level of passion for them that the aspie has with special interests, they are also less likely to take up too much of your time.

Question: what interests of yours, special or otherwise, have you incorporated into your current writing? Is it working out?
 
You may continue the conversation on our Facebook page, where this blog post will be linked, or in the comments section of this blog..
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IWSG: Fear of Detection

This is a post for the Insecure Writers Support Group . 

All of my story-creating/writing life, I have suffered from a fear of detection. It works like this: if other people detect that I am making up stories in my head, they will become hostile and harshly critical to me because of it. I am living in a fantasy world, they will say. Proof that I have serious mental problems, they will say. As a child I once even went to a therapist who promised to cure me of my pathological fantasy life.

Perhaps it's because I have Asperger Syndrome--- undiagnosed until much later in life--- that my childhood self learned to see other people as only a source of pain. While the other children divided the kids around them into groups 'my friends' and 'not my friends', I divided it into 'people who throw rocks at me' and 'people who only call me names'.

Instead of friends, I had fictional characters. I made up stories about the characters in favorite TV shows: Star Trek, Dark Shadows, Hogan's Heroes, Batman, Wild, Wild West.... I started making up original characters for these head-stories, and that was probably the reason I began thinking of myself as a future writer. That and the example of Jo from Little Women.

But I never dared share any detail of my head-stories with another living soul. That would just add more ammunition to the outer world's campaign to reject me as too weird and substandard to be anything but an outcast.

Even when I grew to maturity and began writing things down, my fear of detection continued. Most of what I wrote was never seen by another living soul. The one science fiction story I wrote got a personal rejection letter when I sent it to a sci-fi magazine, but even though I knew that was a good thing, I never sent it out again.

For a brief time I wrote a humor column for a local newspaper that specialized in humorous things, but that wasn't a form of writing that touched my heart. It didn't matter if people liked that or not, so it felt safe to share that with others.

Now, having arrived at an age that most young people think is too old to be of interest, I am finally beginning to be ready to deal with my fear of detection. The other day, I experimentally posted a scene from a novel on this blog. I directed the attention of a few of my write-y friends to it, and I also gave a printed-out copy to my therapist (who's a Protestant pastor and a Kung-fu Master on the side).

Doing this gave me loads of destructive, self-hating and fearful thoughts that made yesterday an interesting day. And now, I'm fighting my fears even more: I'm participating in the Insecure Writers Support Group, talking about it, and sharing a link to my story-scene here: http://linalamont.blogspot.com/2013/09/flight.html

This means that I will not only be detected, I may be detected by complete strangers who have no reason not to vent negativity at my efforts if that is what makes them feel good about themselves. That's even more scary. And I wonder if doing this sharing will have a negative effect on my level of commitment to the story. Since no matter what reaction I get--- critiques, silence or praise--- I will still be convinced in my heart that every other person alive, looking at my work, will declare it substandard and stupid--- even if it is objectively well written. Since, after all, it comes from the brain of an outcast.

If you want to interact with me further, try visiting my Facebook writing page, where you can see many more pictures of the cute kitten in the photo above and her playmates.
http://www.facebook.com/NissaAnnakindt

Confessions of an 'Egotistical' Insecure Writer

A Hostile Critiquer

I've always known I have writing problems. My self-esteem is so low that I have a hard time getting any words out at all. Because if you don't write your stories down, no one can tell you they are dreck. I also give up on perfectly fine writing projects because I falsely believe they are no good at the moment, and then can't get back into them when I realize how wrong I was.

But until I was so informed by a self-appointed hostile critiquer, I didn't know I was egotistical about my writing. Egotistical because I won't post excerpts of my writing on his Facebook critique group for him to grind into dust. As he does everything I say in my own Facebook group which is NOT a critique group.

So, I'll own up to it. I'm egotistical. I have my own way of writing--- though I experiment with variations--- and one thing I am not is someone who can 'write by committee'. Some people are that way. They may need a critique group to look over every word and suggest changes before they can proceed. If they can't get a good critique group, they will settle for critiques from random internet strangers. I can't understand working like that, but if it works for them....

I have my own way. Perhaps it's because I have Asperger Syndrome. I write. I find my own mistakes. I fix them if I can. Sometimes I can't. I may know that a certain scene needs more bits of description, but I may have done as much as I can along that line at the moment. I work alone toward a goal that perhaps only I think of as worth pursuing.

I don't want 'critiques' or writing instruction from self-proclaimed-brilliant small-press writers. I probably couldn't process the input from a first-class critique properly, and critique from random sources of varying levels of expertise just doesn't seem worth dealing with, for me. And then there is always the problem of attracting someone who will crush my already-almost-non-existent self-esteem--- for my own good, of course.

What I want is something I can use: reactions. Feedback. I mean, I want to be able to share a bit of my writing and see how people react to it. For example, I shared the basic premise from my WIP 'On Tejas Trails', about a girl who uses an amulet to be transformed into a male guise, and I got some good feedback that mentioned some Shakespeare plays in which females pose as males. Great, that was something I will probably work into the story.

I also got a few people who said the story sounded interesting. Were they merely being kind to poor, autistic me? Maybe. But I took it as encouragement and it helps.

If you are also an insecure writer, I encourage you to be 'egotistical', like me. YOU are the one I might think, for example, that you really need to fix some 'as-you-know' dialogue in your first chapter. But maybe you are not yet ready to deal with that input right now.
writer who can best tell what kind of help you need right now.

Know what feedback you are looking for at this moment and very specifically ask for it. If you have specific issues that you plan to deal with later--- perhaps you are a poor speller--- mention that you don't want feedback in that area at this time. I mean, if your major concern is whether your relationship between Tristan the vampire and Isolde the dwarf is believable, 1000 comments on your spelling errors will just get in the way of getting the feedback you really want.

And do feel free, when someone ignores your specifications on the feedback you want and gives you a rundown of your spelling mistakes, to tell that person to go to hell. Even if it is me. YOU are the one who knows what you need, and what just makes you feel defeated. Don't be afraid to speak up for yourself.

But what if you are a writer who is really bad? Aren't you cutting yourself off from a chance to improve when you don't invite critiques from all comers? No. Let's face it, a lot of critique comments are useful only as comic relief. Some person has heard some obscure writing rule and demands that everyone bow down to it even when the rule is not only invalid, but bizarre. I knew a woman once who was dead set against the use of the word 'and'. Didn't have much problem with a string of 4 adjectives in a row, but hated that word 'and'. Trust me, your writing will not be harmed by ignoring critiques like that.

It will also not be harmed by not asking for critiques prematurely, or in areas you are not ready to deal with at this time. Maybe what you need most right now is just some encouragement to believe in yourself as a writer. Because if you keep trying, your writing will keep improving. Whether the hostile critiquers like it or not.



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Indie Life: Aspie Writers & the 10-word Rule

Indie writers--- those who are self-publishing rather than seeing a traditional publisher--- have even more need than other writers to have a good, regular daily working schedule. There is no one standing over you to get your writing work done on time. You have to learn to do it for yourself.

If you are, in addition, an Aspie (Asperger Syndrome) writer, that gets double tough. The Aspie condition comes with this charming little function called 'executive function deficit'. It's kind of like having AD/HD. It means your writing life may be in a state of constant chaos. Chaos is not good if you want to get anything done!

And this is where the 10-word rule comes in: each day, when your designated writing time rolls around, you absolutely must dip in to your story and write a minimum of 10 words. You are allowed to take one day of rest per week--- it's in the Ten Commandments somewhere. But other than that, EVEN on days when you, for good reason, are not going to be even trying to fulfill your daily word count goal, you owe yourself 10 words.

Ten words! It's not so much. Even if you are not yet ready to start a new chapter, you may find a place here or there in a sparse paragraph which could benefit from a word or three of description.

And the magic of the ten word rule is when you are dipping in to your story for the ten words you absolutely must do, you seldom write JUST ten words. Yesterday I did over 600 words when I intended to do just the minimum. Since my word count goal was 926 per day, that was going a good way toward fulfilling my goal.

Being utterly strict about your ten words leads to a writer's blessing--- steady forward progress. Even if you have a whole bad month, if you do your ten word minimum, you are further ahead than when you started.

Plus, dipping into your story 6 days a week without fail keeps the project from growing stale, and then dying on the vine, as so often happens to a work of fiction that gets put aside for awhile.

Now, about that designated writing time: you need one. Yes, even if you are a wild and crazy Aspie who does things when the mood strikes and not on a schedule. A day--- yours, mine, anyone's--- needs a framework to it. When you were a child, your parents provided the framework in that there were set times for meals, for going to school/to do your homeschooling, to get up and to go to bed.... As a grown-up, you have fixed times depending on events like getting up, going to work, perhaps other things like watching the evening news--- these provide your framework.

If you look at yourself as a professional Indie writer, you must attach a designated writing time to your day's framework. In my own case, I find that unless I schedule things first thing in the morning, they don't get done. Once mid-morning rolls around, I've looked out the window and noticed the escaped sheep, or discovered I am out of kitchen garbage bags but not out of kitchen garbage, and my day's excitement has begun. Writing has to happen before this. If you are not a morning person, you may decide to write after you get home from work or school, or after the kids are in bed, or some other fixed point of your day. Whatever works for you. The exact time doesn't matter as much as the fact that you have scheduled one daily.

What is your own best writing time daily? Have you ever had to try shifting that time around? Do you think adopting the 10-word rule will help your writing?
 
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What is Indie Life?How: Sign up on the Linky at the bottom of this page here. When: Post on the second Wednesday of the month. What: Write anything indie related: something that will inspire or help a fellow indie; something that celebrates a release or a milestone; something that talks about the ups and downs, joys and heartaches of Being Indie. Grab: The banner above to include in your posts!"
 

Why Writers Need Sabbath Rest

I have been reading some how-to-write books by James Scott Bell lately, and when I made up my writing work sheet for the month, I took two pieces of advice from him. One was to set my word count goals on a weekly rather than a daily basis. And the other was to take one day each week as a day of rest--- in my case, as in his, the Christian Sabbath, which is Sunday.

On my work sheet, Sundays are in red. There is a column on my work sheet where I put stickers to indicate I've done at least SOME work that day. On the Sabbath, however, I earn the sticker by NOT writing, but resting.

Ideally I'd top off my day-of-rest Sabbath by going to Mass, but because of my Asperger Syndrome (autism spectrum disorder), that's not as common as I would like. Most Sunday mornings I just feel utter panic at the idea of going into a church filled with other people and having to behave for an hour. Some weeks I don't go at all, others I take in the Saturday afternoon Mass instead. Going to the Latin Mass might be ideal since fewer people are there, plus one of my Special Interests is languages so a Mass in Latin fits in with that. But that Mass is LONGER, and VERY early in the morning.

How did the resting go this past Sabbath? I think it was kind of a relief, to have one day where I don't either have to write, or have to feel guilty for not writing. And in this morning's writing session, despite interruptions by phone call and by a cat unplugging the computer, I got more word count in than I have previous working days this month.

A Sabbath rest is not just for writers who are people of faith, however. It's just human nature that we benefit from having a day off.

Plus, not writing on your day off reinforces the idea that writing is your job, not just an idle hobby you take up when the mood strikes. It's a way of telling yourself that you are, indeed, a professional writer, even if you have not yet been accepted by a traditional publisher.

Might you consider trying a  writing schedule which gave you a day off from writing each week? How to you feel about the idea? Have you ever tried such a schedule? How did that work out for you? Let us know in a comment.

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Why Writers Lack Self-Confidence

If you are a writer, and you are not yet published, I'd be willing to bet good money on one thing: at least some of the time, you lack confidence in your writing, and, thus, in yourself as an author.

It's only natural. As children in school, our first writing efforts may have been 'rewarded' by having our little stories returned full of corrections--- sometimes unneeded ones. Like the time my mother as a child had been assigned to write about an imaginary country. She created one called Boland--- which the teacher corrected to 'Poland'. Mom's lacked confidence in her writing ever since.

Or perhaps you went to the kind of school
where your first writing efforts were met with paeans of insincere praise--- as were the efforts of the illiterate child in the class who simply copied random letters. A clever child (all of my readers were clever children), you concluded if your work were the equal of the illiterate child's paper, your writing wasn't worth much.

My own experience as a child with undiagnosed Asperger Syndrome shows how lack of confidence can be created. In grade school the school authorities decided I was 'unhappy' and ordered my parents to take me in for counseling.  I remember my mother telling me I had to go to a new doctor, who wasn't the kind who gave shots. He was a doctor you just talked to. My interpretation of that was that the doctor was a shrink, which meant that I was crazy.

I was lucky I suppose that at that time, one could go in for appointments on a weekly basis, or even twice a week, rather than the standard now of only 20 mental health visits a year unless you are suicidal or some other form of homicidal.

But the result was that I learned to interpret some of the things that were good and writerly about myself as pathological--- a symptom of my unnamed mental disease. For example, I had been making up stories, usually about my favorite fictional characters, during much of my free time for as long as I could remember. One shrink I went to during my teen years--- after I had already decided to become a writer--- told my parents in my presence that he could 'cure' me of my compulsive 'fantasizing'.

Now that I'm a grownup I know intellectually that being a writer is not a mental disease, and that making up stories is what writers do. But our minds have subconscious parts as well as the wide-awake intellectual parts. And in those subconscious parts, all these negative beliefs we've held over the years, are stored lovingly away for the dreaded 'Inner Critic' godzilla to use to stomp our souls flat.

Self-confidence can be a problem even for published authors. Even published authors get their work rejected, and they often are confronted with hostile, even hateful reviews. And authors that are not going up in book sales may find their writing career threatened by market forces, leading them to fear they are not good writers, or that their good writing is doomed by their lack of marketing skills.

What can you do about lack of self-confidence? The answer I have found involves a horror--- positive thinking. (AGGHH!!!) This is a technique of countering the bad, unconfident thoughts we have with deliberate positive ones.

Some time ago I decided to look for a book on positive thinking, but didn't want one with a new-agey, magical thinking approach. I remembered there had been a book by a Christian pastor, Norman Vincent Peale, called the Power of Positive Thinking, that had been quite popular. I figured that a Christian pastor back in the old days wouldn't have been pushing the whole 'if you chant this affirmation, the universe will be forced to give you a Cadillac' magical thinking.

Reading the book, I was pleased to see I was right about that. I was also pleased that the old pastor was very keen on making use of scientific advancements--- in the form of psychotherapy--- to help overcome confidence problems such as 'inferiority complex'. He also advocated for prayer and trust in Christ--- well, he WAS a Christian pastor--- but he was aware of the fact that many readers would have problems with him offering Christ as the only solution, either because they weren't of his faith, or because they had fallen away from it and didn't see it as a solution. So he often goes out of his way to frame his advice in a more universal way, speaking of a 'Higher Power' sometimes, so that these other readers can connect with it, too.

Since my own thought patterns run to the negative--- I love creating dystopian and post-apocalyptic stories--- it's hard to embrace positive thinking. But my writing needs it, just as my body needs the prescription medication I take every day. So every day in every way, I tell myself my writing is getting better and better. And maybe it is.

Asperger Syndrome doesn't mean Sociopathy

As a person with Asperger Sydrome, I face certain challenges--- just like you do if you have bipolar or diabetes or ADHD or cerebral palsy or five kids. Today my challenge was the talking heads on my favorite news channel reporting that the school shooter was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome and spreading misinformation about what that means.

They were saying that people with Asperger Syndrome were weird, odd and no one wanted to be around them, that they have no friends, ever. And they said that people with Asperger Syndrome were like sociopaths in that they lacked empathy--- they could hurt or kill others because they weren't capable of caring how other people feel.  WRONG!!!

Empathy means to feel what another person feels. If your sister's baby is stillborn and she feels grief, you feel grief too. When people say a sociopath lacks empathy, they picture someone who could look at his sister, crying over her dead child, and feel nothing. Or laugh.

Empathy also involves the ability to pick up certain non-verbal cues to tell you what another person is feeling. People with Asperger's have a harder time noticing these cues, and don't necessarily trust their own ability to interpret them when they do notice.

Other people look at aspies like me and say 'how could they behave like that when it's obvious that I'm angry/sad/happy?' Well, it's not obvious to us.

And when we aspies do notice the emotions of others, we don't know how to react in the way other people expect. So when we act in ways that show empathy, more judgmental people look at us and say we didn't really care because they don't like the precise form in which we expressed the sympathy. I think that shows a lack of empathy on the part of those judgmental people.

So: people with Asperger Syndrome DO care about others. We feel bad when our friends are sad. We cry at the ending of sad movies. We only lack INFORMED empathy--- we may not detect how others are feeling. And we may not express our empathy in a way that other people can detect--- which is their problem, not ours. People must not be so socially rigid that they cannot perceive an expression of empathy and fellow-feeling unless it is done in exactly the right way (in their opinion).

Here is the reality: all of us are different. All of us need to learn to accept the differences of other people. My friend Pete often offers to come to my house and fix stuff for me. He never does. I've learned to accept that about Pete--- I no longer expect him to keep such promises, but just take them as expressions of kindness from him.

My friend Magda has a temper. When she directs it at me, I go away. I wish she would seek mental health help to see if it is more than just temper, but she won't. So I just accept that this is the way she is.

People need to accept the differences of those with Asperger Syndrome. You need to accept that your aspie friend doesn't make eye contact well. You need to accept that your aspie friend has problems with social interaction--- it may be up to you to initiate doing things together every single time, or the aspie may be calling you or dropping by your house too often and you will have to set some limits--- kindly.

When you need a hug, you will have to tell your aspie friend that in words, and your aspie friend may not be a hugger. Your aspie friend may not be able to tell you when he needs a hug, so if you are able to detect their non-verbal cues.

In addition, aspies are different from one another. I myself don't like mathematics but other aspies are brilliant at it. Some aspies have large circles of friends, while I don't have much in the way of real-world friends (which is why I love the internet). Some aspies also have anger issues or maybe even a rage disorder, I'm often calm when normal people would be freaking out.

In case you missed the verbal and non-verbal cues, now is a good time to show off your own ability to show empathy and say something nice to someone with Asperger Syndrome or autism, or to reassure the parents of same. It's tough enough without media 'experts' getting everything wrong.

Writing assignment, especially for aspies: Write down words about your feelings and experience relating to others misunderstanding Asperger Syndrome. Write them as a poem ( or a short story or novel or novel series, but those will take longer.) Share the poem with others by some means or other (submitting it to poetry zines counts as sharing.)

Why be a Nanowriter?

This is actually the first article for the Nanowriter series. I wrote and published the second article first. 

Have you ever participated in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in November? This is an event, started by amateur writers, in which one attempts to write a 50000 word novel in 30 days. This requires working at a pace of 1667 words per day, or a little under seven pages per day. (Writers from the typewriter age tend to express their output in typewritten pages per day--- the standard conversion rate is 250 words per page.)

While writing at this pace is often described by the amateur participants as 'madness', this writing pace is actually not at all unfamiliar to the career novelist.

Michael Moorcock, in the early days of his career, wrote a great number of his
sword-and-sorcery books in 3 to 10 days. This includes his most famous books about the tormented hero Elric--- books that are still sought after and read today.

Lawrence Block, during his earliest writing years, wrote soft-core pornographic novels at a rate of one a month just to keep paying the rent. These books, though full of naughtiness, still had one-half of each chapter which could be used as practice for things like plotting, characterization and other things one can use in real novels. Block wrote the pornography books in 10 working days, taking the weekends off, and then had the rest of the month to work on his mystery short stories. He also sometimes worked with Donald Westlake as co-author--- the two men alternated chapters.

Many other prolific authors have at some point written at the seven pages per day pace or better. For novels longer than 50000 words--- and most genres today demand a minimum of 60000-80000 words--- this pace will demand close to two months before you type 'The End'.

This writing pace is often adopted for bread-and-butter reasons. For the lowest-paying sorts of fiction, only the fast writer can make enough money to write full time or to subsist with a low-paying day job.

There are other advantages to writing at this pace. If you are dealing with an executive function deficit or attention deficit, as is the norm in Asperger Syndrome or Attention Deficit Disorder, dragging out the writing process increases the chance that you will become so distracted that you will drop the current novel altogether six months or a year down the road.

The fast clip also keeps you in the story. You don't have to start each day's session consulting your notes as to the major characters' first names and significant characteristics, because you've been working intensely with them every day.

My name for this kind of fast-pace writing is nanowriting--- not just in reference to the nickname of National Novel Writing Month, but because, compared to the kind of writing in which an author takes five to ten years to write a novel, the nanowriter seems to get done 'in a nanosecond'.

Who should consider becoming a nanowriter? The unpublished beginning author, for one. There is a danger in the beginning writer's becoming too caught up in a first novel, endlessly polishing it, rewriting it, sending it out to publishers and waiting to start a second novel until the first novel's fate has been decided.

This is a kind of poverty of the writer's mind--- you stick to that first novel because you are afraid there are not going to be any others. Nanowriting can cure that. Once you prove to yourself that you can do it, you know that you are only 10 or 20 or 30 or 45 days away from having a whole new novel in first draft. You'll know you have riches of novels in your head and you can get them out.

So if you, like Stephen King, have to write four or five novels before you write one that can find a publisher, you can cope. Because you know you are producing them at a good pace. The early-career published writer also might consider being a nanowriter.

According to literary agent Donald Maass in 'The Career Novelist', it takes 5 novels in one genre to establish yourself as a writer. These five novels must be written rapidly enough that the first one is still in print when the fifth comes out.

Writing at a fast clip ensures you can publish at the minimum required pace to establish yourself. In addition, writing rapidly gives you a better chance to make a living as a writer. You may end up writing one type of novels for one publisher, and a second type for another, perhaps under another name. If you can do this competently, you make yourself much more attractive to the best literary agents.

The article series 'Nanowriter' is meant to help you learn to write at a beneficial fast pace--- not just to earn bragging rights at the National Novel Writing Month's forums, but to help you achieve your dream of not only getting published, but of becoming a career novelist.

5 Blog Comments a Day

Lately I've been having blogger's block--- or blogger's blecch--- and blogging has felt pointless, like screaming out in an empty echo chamber. And so for the past few days I've been biting the bullet and blogging twice daily. With limited results.

What I really need to do is comment more on the blogs of other people. And that's hard for me. I have Asperger Syndrome which makes social interactions difficult-to-impossible, and commenting is a social interaction.

Especially when I'm suffering from commenter's block--- you know, that writing disorder where, when you read a great blog post, you can't think of anything to say that isn't based around the words 'nice' or 'interesting'. Or maybe 'nice and interesting'.

In spite of this I set a new goal of commenting five times a day, in addition to my other blogging and writing goals.

To facilitate this, I've also revamped the blogrolls in my sidebar, so I can easily see blog posts on which to comment. I already had one big blogroll of all the 170 or so blogs I follow using Blogger. I also have a blogroll of all the people that are following my blog.

I added a blogroll which has on it the last list from the Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy blog tour, a blogroll of some of my favorite published authors who blog, and 'more blogs' list, to which I intend to add other blogs I might like to comment on but don't necessarily intend to follow right at this moment.

In an irrelevant note, (I have Asperger Syndrome, remember) I'm also using Digg to promote my blog posts (and other folks' posts). In the past I used reddit instead, but it is so filled with aggressive hateful atheists I deleted my account there.

Another blog-improvement measure is I'm adding some sort of picture to each post which shows up nicely in my Facebook feed and also is useful for my Link-Within thingy (that shows three of my older blog posts at the end of each post).

Some random blog posts:
How to Get More Comments
Get More Blog Comments by Taking Sides
Latest Dem Idea On Mother’s Day: Donate To Pro-Abortion Groups

7 Reasons Why People with Asperger Syndrome can Never, Ever be Writers

Sorry, Herman Melville, Jane Austin, Hans Christian Anderson, but you can't have existed. Or at least, not existed with the Asperger Syndrome folks are convinced you had. As it says in Xanthippa's Chamberpot: "Writing is one of the major woes for people with Aspergers."
Here are the three reasons she gives, followed by more cynical ones of my own:

1. Children with Asperger Syndrome have too much trouble with the mechanics of writing.
2. Short term memory problems--- the ideas rush by so fast, you forget what you were writing by the end of the word.
3. People with Asperger Syndrome can speak on any topic at great length, but are inhibited when it comes to writing it down, because that makes it too official.
4. Aspies soon learn that if you write things down, people, especially schoolteachers, can find it and ruin it for you. So you must never, ever write things down.
5. Aspies have odd special interests and so won't want to write on the topics that the mass market wants to read about. 
6. Aspies find it near to impossible to attract friends, so how can they possibly attract readers for their book?
7. Aspies have something called a 'lack of executive function' which is pretty much the same thing as Attention Deficit Disorder. How can you be a writer when your novel-notes are in a giant paper-pile along with old Christmas cards and a list of your Vampire Wars friends?

A bit gloomy, isn't it? And I'm afraid I'll have to disagree with Xanthippa, in spite of the cool name. Writing has never been MY woe, but the one area in which I could shine. Here is some commentary on the above list:

1. The mechanics of writing has never been my problem. But if it is for you, who cares? Schools aren't even teaching handwriting any more. Folks can use a computer instead.
2. Who cares if you forget some of those fast-flowing ideas? Jot down notes to capture enough of your brilliant ideas to finish the project at hand. Your brain that generates the idea-flow can generate all the ideas you need no matter how many you forget.
3. If you can speak about it, you can write about it. Ever notice that the fellow who can't get around to writing a college paper or finishing his novel can spend an hour or more goofing off online--- writing to express himself? Just transfer that writing-energy to your novel and you are set.
4.  As you grow up, you learn that the rude things folks might have once said about your writing were pretty dull-witted rude things. You CAN learn to have a thicker skin. 
5. Those weird aspie special interests are what make your writing interesting and unique.
6. The things that make an aspie unpopular as a real-life friend makes him more attractive as a writer.
7. You can learn to organize your paper pile with paper trays, and put all the stuff from your current writing project in a binder so you can find it.

So, maybe it's true that with Asperger Syndrome I can never ever be a real writer. Maybe I'm doomed to be a failure like Herman Melville. I can live with that.

7 Reasons Why People with Asperger Syndrome can Never, Ever be Writers

Sorry, Herman Melville, Jane Austin, Hans Christian Anderson, but you can't have existed. Or at least, not existed with the Asperger Syndrome folks are convinced you had. As it says in Xanthippa's Chamberpot: "Writing is one of the major woes for people with Aspergers."
Here are the three reasons she gives, followed by more cynical ones of my own:

1. Children with Asperger Syndrome have too much trouble with the mechanics of writing.
2. Short term memory problems--- the ideas rush by so fast, you forget what you were writing by the end of the word.
3. People with Asperger Syndrome can speak on any topic at great length, but are inhibited when it comes to writing it down, because that makes it too official.
4. Aspies soon learn that if you write things down, people, especially schoolteachers, can find it and ruin it for you. So you must never, ever write things down.
5. Aspies have odd special interests and so won't want to write on the topics that the mass market wants to read about. 
6. Aspies find it near to impossible to attract friends, so how can they possibly attract readers for their book?
7. Aspies have something called a 'lack of executive function' which is pretty much the same thing as Attention Deficit Disorder. How can you be a writer when your novel-notes are in a giant paper-pile along with old Christmas cards and a list of your Vampire Wars friends?

A bit gloomy, isn't it? And I'm afraid I'll have to disagree with Xanthippa, in spite of the cool name. Writing has never been MY woe, but the one area in which I could shine. Here is some commentary on the above list:

1. The mechanics of writing has never been my problem. But if it is for you, who cares? Schools aren't even teaching handwriting any more. Folks can use a computer instead.
2. Who cares if you forget some of those fast-flowing ideas? Jot down notes to capture enough of your brilliant ideas to finish the project at hand. Your brain that generates the idea-flow can generate all the ideas you need no matter how many you forget.
3. If you can speak about it, you can write about it. Ever notice that the fellow who can't get around to writing a college paper or finishing his novel can spend an hour or more goofing off online--- writing to express himself? Just transfer that writing-energy to your novel and you are set.
4.  As you grow up, you learn that the rude things folks might have once said about your writing were pretty dull-witted rude things. You CAN learn to have a thicker skin. 
5. Those weird aspie special interests are what make your writing interesting and unique.
6. The things that make an aspie unpopular as a real-life friend makes him more attractive as a writer.
7. You can learn to organize your paper pile with paper trays, and put all the stuff from your current writing project in a binder so you can find it.

So, maybe it's true that with Asperger Syndrome I can never ever be a real writer. Maybe I'm doomed to be a failure like Herman Melville. I can live with that.

Barack Obama may have Asperger's Syndrome

Background sounds from the movie 'Freaks'*: the sideshow performers chanting 'One of us! One of us! One of us!

Today I was thinking about the remarks Obama recently made about his accomplishments in office, and it occurred to me that if Obama, like me, had Asperger's Syndrome, that might put the story in a more sympathetic light.

So I googled 'Obama' and 'Aspergers' and came up with this, (among many other hits):

Does President Obama have Asperger's Syndrome

Obama is not the only US president who might have had Aspergers. Thomas Jefferson is also suspected of being an Aspie. ***One of us! One of us! One of us!***

Obama, of course, has never been officially diagnosed. If he suspects he might have Aspergers he's probably going out of his way not to be diagnosed, and I defend his right to do so. Aspergers is very stigmatizing. One person I told then presumed I was mentally retarded to the point of not being able to sign my own name. (Actually, my IQ is high enough to join the 'genius' organization Mensa--- which is not unheard of among folks with Asperger's syndrome.)

While I still renounce President Obama and all his evil works and ways, this possibility has reminded me that we must not allow our dislike of someone's policies or ideology translate into attacking or mocking that person's personal quirks, which may be caused by something that person cannot help. Besides, why make fun of Obama's social ineptness when we can make fun of his policies?

*Freaks: a 1932 movie featuring real sideshow performers--- pinheads, conjoined twins, little people--- which was rather notorious in its day. I mention it because I rather identify with the sideshow performers in the movie--- though I don't condone what they did to Cleopatra, that was harsh...

Square 8: I am Joe's Functioning Label

Many years ago there was a magazine called Readers' Digest. It once ran a series of articles about Joe--- or, more accurately, about parts of Joe. There was 'I am Joe's Heart', 'I am Joe's Kidney', 'I am Joe's Alcohol-Damaged Liver', 'I am Joe's Left Testicle'.....  Actually I might have made up the last one.

Bev, over at the blog Square 8, has done a take-off on this series called 'I am Joe's Functioning Label'. It describes how an autistic person's 'high functioning' label affects how he is perceived.

'Autism Spectrum Disorder' describes a number of neurological conditions which might include a person with 'low-functioning' autism who perhaps does not communicate with others and bangs his head against the wall even when President Obama is NOT making a speech, and also a person with 'high-functioning' autism and/or Asperger Syndrome who can (sometimes) 'pass' as a neurotypical ('normal') person.

The functioning label can be somewhat arbitrary--- for example, Asperger Syndrome is considered 'high-functioning', yet 80% of people with Asperger Syndrome are unemployed. And a person who seems to be 'low-functioning' may understand quite well what people are saying about him when they talk about how disabled/defective he is.

Anyway, I thought that was a great piece of writing and thought I would share it.

Fictional Characters that might have Asperger Sydrome

There are a lot of fictional characters that have been accused of having Asperger Syndrome, and perhaps some of them actually do, except that being fictional they can't have anything for real....

1. Mr. Spock from the original Star Trek is the classic example, though since he's only half human it may not count. Data, the android from Star Trek TNG, also has been mentioned but I do believe you need to have neurons to have a neurological disorder.

2. Dexter Morgan from Dexter. I like this example in spite of his serial-killery thing.

3. Maj. Winchester from MASH.

4. Brennan from Bones.

5. Goren from Law & Order CI.

6. Reg Barclay from Star Trek TNG. You know the guy with the holodeck addiction.....

7. Luna Lovegood in Harry Potter. (I love Luna, I hope she grew up to marry Neville Longbottom.)

8. House from the series House. I don't think he has AS, I think he's just a pain in the a@@.

9. Adolf Hitler. No, wait, he's wasn't fictional. *sigh*

10. The Crazy Cat Lady from The Simpsons. OK, she doesn't have any strong indications of AS, she just mutters gibberish and throws cats at people. But I have AS and I consider the Crazy Cat Lady to be my role model. And besides, she's so sexy!