Aspie authors writing social interaction

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BrandonSP
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04 Dec 2013, 3:09 pm

I am stumped on the story I should be working on because I have a hard time estimating how my characters would act in certain situations. My concern is that their behavior might seem implausible and contrived because I don't have a fully fleshed out idea of their individual personalities and other psychological traits. I'd love to share the excerpt in question with this forum, but I don't know if anyone here can afford to read through and critique my work.



jloome
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20 Dec 2013, 7:39 pm

I don't know if I'm "successful" but my books have been on the best seller lists on Amazon for a few months here and there and I sell thousands of books each year. It's not enough in royalties to be considered a full-time job, but it's a decent second income.
I write on Amazon as LH Thomson.
http://www.amazon.com/LH-Thomson/e/B0078PY394



Claradoon
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20 Dec 2013, 8:11 pm

jloome wrote:
I don't know if I'm "successful" but my books have been on the best seller lists on Amazon for a few months here and there and I sell thousands of books each year. It's not enough in royalties to be considered a full-time job, but it's a decent second income.
I write on Amazon as LH Thomson.
http://www.amazon.com/LH-Thomson/e/B0078PY394


Bought'ya!
I read "Look Inside" and I'm glad I found you; downloaded and proceeding to read. :)



jloome
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20 Dec 2013, 9:20 pm

Cheers! Thank you. It means a lot right now, as I'm facing the prospect of going back out into the workforce due to slow sales.
I understand my issues, and other peoples and even neurotypical people quite completely. Doesn't make it any less unnerving.



Claradoon
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21 Dec 2013, 12:18 am

jloome wrote:
Cheers! Thank you. It means a lot right now, as I'm facing the prospect of going back out into the workforce due to slow sales.
I understand my issues, and other peoples and even neurotypical people quite completely. Doesn't make it any less unnerving.


re books - Have you written seasonal e.g. valentine's day is coming up? I keep a website for somebody who wants topical clipart and I'm amazed at how often something comes up. Election Day, Daylight Savings Time (but for an hour!), St.Pat's Day, Black Friday, all those shopping blitz days, Mothers Day of course, Cinque de Mayo?, Earth Day, Good Friday - somehow Washington's Birthday seems fraught with possibilities. Oh and next year's Chinese Year of the Whatever. Am I being trite?

I wish I could sit down with you and you could maybe teach me to write novels. I'm a writer, my verbals are off the chart - but fiction? HA! I don't know why not.

How long does it take you to write a book?



jloome
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22 Dec 2013, 2:54 am

Not long; genre fiction is pretty much to plot, so I try to keep my first draft to under 60,000 words and that's usually three to six weeks, writing full-time.

Start with your conclusion and work backwards to develop a plot, then write it forward, flesh out each plot point along the way. Just remember to sketch your characters as you plot, so that you can develop nuance and alternate plot lines for them. It's my weakness (along with not respecting the NT need for emotional contrast and introspection throughout.)



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22 Dec 2013, 6:17 am

jloome wrote:
Not long; genre fiction is pretty much to plot, so I try to keep my first draft to under 60,000 words and that's usually three to six weeks, writing full-time.

Start with your conclusion and work backwards to develop a plot, then write it forward, flesh out each plot point along the way. Just remember to sketch your characters as you plot, so that you can develop nuance and alternate plot lines for them. It's my weakness (along with not respecting the NT need for emotional contrast and introspection throughout.)


Thank you! But could you reword that first line?



jloome
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22 Dec 2013, 1:03 pm

Sure! Genre fiction basically means anything specific to one genre, like detective or romance; "to plot" means it pretty much just sticks to the plot, there's not a lot of creative variation in structure. First draft .... well, I usually write through each book at least three times before publishing, so my first draft is just my completed first copy. My definition of full-time is an eight-to-twelve hour day.



coffeebean
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26 Dec 2013, 4:45 pm

This seems like something that depends on the Aspie in question.

I think dialogue flows well for me because I imagine the style of interaction that I'm familiar with through film, books, and video games, which is a little more interesting, meaningful, and even theatrical than in real-life. Everything builds up to and culminates in a particular ending or event, and the route there always seems obvious while I'm working. I'm uncovering something from an observer's standpoint, including a few relevant cues, and letting others fill in the blanks rather than trying to figure out the appropriate response to an unknown state of mind as a participant who needs to process a variety of cues in real-time. Writing about people and interacting with people aren't at all the same for me.

I often write stories about problems with identity and interpersonal relationships, which may contribute to things seeming a little less "off." The characters tend to be questioning, unusual, or struggling in the first place, so they don't fit so neatly into social norms and expectations. Research and feedback can cover the rest.



WilFindUndrstndng
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02 Jan 2014, 4:13 pm

This is my second-ever post on Wrongplanet! I just joined (this website) last night (and experimented with the online "chat" feature - which went well).

Today (now), I am browsing these discussion forums (again, for the very-first time). Now, what all-that has to do with YOU is this:

I'm delighted to find a discussion thread such as this one!!

A serious writer, myself (for over eight years), I wanna just say that I support all your efforts here(!), cuz I def. know how difficult writing can sometimes get, so this is def. a thread that I wanna "get my feet wet (on)" and show support for! (Haha! Ignore that grammar!)

"Break a leg (keyboard/pen)", everyone!! !



WilFindUndrstndng
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02 Jan 2014, 4:22 pm

Dude, did my last post even 'post'?! LOL. I don' see it.

OK. Here goes 'one mo' aghee-uhn'!

"All of THIS - and other fabulous prizes - on America's favorite gameshow: 'Wheel Of...."'



WilFindUndrstndng
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02 Jan 2014, 4:26 pm

Ok! I see it now!

I'm good! Yay!



jloome
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03 Jan 2014, 2:28 pm

coffeebean wrote:
I think dialogue flows well for me because I imagine the style of interaction that I'm familiar with through film, books, and video games, which is a little more interesting, meaningful, and even theatrical than in real-life.


Me too. My pop culture memory is darn near eidetic when it comes to lyrics, linguistic patterns, note patterns. I'm not sure it's so much a case of being creative as simply being a repository for the creativity of many, many other people that I then coalesce into my own work. Certainly, that's the case with music; I can sing in most keys and be pretty accurate but have a hard time writing my own music.



Adventure4U1
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15 Jan 2014, 4:45 pm

There's something I love about writing diagoule compared to real diagule. I just self publised the TRUTH HURTS under the name Bettie Mills and I love being able to insert descrption between words and make sentences jerky but nice.
- “Stinky noisy inhaler… Bet you don’t like it,” Asha popped her white item back into her pocket, flipping through her pockets. “How was your weekend?”
Isabel shrugged, “Ended up with somebody who said she was my nurse.”
Asha popped her hands over Isabel’s mouth. “Goodness gracious, rumors are true!”
Isabel struggled free. “Is that a big deal?”
“You better be quiet, Isabel.” Asha popped her hand over Isabel's mouth.
Asha lowered her voice to a whisper. But Isabel, she could hear every word. “You don’t want to get Josephine in more trouble…”
“You’re not in danger. Why do you care?”

And I love being able to make a character say something you'd never hear in real life.
******
Opening and closing John’s legs like a weed whacker, Dylan headed straight for Isabel. “What did I ever do to you, Dylan?” Isabel asked. Dylan tapped his chin, “Lets’ see,” he said, “Easy-you were born,”

One thing that is hard for supense novels is trying to go into the "villian mind set, but it's nessacary. I've managed it, but it can get difficult.


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coffeebean
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16 Jan 2014, 11:08 am

jloome wrote:
coffeebean wrote:
I think dialogue flows well for me because I imagine the style of interaction that I'm familiar with through film, books, and video games, which is a little more interesting, meaningful, and even theatrical than in real-life.


Me too. My pop culture memory is darn near eidetic when it comes to lyrics, linguistic patterns, note patterns. I'm not sure it's so much a case of being creative as simply being a repository for the creativity of many, many other people that I then coalesce into my own work. Certainly, that's the case with music; I can sing in most keys and be pretty accurate but have a hard time writing my own music.


I find that new things grow from what I know, with the personalities I've seen being references for what I think of when I think of a particular kind of person. I myself don't know how someone who loves fashion and parties thinks in any way that isn't stereotyped, but I know how people I know who love those things and aren't stereotyped think. The best is a combination of two things, though: what I already know of people and

Adventure4U1 wrote:
And I love being able to make a character say something you'd never hear in real life.


What people would never say, even though they're capable of it. The best and worst of the world.



Adventure4U1
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16 Jan 2014, 12:42 pm

coffeebean wrote:
Adventure4U1 wrote:
And I love being able to make a character say something you'd never hear in real life.


What people would never say, even though they're capable of it. The best and worst of the world.


And novel Conversation always advances something. Not like real life when ton of time is wasted by talking about the weather.
That's what I love about books. No time is wasted.