Autism/Asperger Fiction Writers and Writer's Block

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nissa_amas_katoj
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12 Dec 2012, 11:09 am

I'm doing a little research on the topic of fiction writers with autism or AS (or the other difference/disorder of their choice) and, since I have Asperger Syndrome myself (and writer's block) this might be a way to make contact.

In my own case I almost feel like I was born with writer's block, I had writer's block when I was given writing assignments in grade school. I'm not sure if it was related to the undiagnosed Asperger's, or if my executive function deficit played a role.... The main thing that helps me is positive thinking exercises (AGH!) and writing weird poetry (down! down! down! she goes/into a vat of melted lawn furniture).

I'm hoping to hear from people who've gone through writer's block, what they did about it, if it helped.... It doesn't matter if you are a published writer or a recent beginner, your age or genre. I'm not looking to judge anyone or look down on them and tell them from on high what they are doing wrong and how to fix them. I don't have all of the answers or even necessarily any of them, and what would work for me might not work for you.

To get in contact with me, other than responding on this forum post, you could go to the post about this on my blog, Lina Lamont's Write Club. You can comment on the post there or there are other means given to contact me including email. (Please don't contact me here via a private message as I've had such bad experience with those that I tend to avoid looking at the messages for months at a time.)



MakaylaTheAspie
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12 Dec 2012, 12:34 pm

I used to have writer's block, but joining WP helped me form words on the spur of the moment, and now I am making sufficient progress on a novel I've been thinking about doing for a while.


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nissa_amas_katoj
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12 Dec 2012, 12:56 pm

I hadn't thought of that, Makayla. For me internet writing of any sort seems to not count and so when I can't sit down and work on my novel I have no problem posting foolishness on Facebook (though forums like this one intimidate me.) But I guess any writing you manage to do helps you better than no writing would. Thanks.



MakaylaTheAspie
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12 Dec 2012, 1:03 pm

No problem. :)

Good luck with your research.


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Giftorcurse
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12 Dec 2012, 1:30 pm

^^Pretty much what Makayla said. By going to WrongPlanet, my fingers reach critical mass when I post. I think that by devoting a day to a piece of writing, be it a novel, short story, a movie review, etc., writer's block can gradually disappear and pores start to open.


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redrobin62
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12 Dec 2012, 4:26 pm

No dry spell here. My novel should be done pretty soon.



Drisina
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14 Jun 2016, 8:11 pm

I have Asperger's and have written short stories since I was fifteen. My issue is all the rough drafts that I have to work on to communicate what I was trying to say. In college my papers usually involved many meetings with my professors to first, understand the question and, second to answer it correctly. As a result, I have few finished work for publication. As a bibliophile, this drives me crazy! I have well researched projects that never get completed, both fiction and nonfiction. This is my form of writer's block and it is keeping me from finishing my final work for my master's in history and in master's in creative writing. My professors in history are allowing me to write three short papers with three professors rather than a single thesis. This great, but do other people with communication disorder also struggle with these issues?



realityasatoy
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14 Oct 2016, 11:07 pm

My current issue is that I seem to be able to come up with the ideas, the general main story, day dreaming, etc but then when it comes time to actually make the story happen I just can't hold my focus on it. My disorder seems to really cross with negative schizophrenic symptoms which I read ASD and schizophrenia can share features and over lap.

So like my mind kind of goes blank and I can't keep my attention on it, I kind of get this laziness feeling. Weird thing is that I was speed writing back in 2013-2014 and wrote several stories, all of which were at least 20 something chapters (except for one that was only 11) and they were all 7000+ words per chapter. I was doing this constantly, rolling one right after the other.

Of course in early 2014 I hit my current situation and stimulants fixed it, allowing me to do as I've been doing. I finished my last story in early 2015 and hit the road block again and have not been able to write since.