How to avoid basing an autistic character too much upon myself?
One of the characters in my current piece is autistic. I'm on the spectrum myself, so I have some idea of what this is like, but I'm starting to think that I might be basing her a bit too much on myself. Here's the main reasons I think this:
- Her role in the story is the radio operator, cryptographer and locksmith (basically, the resident hacker/electronics specialist). I'm a software engineer with an interest in IT security.
- Both of us tend to think out loud, regardless of whether it's appropriate. There is a plot point around this (and the accompanying inability to know when to shut up), but some of her non-sequiturs are shout outs/references to various sources I find amusing (and sometimes reference in test code).
- General obliviousness towards appearance - anyone's appearance.
- When initially drafting scenes that involve her, she always ends up making sarcastic comments without changing her expression. I snark a lot.
It strikes me that making her a gender-swapped copy of myself is unimaginative. How can I avoid this?
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/39903. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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Are you happy with your story and character in other ways? Is the only problem your worry that she's too much like you? If so, then I suggest you just keep writing. I assure you that the character you described isn't routine and boring. You're still using your imagination, even if you draw on your own life experiences and personality traits to round her out into a full person.
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Most fiction and much of the best fiction comes from real life. This even brings to mind the old writer's adage, "Write what you know." You haven't really said why you should change the details.
If The Story Is Good
If the story is good and the character is interesting and seems real there is good reason to not change things just because you identify with them. Also, most of those things are general characteristics that could be displayed by many people. That is a good thing, because it means your character is realistic.
However, if you don't want to be identified in the character that is reasonable and in that case you may just alter things to be analogous with the items you want to change.
Here are some examples:
- Instead of speaking out loud, maybe have the character whisper to herself. The character (Brick) in the sitcom The Middle does that.
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Maybe make the character hyper-aware of other people's attire.
"Why do you always wear ties? Ties are uncomfortable. I don't like them."
Make the character extremely polite. Always apologizing and opening doors, and having others take the first slice of pizza, etc.
- Finally, make the character a Nationally Recognized Chess Player instead of an technology person.
But, if you believe that all those changes have changed the character so much it is someone different, then now you know that the traits you pointed out are your character and they simply accurately describe the character you are trying to create.
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/39905. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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Here's another perspective for you:
I am working on a novel with many characters. In quite a few of them, there is a bit of me: I give them my values, and then make them argue which core value takes precedence, much as I debate with myself. I give one character the mistakes I made with my first boyfriend, I give another what maturity I have gained since then. One character shares my love for the written word, another - my inability to sing.
Those characters also have my friends in them: quirks, traits I admire, way of seeing things that isn't my own. And there are the people who are not my friends: aspects I respect and aspects I despise are also woven into my story when I need them.
There is nothing wrong with drawing on your life, on what you're familiar with, when writing a story. Jim Butcher's characters in Dresden Files are geeks who love Star Wars and Star Trek and The Lord of the Rings, play D&D and eat at Burger King, just like him. Tolkien based Sam on men he knew during WW1, and gave Faramir his dream of a land overtaken by huge waves. Jane Austen had personal familiarity with the situation of the Dashwood sisters in Sense and Sensibility.
All of this becomes a problem only if all your characters are based on you to such an extent that they have no unique voice. If they are all the same person, with only minor differences, then you should look for other sources of inspiration, and distance your characters from yourself.
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