At some point this last week I was watching a scene clip
from The Big Bang when it dawned on me that Sheldon Cooper was on the spectrum.
I have no idea why it hadn’t crossed my mind sooner; I have watched quite a bit
of the series and I’d seen the entire episode the clip was from.
But it got me wondering why I haven’t written any characters
on the spectrum. I certainly know what that is like; being on the spectrum and
not knowing it.
Then I started thinking about some of the characters I do
have and well, I figured out it would only take a little tweaking to make one of
my minor characters into someone on the spectrum. The only thing is that I
really want a main character who is on the spectrum. So, I find myself
contemplating tweaking the heroine of that story into someone on the spectrum.
And why do I want it to be a female character?
That’s simple. Write what you know. I know what it is like
to be on the spectrum and clearly, I am female.
Easy right?
Not likely. This character is already established. It will
take a major rewrite to change who she is.
I guess, I could try to make my hero from that story to be on
the spectrum but that is even more farfetched, though it is one of his younger
sisters that is so close to being on the spectrum right now.
I have no idea why I haven’t used those obvious characteristics
before, even before I knew they were what put me on the spectrum.
I mean my earliest stories did include a teenage girl that
was behind in school; something else I know. I actually have several stories where
the heroine is two years behind in school. Not all of those are finished, but I
have started them.
Anyway, right now I am trying to think about some of the
quirks that make me who I am and how they would work for my heroine’s characters.
Have you ever used your own quirks in your characters?
That seems like an easy route to writing, but I find, for
the most part, it isn’t. Who wants to see their own shortcomings spelled out in
black and white?
Then again, our characters need quirks, so why not use the
ones we know personally? And why not have them exactly how it was in our own
lives?
Konnie has at least a couple of stories where the heroine is
2 years behind in school, just like I have several. The only thing is in none
of those stories are the characters behind for the same series of events that
got us behind through no fault of our own.
Of course, the problem there would be that our stories have
to be believable, and it is more believable that one tragic event led to the
character being behind rather than a series of events over several years
leading to it.
And let’s face it; the chances of that series of events happening
again, let alone in this day and age, are pretty slim. Part of why we are behind
is because of a stupid teacher who saw three kids from the same family in the
same grade and decided we were all idiots on sight.
Yeah, we skipped school a lot that year, and that teacher
was one of the reasons why we did it. Plus, that only got us put back one year.
We were put back the first time because the stupid teacher
decided we couldn’t be smart enough for first grade because we didn’t go to
kindergarten (this was back in the days when kindergarten wasn’t required).
In that case, the teacher moved us to the kindergarten with
our younger brother without our mother’s permission. Things like that wouldn’t
stand today. It shouldn’t have been allowed when it happened to us.
So, anyway, we were behind in school, and we use
that in our stories, but in our stories, they are behind because of some tragic
accident not because of a couple of idiot teachers.
Then again, in the WIP where I am contemplating making at
least one character be on the spectrum, I have the hero of the story behind by
two years.
Though I might have to change that; it seems farfetched that
any parent can get away with keeping their child out of school until they are seven,
especially when it’s only one of the parents doing it. Maybe a few months, but
two whole years?
I just can’t figure out how else to do it. I don’t want it
to be another accident nor because he couldn’t hack it.
Anyway, happy writing everyone!
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