Off the Path
Everyone views the world through a different lens, but some of our lenses aren’t lenses at all—they’re electron microscopes or foggy windows. They’re high-def digital processors or layered mirrors. Neurodivergence offers a unique worldview but it can also create challenges when it comes to getting words on the page. Perhaps that is why genre fiction serves as a magnet for neurodivergent writers. Something about the open-ended nature of speculative fiction particularly seems to attract writers whose brain chemistry functions outside the norm. It offers a safe space to follow our impulses and explore the ways we make connections while also offering defined parameters of genre to serve as guideposts along the way.
Ellie Raine, Writer’s Digest award-winning fantasy author of the NecroSeam Chronicles, has been diagnosed with OCD, ADHD, and autism. “With autism,” she says, “I’ve learned it’s both perfect and horrible for a career involving communication … such as writing. On one hand, I have a perspective on language that is often remarked as ‘new’ or ‘fascinating’ by readers—on the other hand, my editors have, on more than one occasion, been completely confused with what I’m trying to say. Luckily, once I know where the confusion occurs, it’s easy to rework and clear up, but it really makes me self-conscious when I can’t seem to relay what’s in my head.”
Likewise, my first published novel, Double-Crossing the Bridge, is the direct result of the way my brain is wired. An offbeat comedic fantasy caper, it merges elements of the fantasy genre with crime and humor, creating connections between seemingly disparate ideas that would not have occurred to me if my brain wasn’t constantly hopping from one topic to another on an endless quest for dopamine. My neurodivergence, ADHD and generalized anxiety disorder, makes the book special, but it’s a double-sided coin that also makes the writing process uniquely challenging.
Double-Crossing the Bridge, by Sarah J. Sover
Falstaff Books, LLC
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When your wiring is different, your approach to writing needs to be too. Neurodivergence frequently presents with comorbid conditions. Anxiety and depression particularly love to tack onto our already unconventional view of the world, casting a haze over motivation or affixing an anchor to productivity.
Much of the writing advice espoused by successful authors and internet memes simply doesn’t work for neurodivergent writers. And because of the various ways we process information, blanket advice can be downright harmful. Telling someone battling with executive dysfunction that they need to sit in front of a computer for hours every day or cut the parts of their story that provide the joy and motivation required to push onward can feed the imposter monster stalking their thoughts. The best advice inspires and gives writers the tools to succeed, but when those tools are framed as the only right way and they’re stored out of reach, the logical conclusion is that success is unattainable.
Let’s break free of it all. Here are some tips for getting to “the end” when advice that may work for neurotypical writers falls short.
Discover Your Own Process
Genre writers constantly find new ways to operate within defined parameters, working with and circumventing established conventions. That same adaptability can be applied to discovering your writing process. When common advice clashes with your neurodivergence, be willing to put your own spin on things.
For both myself and Ellie, setting easily attainable goals is beneficial—the dopamine release from achieving a goal sparks the motivation to keep going. My unconventional writing process is constantly evolving. I find that one approach works for a few weeks until I lose focus and need to adopt something else. When my pantsing ways cause me to forget names and events, I retrace my steps to build glossaries and lists, letting the organization soothe my anxiety back to manageable levels. ADHD keeps me in flux, working in short bursts of high productivity. Other writers may be able to sit for longer, write more words, and produce more content, but that’s not the only way to reach “the end.” Just ask any of the multitudes of neurodivergent speculative fiction authors working in the industry today.
Some of us need to work from detailed outlines while others find that knowing the path zaps all motivation to walk it. Lists and character profiles may help some writers and stifle others. The right way is whatever way works for you.
Find Your Window
Pacing is a crucial consideration for our plots. Each genre has its own timing considerations, and that’s true for our brains too! We all have times of the day, days of the week, or even seasons of the year when we are most productive, but when you struggle to push through mundane tasks, making use of those windows is key. Unfortunately, most of us don’t have the freedom to dictate our day. The spell between breakfast and lunch is when my brain is most cooperative, but when I held a traditional job, I had to find other, smaller windows. Paying attention to your natural rhythms can help you better harness your brainpower. While you don’t need to write every day to be a success, you do need to make use of whatever productive times you’ve got whenever you can. And if you miss your window one day or week or month, shrug it off and try again on the next turning of the wheel.
“Instead of stressing about a broken plot point or missing piece of world-building, mark the section and keep going. You can’t force your brain to operate like anyone else’s, so embrace the detours, forgive the missed turns, and press onward.” —Sarah J. Sover
Writer’s Digest
Make Connections
The plethora of neurodivergent authors writing genre fiction means that community is never too far away. At a recent science fiction and fantasy convention, I met a writer on the autism spectrum who told me he struggled to connect with critique partners. I pointed him in the direction of a few social media groups. Once he realized that many speculative fiction authors are also neurodivergent, he seemed genuinely more excited about his future in writing.
The power of being understood is underrated, but it is frequently easier to help others than it is to help yourself. Sometimes, community is even closer to home than the keyboard. Misty Massey, one of my editors and SFF author in her own right, described how debilitating anxiety kept her from opening her manuscript for years, even as she worked on editing the work of others. When her son’s depression caused him to become creatively stunted, she suggested that they do writing sprints together, and it was in helping him that she found the ability to move forward with her own story. The swashbuckling novel Kestrel’s Dance released in June 2022.
Working with Misty on Fairy Godmurder was easy for me, partly because of her skill as an editor and partly because we understood each other on multiple fronts. I’ve also found community support in working with a neurodivergent publisher who answers my itemized lists of questions with itemized responses and from attending conventions alongside other neurodiverse writers. At ConCarolinas, it was Richard Fife, author of Conflict Born (acute depression, anxiety, C-PTSD, and inattentive ADHD) who recognized my struggles and gave me the kick in the pants I needed to seek official diagnoses and assistance.
Fairy Godmurder, by Sarah J. Sover
Falstaff Books, LLC
Get your copy of Fairy Godmurder today.
Bookshop | Amazon
[WD uses affiliate links.]
Community doesn’t have to be limited to other neurodivergent writers, even if acceptance and understanding help you feel less like an alien on a hostile planet. The more diversity in your support system, the better. I’ve benefited from filtering communications I’m unsure of through my critique partners and from commiserating and celebrating the publishing journey with my Debut 2019 friends. Both groups include varied individuals with vastly different perspectives.
Finding community can be difficult for neurodivergent writers who may be prone to social challenges and anxiety. Thankfully, there are a number of options available. There are are tons of writing groups, many genre-specific, online you can join to interact with other writers through posts, boards, or zoom meetings. You can also join professional organizations or organized discussion boards. If digital isn’t your style, you can go to conventions, readings, writer workshops, or local writing club meetings.
Utilize Your Coping Mechanisms
If you are neurodivergent, I want you to think about how you got into genre fiction in the first place. Chances are, it fulfilled a need in your brain and became, in itself, a rewarding coping mechanism. Neurodiverse people tend to create and utilize coping strategies to get by in a world that isn’t structured for us, even when we don’t realize we are. Listening to music, making lists, using earplugs, and a million other specific actions help neurodiverse people operate at optimal levels in the world, and we shouldn’t leave these things behind when we write or market our books, especially since our work is likely rooted in one of these mechanisms.
I sketch when I need to process auditory data—mostly monsters and magic, of course. I have fidgets on my desk that help keep my butt in the seat, and I show up to conventions with stacks of notes for my panels. Each of these tools serves a specific purpose—aiding in focus and reducing the anxiety that spikes when my brain takes off in 12 different directions at once.
If your approach to writing adds unnecessary stress, you’re working against yourself. Be aware of your unique needs and boundaries. Once I embraced mine, I got more words on the page and discovered a knack for moderating panels because I consider questions in advance but am able to switch gears on a dime.
When asked about her coping mechanisms, award-winning author of Queen of None Natania Barron (ADHD, major depressive disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder) says, “The best coping mechanism I’ve figured out since my diagnosis is to honor my neurodivergence. Writing is my coping mechanism, so it’s a perilous journey from brain to page—writing is as much of a compulsion as it is a talent or a habit. What I stopped doing, though, is beating myself up when things don’t go to plan or when I am incapable of functioning at a level other folks might. That has given me immense breathing room to unclench my jaw, my shoulders, my fists, and let it happen in my own time.”
Allow (and Expect) Deviation
As Natania observed, the tendency for neurodivergent people to be hard on ourselves when we don’t meet our own expectations can be destructive. You might begin writing with a plan, but if your brain goes off the rails, that’s OK. Instead of stressing about a broken plot point or missing piece of world-building, mark the section and keep going. You can’t force your brain to operate like anyone else’s, so embrace the detours, forgive the missed turns, and press onward. You may find that you create something wonderfully unexpected. Once you’ve found your dopamine or satisfied your compulsion, you can return to the conventions of your genre, the expected beats and tropes, to weave it all together.
The way you’re wired is an intrinsic part of who you are, and fighting it can have the adverse effect of decreasing your productivity. The key is to find balance, but that balance can be difficult to achieve with comorbid neurodivergence. R. E. Carr, creator of the award-winning Rules Undying series, says, “Writing with both ADHD and OCD is like having the world’s strictest teacher berating you on one shoulder while a flotilla of raging otters has a rave on the other. One side demands absolute perfection while the other races for you to get done so you can move on to new shiny things.” She takes a three-prong approach to writing—clearly documenting goals, building in flexibility, and working in hyperfocus/break cycles.
Break Free
We hear about the amount of discipline required to write a book, but for neurodivergent writers, that has a different meaning. Discipline doesn’t mean fighting ourselves to get the words out. For us, it means addressing the specific needs of our brains to help us reach our goals. There is so much pressure on neurodivergent authors, both internally and externally, to operate the way the rest of the world does, it can make you second guess yourself. Breaking free of those expectations is the first step to embracing our artistry and walking our own paths.
Genre fiction can help us do that, offering us the opportunity to follow our tangents to their natural conclusions. It gives space to explore where that big, beautiful brain of yours is trying to go, and it offers the parameters of your genre to light your way.
Tell your story the way only you can, one word at a time.
This event is a Q&A and “Ask Me Anything” where you can ask Richard your questions about writing, editing, teaching, and publishing. Tips and tricks, dos and don’ts, industry secrets, you name it. If you like, you can even dial up one of your stories that is giving you trouble and ask specific questions about what might be wrong with it and how to fix it! We will be focusing particularly on speculative fiction, but general questions about writing and publishing are welcome as well.
Writer’s Digest University