Hello everyone!
So I'm autistic but wasn't diagnosed with autism until I was an adult. There's a strong misperception that girls can't be autistic and so a lot of autistic girls, like me, don't receive a diagnosis or proper support and find life harder as a result. I recently had an idea for a novel where the heroine, like me, is an autistic woman who was undiagnosed as a child, although otherwise she's not based on me or my life. The problem is that I keep running up against the fact that this character's life would probably be painful and traumatic in the same way my life has been, and I don't want to write about those experiences. For example, when she flashes back to her schooldays, realistically she would have been bullied in school, but I was bullied at school and I find I can't bear to revisit those memories and have to stop. On the other hand, I've heard that writing is better if you write about things you find dark or uncomfortable. Should I carry on trying to write these scenes? Does anyone have any tips on how to write them and not feel completely destroyed?
So I'm autistic but wasn't diagnosed with autism until I was an adult. There's a strong misperception that girls can't be autistic and so a lot of autistic girls, like me, don't receive a diagnosis or proper support and find life harder as a result. I recently had an idea for a novel where the heroine, like me, is an autistic woman who was undiagnosed as a child, although otherwise she's not based on me or my life. The problem is that I keep running up against the fact that this character's life would probably be painful and traumatic in the same way my life has been, and I don't want to write about those experiences. For example, when she flashes back to her schooldays, realistically she would have been bullied in school, but I was bullied at school and I find I can't bear to revisit those memories and have to stop. On the other hand, I've heard that writing is better if you write about things you find dark or uncomfortable. Should I carry on trying to write these scenes? Does anyone have any tips on how to write them and not feel completely destroyed?