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This week’s post is a guest post by Kit Falbo. Thank you, Kit, for contributing to the blog! If you’re interested in writing for this blog, check out the contact page.

Sometimes life gives you lemons and sometimes life gives you pineapples. I got Autism – and whatever fruit you choose to equate that too. I also acquired a love for the written word. Way back in the early nineties, one of the criteria for my then diagnosis of Aspergers was if I read a lot of Science Fiction and Fantasy – one of those “really?” moments that hangs with me.

Aspergers has now diagnostically gone the way of the Dodo in the years after and has since been folded into the spectrum of Autism. That in of itself is a story all on its own involving history and wrongs, with a muddled mess of, well, everything to do with Autism and how it is viewed by different cliques today. Still, that idea of the love of books, particularly the fantastical has always hit home to who I am.

Fiction paints a world to follow where the rules are defined, and with those that are out there, new for every reader. It creates a shared experience that every reader gets to some degree. I read thousands of them, stories, novels, flash fiction, plays because I wanted a shared experience in the stories; I wanted to escape the stress of being non-neurotypical. I wanted excitement and fun. So, I decided I wanted to try my hand at it as well.

One of the first bits of advice every writer gets is to watch and listen to the world around you. I found myself responding, “Doesn’t everyone do that?” Well, no, not to the same extent, it seems. As someone who is not neuro-typical in what appears to be a sea of *cough* normies, I’ve had to watch and learn the verbal and non-verbal social cues of those around me. I have to pay that extra attention. Others see this as me with an intense vibe as I catalog, interpret, and try to respond to the social world around me.

I’m not perfect. In fact, I’m still pretty bad at times. But it has given me an abundant source of experience that writers crave. I can now take those cues and incorporate it into my writing. I’m not talking the overused arching of eyebrows or flushing of cheeks. I have found myself able to recreate most normal conversations in a written form better than I can in real life. I may not have actively been trying to help myself be a better writer, but my own coping strategies have been there for me.

Being forced to try to understand the world and people around me better isn’t the only way being different has helped me as a writer. I just think differently. I get to be new and refreshing – though it also carries the double-edged blade of also being strange and unusual. There is an advantage in the creation of art through thinking differently. This may not bring me fame or fortune, but it will get me a warm feeling when this is appreciated.

Being autistic didn’t magically make me a better writer. I still need to read lots, work hard, do research, and learn more. I can recognize what benefits it has given me, though, which might include preferring to stay home and write instead of going out to socialize. There are also things I need to do much more work on than other writers: things like socializing, building a fan base, the dreaded self-promoting. Yells of “Please read my books!” before slinking off into a warm cubby while dodging the flying fruit. These are all difficult things to do that are not comfortable for me.

But even with adversity, these things can be worked on. What may come easy for others, but not for me, might mean I might have to plan or script out options. And like with life, sometimes having things not come naturally might make you better at something. You have a schedule. You have a goal. You have them because you need them, and because of that you get more work done. Write more guest posts, interact with more readers, tweet into the abyss.

It is my hope that all these coping mechanisms to deal with a world that is continuously testing me improves my writing. When I am positive, I really see how it can. Some days are hard, and I can take solace in other books the way I hope others can in mine. At least as a writer, I have the added benefit of claiming it as research.

About the author:

Kit Falbo writes and domesticates. Reading to, bathing, driving, picking up after, and loving his family. Skills he uses to write Science Fiction as an independent author who loves the craft of writing. He has two books. The Crafting of Chess, a LitRPG adventure, and Intelligence Block, a Techno-Wizard mystery. You can find his website here. You can also follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and support him on Patreon.