I am an autistic person before the cavalry comes. I am writing from the perspective of a character who is also autistic. He has a special interest in architecture. I worry that due to a lot of misunderstandings around autism, people will think he’s boring, abrasive, or rambling. Maybe it’s just my insecurity talking, but it’s a significant enough worry that I’m experiencing writer’s block for the first time in ten years. I haven’t allowed myself to ever write from my mental point of view of the world until now. I decided it was okay to be autistic, but that worry is still there.
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I’d say you can start worrying what others might think when the first draft is finished. Until then you write the book you’d like to read.
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without wanting to be too positive and encouraging, i have a reputation to protect… or maybe i don,t anymore, it,s been a while… but i really like this sentence. there is something about it,s blunt forthright approach combined with a hint of the poet that tells me there is an interesting voice here.
so, yeah… listen to november and trust your voice and write the book you,d like to read… for the first draft at least.
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As a fellow autistic as well, I assure you that I would love to read a book narrated by another autistic person. I see nothing wrong with shedding some light on this misunderstood spectrum.
Have you heard this phrase before? (it’s not mine, ofc): ‘insecurity kills more dreams than failure ever will’, so my advice is: do your best to write. If you like the product you are making, other people are sure to like it too.
Also, I assure you that it is completely normal to have writer’s block over this issue. The important thing is to come out of it at some point.
I wish you the best of lucks 
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I’ve had criticism in the past concerning how I describe a scene in detail, but the facial expressions of a person are lacking. I mean that’s for a reason. pretending like I know how someone’s face should look when they are angry is difficult. I can use body movements, lighting, objects, and dialogue better than I can describe their faces. I mean, are facial expressions necessary if I’m showing how they feel in every other way? I’m just unsure and I feel like it might come off that the character is self-obsessed for some reason. Again, probably my insecurity around it.
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Who says you have to describe facial expressions to begin with? Consider your way of “reading” people as an advantage. Or at least unique. Most writers really struggle with this. I already know facial expressions. And if your descriptions don’t 100 % convey your message, that’s for the revision process (e.g. ask a non-autistic person then).
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Some readers will not like your characters. Some readers will feel like you have accurately and sensitively captured a misunderstood aspect of the human experience.
Both of the above sentences will be true independent of what you actually write.
The people who will hate your book aren’t part of your audience. Write the best book you can for the people who are.
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Hi, @beartoonstudios ! You and I seem to be in much the same places in our autistic and authorly journeys.
Writing an autistic main character for the first time, I’m having trouble turning off the “masking” that my main characters have done in my past work. As for description, my main problem in the past has been that I would put in a telling detail once as foreshadowing, and expect my readers to make the connection to a development five chapters later. No, most readers need to see it more than once, and pretty darn explicitly as well. Having a neurotypical beta reader or editor helps, there. More than one of my editors have complained that I’m the only writer whom they have to tell to put stuff in.
Anyway, “write the book you want to read” is excellent advice. I hope to see you around the forums.
I feel seen. 
Although in fairness, I read a lot of mysteries, where seemly insignificant details are expected to be important in the end.
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When I’m reading, I love this sort of stuff. I notice all the details and I delight in seeing a connection five chapters or so later. I suppose it’s an attitude that all details are equally important and that the author wouldn’t have bothered to mention a detail that wasn’t… important, that is. Mystery, science fiction, fantasy, it all runs on details.
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a key question is whether the character,s autism is a plot point, or just a wonderful detail.
if it,s the former…… for example it becomes relevant to the story that your autistic character is missing out on information that is obvious to other characters…… then your job as an author will be more challenging, as you might find yourself having to find a way to show the cues, but have our hero miss them.
if it,s the latter…… ie the character’s autism is simply who they are and part of what makes them interesting…… then i wouldn,t worry about it. easier said than done, i know.
an interesting decision you have is how much you want to flag this up front. do you want to make the reader guess at the protagonist,s autism and if they notice they notice…… much like in the real world…… or do you want to state it up front.
both approaches have advantages. the key advantage of flagging up front is that you avoid readers taking a while to notice, during which time they could be thinking ,why doesn’t this character xyz, and instead they think ,wow this author has captured this character,s perspective brilliantly,.
in short, though, this is about as good advice as i,ve read on the internet…
re: expressions
I know some folk get bogged down by “show don’t tell”. But showing is essential to writing. Stories would be interminably long and dull if writers were compelled to show everything.
“There was a house…” => “There was a two storey structure made of brick, with four glass windows on the front, a wooden door, which was locked and only the owner could open, and…”
So it’s quite okay to simply state an expression, and many writers do. Here’s a random selection taken from Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials:
- At the moment his expression was distant and preoccupied.
- Half a dozen brats turned with expressions of derision,
- Lyra saw a sad grimness in his expression.
- John Faa’s stony expression had warmed a little.
- Farder Coram’s smile was a hesitant, rich, complicated expression that trembled across his face like sunlight chasing shadows on a windy March day
- Lord Asriel’s expression was bland and virtuous, just as his daughter’s could be
- … his face bore an expression that mingled haughty disdain with a tender, ardent sympathy, as if he would love all things if only his nature could let him forget their defects.
This sentence does a huge amount of work:
- So Lyra opened the door and found Iofur Raknison waiting for her, with an expression of triumph, slyness, apprehension, and greed.
The benefit of this direct approach is exposing at least something of the inner world of a character without the writer having to jump inside their head.
On the other hand, if you are writing from the POV of a character who can’t read facial expressions, then it will be of interest to the reader to know that, and for the character to describe how they tackle that absence, or even if they are aware of it.
Have you read The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion?