Who is ready for WriteOnCon? You know we are! For those who can’t wait until next week, I am going to give you a sneak peek into my presentation about neurodiversity. The entire presentation will be shown on Sunday, February 23, 2020, from 12:00 – 12:30 pm EST. Of course, if you get an extended ticket, you can view all events throughout March 22, 2020.

Neurodiversity is a personal subject for me. I was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome at eight-years-old and have heard and read Tourettes being used as a joke or described inaccurately. As a middle grade and young adult author, I feel I’m in a perfect position to speak on this subject and explain how to write neurodivergent characters.

We’ve all heard the on-going discussions about writing diverse characters, specifically who should do it, and why. It can be a heated discussion and during my presentation I will give you some questions to think about when deciding if you should be that writer. In addition, we will go over the intricacies of neurodiversity such as types, differences, and associated disorders. But right now, let’s start with a definition.

Neurodiversity is the range of variations of the human brain. The neurological differences are considered the result of natural variations in the brain that differ from the standards that are currently considered normal. A person whose brain functions in ways that differ significantly from societal standards of “normal” is considered neurodivergent. A few examples are Tourette syndrome, dyslexia, ADD, ADHD, autism, OCD, and dyspraxia.

It is not enough to know the definition when writing diverse characters. We must understand the person. To do that, we will look at a day in the life of a neurodivergent individual including:

• Social impacts
• Emotional impacts
• Educational impacts
• Physical impacts.
• Family life
• Job/school
• Hobbies/activities
• Loves/hates

That brings me to the second part of the presentation and back to the discussion of why and how we write neurodivergent characters, Writing these characters is not like writing neurotypical characters, but don’t worry, if this is something you want to do, I will give you the tools.

• What type of character
• Where you can research
• Who you should interview
• Who should read your work

Writing neurodivergent characters is not an easy task, even for a neurodivergent individual. But with the right motivation and the right tools, you can create a wonderful character full of depth and personality.

Neurodiversity is underrepresented in children’s literature, and although the number of books published is increasing, it still has a long way to go. Come join me at WriteOnCon and let’s see if we can write books that represent all children.

I have a few favorite books that include neurodivergent characters, but I would love to know your favorites. Please let me know in the comments. Here are mine:

• Forget Me Not by Ellie Terry
• Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
• Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus by Dusti Bowling
• OCD Love Story by Corey Ann Haydu
• Taxonomy of Love by Rachael Allen

For more information on WriteOnCon, check out our post here.