Discussion: An Army of One, Autism in SF
Jan. 12th, 2013 02:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithI was hoping to get a new series out of this fishbowl, because I have very few science fiction ones, and I did. An Army of One is unique as far as I know, because it focuses on a society of autistic people. The story begins in the freebie poem "A Solitary Secession," inspired by Dreamwidth user Chordatesrock. Three other poems written during the fishbowl proper have been sponsored and posted. Four more have been written as spillover and are on the list of unsold poems. I have notes for a few more. Let's talk about this.
EDIT 1/13/13: Vote for a series to be featured in the mid-month fishbowl.
Here are the current poems in probable chronological order:
"A Solitary Secession"
"One Man's Army"
"Backup, Try Again"
"Jumpship"
"The Lord of Pr0n"
"The Velveteen Gloves"
"Invisible Lines"
"Language Bodies"
Very little literature has been written about neurovariant people. Of that, most is negative, marginalizing, or crud. Here they are the main characters, they get to be awesome, they get to be ordinary, and they get to make a big splash in galactic politics. They matter. Also they're attracting attention from a bunch of fans, always an encouraging sign in a new series. Remember that in crowdfunding, you-all influence what gets made and how fast. If you want to fill a literary gap, we can do that.
For these reasons, I'm opening discussion about this series. Are you on the autism spectrum, do you know someone who is, or are you otherwise fluent with this topic? If so, I'm especially interested in your input. Have you read other portrayals of autistic characters that are great or awful? Discussion of what works or doesn't work in literature is helpful. Do you know of resources by autistic people about their experiences? A few of those have already helped inspire some of this material; more would be good. If you know folks on the autistic spectrum who might like these poems, or might like to join the discussion, please point them in this direction.
Finally, there will be a bonus fishbowl this month. Usually I just give you a list of popular series that haven't been featured recently. But we happen to have a new series right before a bonus session. That's rare -- I can only think of it happening once before, with Path of the Paladins, and that was a closed session for donors only. This will be open to everyone. So consider whether you'd like to make An Army of One the bonus theme, and discuss that here if you wish. I wanted to call attention to it this way because, if I just drop a new series into a poll, it tends not to compete well against the likes of Monster House and Path of the Paladins.
Over to you ...
EDIT 1/13/13: Vote for a series to be featured in the mid-month fishbowl.
Here are the current poems in probable chronological order:
"A Solitary Secession"
"One Man's Army"
"Backup, Try Again"
"Jumpship"
"The Lord of Pr0n"
"The Velveteen Gloves"
"Invisible Lines"
"Language Bodies"
Very little literature has been written about neurovariant people. Of that, most is negative, marginalizing, or crud. Here they are the main characters, they get to be awesome, they get to be ordinary, and they get to make a big splash in galactic politics. They matter. Also they're attracting attention from a bunch of fans, always an encouraging sign in a new series. Remember that in crowdfunding, you-all influence what gets made and how fast. If you want to fill a literary gap, we can do that.
For these reasons, I'm opening discussion about this series. Are you on the autism spectrum, do you know someone who is, or are you otherwise fluent with this topic? If so, I'm especially interested in your input. Have you read other portrayals of autistic characters that are great or awful? Discussion of what works or doesn't work in literature is helpful. Do you know of resources by autistic people about their experiences? A few of those have already helped inspire some of this material; more would be good. If you know folks on the autistic spectrum who might like these poems, or might like to join the discussion, please point them in this direction.
Finally, there will be a bonus fishbowl this month. Usually I just give you a list of popular series that haven't been featured recently. But we happen to have a new series right before a bonus session. That's rare -- I can only think of it happening once before, with Path of the Paladins, and that was a closed session for donors only. This will be open to everyone. So consider whether you'd like to make An Army of One the bonus theme, and discuss that here if you wish. I wanted to call attention to it this way because, if I just drop a new series into a poll, it tends not to compete well against the likes of Monster House and Path of the Paladins.
Over to you ...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Thank you!
Date: 2013-01-13 07:43 am (UTC)That perspective is helpful too. I've got at least one character who had the benefit of childhood therapy, so managed to compensate for some things like the language limitations; but that tends to break down under stress. Different levels and types of traits, and adaptation, are good.
>>I haven't run across anything else that springs to mind immediately, but the way *you* write this... yeah. It feels right, and is done positively.<<
Yay! That's encouraging.