Jade's history

[autisticalice]

 Jade didn't start talking until she was five years old. At this early age, she was placed in speech and language therapy to help her communicate better. She also struggled at making friends and exhibited strange behaviors that were often negative as well as abusive to others, including her teachers. She didn't know how to play like other kids and usually did her own thing.

Jade started getting bullied in the second grade because of her odd behaviors and lack of social skills. Everyone know she wasn't like them and that's what started to get her bullied. She always would try to make friends but didn't quite grasp the whole concept of 'how' to make them and it often lead to kids laughing at her.

It wasn't until third grade that Jade had a nervous breakdown due to 'overstimulation and stress'. These breakdowns had worsened each time and so her parents took her to see a psychiatrist at the children's hospital. After countless tests and 'studying' her behaviors, they discovered that she had a mild to moderate form of autism.

Jade still struggled in school and dealt with ignorant teachers who treated her like shit, as well as students who excluded her from their activities during recess and gym class. All of this time, she bottled up these emotions because she couldn't express them the same way and never really seemed to cry much, as much as she actually wanted to.

Okay, this is just a start. I haven't actually put much thought into her history. Some of it is from my experiences growing up. Though, she was diagnosed with autism early than i was.

If anyone has any ideas to help me with this... it would be great. I've never written a back history for my character before. D:

Comments

[albatrossxwing]

It's looking good! :) I was bullied a lot when I was a kid too. :(

[autisticalice]

Same here. I had a lot of my teachers, not just students bully me because they didn't understand why I wasn't like everyone else. x_x

[albatrossxwing]

Dude, story of my life. :) Were you ever in special ed?

[autisticalice]

Sort of... it was more resource classes with a smaller class than actual special education.

[albatrossxwing]

I was in special ed for most of my school career. It sucked. :(

[autisticalice]

I should have had an aide with me but nooooo they all thought I was too smart. It was pretty obvious that my intelligence wasn't the problem. I also have severe ADHD so my organization, remembering things, etc... was really bad. D: But they only saw me as being autistic... and even when they did, they treated me like I didn't need the help.

[albatrossxwing]

Yeah.. I was the disrupter of the class... being hyper, constantly talking to the students blah de blah.. you know the drill. :p

Hmm...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>She didn't know how to play like other kids and usually did her own thing.<<

What does she like to do? What is she good at doing? The geek world is heavy with autistic people because their worldview meshes really well with computers, for example. Some others to into visual arts or quality control or other areas. Anyhow, a good character description should balance strengths and weaknesses.

Re: Hmm...

[autisticalice]

What I might try doing is a character form thing that I found. The only problem is, getting myself to actually do it. x_x I think it would be really helpful.

The only problem is there are a lot of things that confuse me on character development forms. X_x

Also, she has a big obsession with animals and knows quite a bit about them. I don't want her to be a computer geek or anything because to me, that's really too common for someone with Autism. I want Jade to be different from most people with autism, especially since I'm not like those who are into computers or anything like that.

For me it's anime, paranormal or pokemon. It always has been.

Re: Hmm...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>What I might try doing is a character form thing that I found. The only problem is, getting myself to actually do it.<<

You could try answering questions and posting them one at a time. Breaking it into small parts might make it less of a chore.

>>The only problem is there are a lot of things that confuse me on character development forms.<<

I can think of two different approaches to that. First, you could look at very short forms, which tend to have simpler questions:
http://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/by-writing-goal/improve-my-writing/9-questions-to-ask-your-main-character
http://elspeth-itsamystery.blogspot.com/2010/09/10-questions-to-ask-your-characters.html
http://fictionwriting.about.com/od/crafttechnique/tp/createcharacter.htm

Second, you could look at very long forms, and pick out 5-10 questions that do make sense to you:
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474976908598
http://dreadpiraterose.wordpress.com/2009/12/30/100-questions-to-ask-about-your-role-playing-character/
http://dungeonsmaster.com/2010/11/27-questions/

>>Also, she has a big obsession with animals and knows quite a bit about them.<<

Okay, that's really useful. You could write about how she notices animals first when walking into a room, or maybe she prefers the company of pets to people, and she might like reading books full of animal facts. Most folks like animals, so this will help in understanding the character; but they will express it differently, so her expressions will help in understanding autism.

>>For me it's anime, paranormal or pokemon. It always has been.<<

Well, there's another idea for a positive autistic character: the paranormal expert whom people ignore until their nice normal life blows up in their face and they come begging for help. Which is not all that fictional, really.

Re: Hmm...

[autisticalice]

Well, I'm not sure I'll go with animals. x_x I need something that's a little easier for me. >< Or... maybe because she can't have pets... she also collects stuffed animals and pretends they are real and talk to her. It won't happen ALL the time but maybe if she's had a bad day or something, she talks to a favorite stuffed animal of hers.

I won't make the stuffed animal talk... but maybe she talks to her stuffed animals and answers their questions like they are talking to her. I do that all the time with my plushies and I tend to make them talk to me a lot. XD She could have a deep connection to one of her stuffed animals.

Maybe it could be a stuffed animal her father got her before he was killed in a car accident. Like, something that she associates with her father and has a huge connection towards.

I wouldn't mind writing about the connection between Autism and having a 'friend' to talk to. But I'm not really sure. >

Re: Hmm...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>Well, I'm not sure I'll go with animals. x_x I need something that's a little easier for me. <<

Plants would be another option.

>>Or... maybe because she can't have pets... she also collects stuffed animals and pretends they are real and talk to her.<<

That could work too.

>>Maybe it could be a stuffed animal her father got her before he was killed in a car accident. Like, something that she associates with her father and has a huge connection towards.<<

Good idea; it would help establish emotion in a character who doesn't display that in typical ways.

>>I wouldn't mind writing about the connection between Autism and having a 'friend' to talk to. But I'm not really sure.<<

So give it a try, maybe in a small scene. If it works, you can do more. If not, you can toss it and try something else.

Have you seen the way some folks are doing serials online these days? Some use strong continuity to tell a continuing story, while others are more like collections of related stories. I do mine in poetry, and you can see examples on the Serial Poetry page:
http://penultimateproductions.weebly.com/serial-poetry.html
kajones_writing does hers in fiction. Anyhow, you might consider something like that since you are exploring different aspects of a character and writing techniques that you might like to try. Doing new things in a modular setup of small ficlets would be easier to tinker with than a single longer story.