September 2024 – The Literary Underworld

ADHD and writing

By Diana Morgan

October is ADHD awareness month and as a writer with ADHD, I’d love to help bring more awareness to how we portray ADHD and other neurodivergent conditions in writing and media. If you’re plugged into any social media lately you’ve probably run into at least one creator whose content revolves around ADHD or autism. It’s a hot topic, thanks to new diagnostic standards and the special community that forms on social media platforms.

Neurodivergent identity has been stigmatized for a long time. Autism, ADHD, bipolar, and other brain differences were hidden or avoided, leaving people with shame and nowhere to look for representation.

But things have changed. From Sheldon Cooper in Big Bang Theory to Abed Nadir in Community, more and more characters are showing up and giving the neurodivergent community the representation it needs.

Authors like Helen Hoang and Talia Hibbert, who are both autistic, have started including autistic characters in their romance novels showing the complexities disability gives to a relationship. In sci-fi authors like Ada Hoffman and Corrine Duyvis are exploring how science and disability rights can affect the future in new ways.

In my Lost Colony series, I have two neurodivergent characters. Jacob Moorland has AudHD (ADHD and autism combined) and in the upcoming sequel, there will be a new character names Henry with autism.

It’s exciting new territory for those of us who grew up in a world where our conditions were often shamed. I was diagnosed as a child and grew up in the 90s when ADHD hadn’t been studied in girls. Growing up, I rarely saw characters with ADHD in the media and when I did, they were highly exaggerated or stereotypical. Boys who were “walking disasters,” running wild and being destructive; non-verbal girls who could only repeat songs they heard on the radio. It gave an inaccurate idea of what ADHD and autism can look like and further stigmatized our differences.

Like any good representation, progress is slow, and mistakes are made, but we must keep trying to improve. If you’re a writer who is interested in writing better, more realistic neurodivergent characters, here are a few tips to get you started.

This is also a good time to say that I am not a medical professional, I’m just a writer who’d lived their whole life with ADHD (diagnosed at 5 years old), raised an autistic ADHD child, and spent a lot of time with the neurodivergent community learning about being an advocate. I’m still learning, but one thing I do know about is writing, and I want to help other writers.

Neurodivergent is NOT just autism and ADHD. It’s also bipolar disorder, Tourette’s, Down’s Syndrome, dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia, borderline personality disorder, and a host of other brain differences.
Be mindful of what terms you use. A lot of things have changed about how autism and ADHD are diagnosed over the last few decades, as such so have the terms used to describe people with those diagnoses. Terms like ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and Asperger’s are outdated and in some ways offensive. Depending on your story’s setting and time period, you need to be mindful about what terms you use.
This also goes for slang. Like any community, a few slang terms have cropped up in recent years. Words like “neurospicy” and “the ‘tsim” have gotten popular, but people are divided on how they feel about them. Some people think neurospicy is fun and empowering. Others find it infantilizing and demeaning.
Autism/ADHD/disability is a superpower or they have a superpower that “cures” the disability. This is disrespectful at best and can be offensive if done badly. Disability doesn’t need a cure or magic powers, it needs acceptance.
Neurodivergent is not a monolith. Even people who have the same diagnosis will have vastly different presentations and symptoms. Many neurodivergent conditions are also co-morbid. ADHD and autism frequently appear together, they are also often accompanied by dyslexia, dyspraxia, anxiety, and depression.

Good representation takes time and a willingness to learn, but we can all do more to help neurodivergent representation improve. If you are interested in including more characters with autism, ADHD, or other disabilities, do your research, listen to advocates with those disabilities, and whenever possible hire a sensitivity reader.

If you’re interested in more ADHD content and resources, check out the resources page on my website dianamorganauthor.com, or find me on any of my socials @dianamorganauthor

Keep writing and I’ll see you among the stars.

DIANA MORGAN is a superhero by day, writer by night. Okay, not really, but when she’s not writing books, she’s a librarian at a local library, which is kind of a superhero. Her superpowers include always knowing what kids like to read, being able to read more than 10 books at one time, and the ability to eat more pizza than anyone.

Diana has always loved science fiction and fantasy. She grew up watching Quantum Leap, Power Rangers and Star Wars. She can’t remember a time when she wasn’t making up stories.

She was a geek before being a geek was cool, and she loves hanging out with other geeks and sharing her love of all things space and magic and books.

Just a regular bloke

By John McFarland

It was to be the trip of a lifetime. One of those ‘bucket list’ deals that retirees dream of. My wife Cindy’s ex daughter-in-law, Michelle, had always stayed close to Cindy through the years. And after years of hard work, elevating herself to comfortable circumstances, Michelle invited us to join her family on a tour of the UK.

Although Michelle’s family trip was only to encompass the UK, Cindy, always looking at the big picture, saw a larger opportunity. Having two publishers in Germany, Wandler-Verlag and Zagava, and an illustrator in Seville, Spain, she planned that we could get a Europass and see the Continent by rail after our hosts went home. These were exciting prospects, and it occurred to me that there was yet another literature-related possibility open to us before we left England for the train tour.

I had become facebook friends with Ramsey Campbell perhaps three years before. He was always the first person to wish me happy birthday every year, and I enjoyed reading his regular-bloke posts about partying with his friends, cinema, horror, and The Three Stooges. He was and is an avid assembler of 1000 piece picture puzzles and loves a good glass of cheer. We had a sort of connection through the person of the iconic T.E.D. Klein.

The very first fiction I ever wrote was a tale called One Happy Family. Ted was the wunderkind editor of The Twilight Zone Magazine in those days and he accepted that story and published it in October 1983 issue. Subsequent stories I submitted to him didn’t fare so well, but Ted always explain in detail and with much kindness, what he felt was lacking in them. I reconnected with Ted when my first story collection appeared in 2020 and he was graciously supportive and gave me very positive blurbs. He even sent a collection of essays he had recently published, as a gift.

As it turns out, Ted was equally encouraging to Ramsey when he first came on the scene with his novel The Doll Who Ate His Mother, also in the early ‘80’s. They have been friends ever since. Ramsey was impressed when I was honored to be included in a two author chapbook with Ted issued by Wandler-Verlag.

I messaged Ramsey through Facebook that we were going to be in the UK in late August. I asked if he were going to be available then and if we could meet. His response was ‘Let’s have dinner.’ We selected a Turkish restaurant Ramsey and his wife Jenny had wanted to try in Wallasey Village, across the Mersey River from Liverpool. The restaurant was just a few blocks from their home. Ramsey made reservations for four for the evening of August 25.

Cindy has never been a fan of horror. She felt ill-equipped to meet an author whom I had told her was a celebrity. “How famous is he?” she asked me.

“Maybe not quite as well-known as Stephen King, but close to that.”

I told her I was a little apprehensive too. I had never met, face-to-face, a writer in that hierarchy and though I had read three of Ramsey’s novels and many of his short stories, I didn’t consider myself qualified to speak authoritatively about his work.

Cindy and I got to the restaurant first. It was a nice neighborhood place, but completely empty, but for us. We were seated in a booth in the front window. Remembering Ramsey’s love of jigsaw puzzles, I had bought him a gift of a thousand-piece puzzle of horror movie posters over the years. For good measure, I threw in copies of my two story collections.

After about a ten minute wait, an Uber pulled up outside and Ramsey and Jenny made their way out of it. “Here they are,” I told Cindy. I stood to greet them, hoping the coming conversation would not lag and would take on a life of its own.

It took about three seconds to see that Ramsey was the same fellow in person as he is online. His left arm was in a sling. He said he had taken a fall a few weeks before and broken it. “Lucky it wasn’t my writing arm,” he said, as he had just started another new novel. Jenny apologized for looking tired but said she was just preparing for a weekend babysitting her rambunctious grandsons. “But first things first,” Ramsey said. “What are we drinking?”

The first of several bottles of Pinot Grigio was brought to the table and we made short work of it. Cindy need not have been concerned about her conversational skills as we spoke of non-horror books, wines, grandkids, travel, sightseeing (Ramsey and Jenny had just returned from visiting a son in Singapore) and pets. We ordered our food and everyone shared whatever was on their plates. More wine came and Ramsey entertained us with magic tricks and tales of such notables as Robert Aickman and Ted Klein. And always an occasional Three Stooges reference.

I gave Ramsey his gift bag. He was delighted with the puzzle and seemed genuinely grateful for my books. “Did you sign them?” he asked. I had thought he might resent the presumption. But, not at all.

For four hours we talked, ate and drank our wine. Jenny said more than once she was really enjoying herself and she hoped we would stay in touch. I called the waiter over and he took four photos of us together. We had the restaurant to ourselves the entire evening. At ten o’clock I paid the bill and offered to share an Uber with our guests.

I had to help Ramsey to his feet. I think his injury had taken something out of him. The four of us waited on a deserted street for our ride. When it came I helped Ramsey into the car and in five minutes we were at their home on a comfortable, ivy-draped residential street nearby. Everyone hugged everyone and Jenny repeated she wanted to stay in touch. Ramsey seconded this and I could see they had really taken to Cindy. Me too, apparently.

I didn’t initiate this memorable evening with any plot or plan, but as it turns out, Ramsey really did read my books and loved them. He gave me several blurbs to use in the future. More than I ever expected. I just wanted the chance to meet him and talk writing. And, as it turns out, Wandler-Verlag will be publishing another chapbook next year, featuring Ramsey and myself.

I still hear from him regularly. And many of the messages, though not all, begin or end with some reference to The Three Stooges.

JOHN MCFARLAND’S first novel, The Black Garden, was published in 2010, and the story continues with the recent Mother of Centuries. His work has appeared in The Twilight Zone Magazine, Eldritch Tales, National Lampoon, River Styx, Tornado Alley and the anthology A Treasury of American Horror Stories, which also included stories by Stephen King, Richard Matheson and H.P. Lovecraft. He has written extensively on historical and arts-related subjects and has been a guest lecturer in fiction at Washington University in St. Louis. He is a lifelong Bigfoot enthusiast, and Annette: A Big Hairy Mom is his first novel for young readers.

Escape with Bladespell

By Steven L. Shrewsbury

Questions are posed to me often about what I write. I’m pretty approachable, oddly enough. Although many experienced writers have warned me to be a bit more exclusionary, I have a tough time not interacting with folks. Sometimes, that is different, but in this case, I’ll share.

Someone asked me, “Did you set your new novel, Bladespell, in Africa to be trendy?”

First, I doubt that sword & sorcery pre-flood tales set in Africa are a trend. Second, while I get the question, the book wasn’t set there as part of some agenda. “Africa was in the direction our main characters traveled in when they sailed off at the end of Killer of Giants.” S’true.

I do my best to make my novels, be they about Gorias La Gaul, Joel Stuart or in this case, Rogan the Kelt, as single, standalone tales. One can pick up any novel and enjoy it without getting the rest in a series or saga. Hopefully, the reader will want to seek out the others in time. In the past, I’ve been distressed to see a tome that looks very intriguing and then see it’s number 4 in a series. Ugh.

The yarn unfolds in primeval Africa not out of any desire for inclusiveness or whatever political agenda some might have. I told a story. I didn’t check boxes. That’s it. I’m a true believer that fiction should be escapism, a way to get away from the harangues of the media and the insanity of politics. Open the pages of a book and you escape from the drivel online or on the television.

The main character, Rogan, is a swaggering savage from thousands of miles away from where the book is set. How he survives in such a place, and against evil folks, cannibals, forces, demons and time traveling wizards, well, that’s the deal. Never once did I have the thought “THIS will piss folks off” or “Better include THIS class of people.” Just told the tale. If the story jerks a knot in someone’s undies, praise Jesus. Things happen.

Does that sound vanilla? It isn’t. The world, even back then, was made up of all sorts of interesting people, thoughts and stuff. These segue into a story, and I don’t need to consult a chart or give sacrifices to a political ideology to feel swell about myself. Am I dissing folks that do have such agendas? Naw. Do what makes ya feel good. Readers will judge whether to purse their lips, toss the book away, or read more.

Up against all that, Rogan encounters bad folks and good, but that’s life. I weave in some Lovecraftian horrors, the scope of which turns broad towards the end, and yeah, one of the time traveling wizards is Aleister Crowley in the form of shaman Oliver Haddo. What’s he up to in such ancient times? You’ll have to check it out and see.

That is if you want to escape this world of oppressive nonsense and dwell in a place of action, intrigue and wild times.

One can find Bladespell at the Literary Underworld or at Amazon.

STEVEN L. SHREWSBURY lives, works, and writes in rural Illinois. More than 360 of his short stories have appeared in print or electronic media, along with more than 100 poems. Nine of his novels have been released, with more on the way. His books run from sword & sorcery (Overkill, Thrall, Bedlam Unleashed) to historical fantasy (Godforsaken) extreme horror (Hawg, Tormentor, Stronger Than Death) to horror-westerns (Hell Billy, Bad Magick, and the forthcoming Last Man Screaming). He loves books, British TV, guns, movies, politics, sports and hanging out with his sons. He’s frequently outdoors, looking for brightness wherever it may hide.