Comments on: #11 Non-Fiction And The Hatred Of Fiction

By: Courtney

Courtney — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 17:28:15 +0000

…have to say that so far this is the only one that doesn’t fit me.

Well, don’t have to actually, but felt compelled to.

By: Craig

Craig — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 18:11:51 +0000

I’m also a big fan of fiction; in fact, my college major was English Literature, and I’m an aspie. I think this mostly comes from my interest in characters as archetypes. I like trying to categorize the stories I read and the characters in them. Also, fiction helps me connect with and make greater sense of my emotional side, and that’s something all aspies can benefit from.

It’s true that most aspergers hobbies tend to be based more on reason that emotion, but that’s not always the case. Besides, literature definitely lends itself to analysis. However, it takes some learning to really appreciate fiction and dissect it in such a manner.

More in line with this post, I’m definitely a non-fiction writer. I’d much rather write about how to do things, or write essays and scientific reports, than write fiction. I can never think of enough detail, and my fiction always comes out feeling dry and devoid of emotion (a bit like Isaac Asimov, but less brilliant).

By: David-Saladin

David-Saladin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:00:38 +0000

I love both, but I noticed along time ago that my affinity with fiction has to do with analyzing the writer/characters. Like I try to read the writers mind at the time the writing took place, as well as escaping into the story, but not so much the latter…

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:55:51 +0000

It’s true that not every stereotypical trait describes every Aspie. However, some tests have some parts of the adult criteria based on the adult not enjoying or having interest in fiction. But, as stated in the post, literature is a “special interest” for a lot of Aspies. This site describes me exactly.

By: Danechi

Danechi — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 16:54:22 +0000

I’m flaming autistic (diagnosed Asperger’s, but tend to fit dx’ed classic autistics’ self-descriptions far, far better), and this doesn’t fit me at all! (Nor does a lot of the stuff on this site, really.)

I love both fiction and non-fiction, and while my interests in fiction tend toward science fiction and fantasy, that’s more out of escapism and general love for such universes rather than anything relating to basis in fact. I don’t like romance novels and don’t care for mass-produced spy thrillers, but those are close to my only limitations in what I’ll read.

I know other auties with an extreme love for fiction. It’s not all that rare. In contrast, my mostly non-autistic father (described as non-autistic by people at Autreat, which helps seal it, I think), refuses to read fiction. I think that the purported NT/AS divide based on this criterion is *mostly* based upon stereotypes.