: Re: Are these reasonable traits for someone with autism? A little info as to the story: 'Lily' was abandoned when she was young. She is a Deviant, a group of people who are born with powers,

@Phylliss352

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Close votes notwithstanding, this question is about writing in one important respect: how do you properly research what you want to write about?

You have to start with specificity. Do you want her to have low-functioning classical autism, or a high-functioning variant (such as Asperger Syndrome, which I have?)

Let's take the example of struggling in crowds. Insofar as that matches my experiences, it's partly because of the complex relationships between that many people, but it's also partly because of the complex structures of the background noise. So on the one hand an issue can have multiple causes/aspects, but on the other hand it can link to others, such as the sensory issues in your next bullet point. And note that on the spectrum there can be a mix of sensory hypersensitivity and hyposensitivity.

If you need Tony Attwood's books on Asperger Syndrome, you'll learn a lot about the spectrum's complexity, and you'll be able to pick and choose what would fit your story. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time is as good a work of fiction as any to read, to learn how to convey your chosen character traits in your text.

On the other hand, sometimes you're researching the wrong thing, or not every thing you need to. For example, it looks like you would also learn the psychology underpinning kleptomania. Your character can have two things, if you motivate it. But for your purposes, I don't think you'll want it to be as comic as Bender's Futurama kleptomania.

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