Q1

What’s going on with the crazy knotted shoelaces and pencils everywhere?

Almost all of the images on this site were inspired by one of my main characters, Keegan. I could wax poetic and say it’s a visual metaphor for how we’re all linked but that wouldn’t be completely true. Keegan’s a little obsessed with making sure his (and anyone else’s) shoes don’t come untied. In the book he will also let you know that special occasions deserve a starry shoe. So it seemed like a good way to bring some of his flair to this site. He loves the flashing streaks pencils make when he moves them very fast. This activity, an example of stimming, relaxes him. It helps him focus or zone out…depending on how long he engages in it.

Q2

Why write a story with characters on the autism spectrum?

I want readers to know that all people (with or without a diagnosis) can be interesting, funny, and flawed. I started writing a light sci-fi fantasy novel but found the scope was growing too large and it was an ensemble story. (Funny because the same thing happened with this book!) As I tried to write a story in another genre, I became distracted with concerns about what would happen to my young autistic friends after they graduated high school. I researched the types of housing, education, and employment options, and was sick with disappointment. Without the resources to create an actual community, I fantasized about what I’d like to see. My mind wandered into what types of things might go on within this age group when given a dorm-like experience. What happens when you have those coming-of-age experiences at a chronologically different time than most people in society? What’s life like when most of the people your age are obsessed with things that don’t matter much to you? What if those same kinds of things mattered but in a different way?

Q3

What was the hardest part of writing this book?

Other than making my characters suffer… having to bridge the gap between those of us familiar with autism and those who are not as embedded in that world. I want to jump right into the story by putting all the characters in the same room and let the sparks fly. But it’s easy to forget how different my “normal” is from other people. Many readers need to be eased into this world and the way the characters experience life. Laying that foundation required a lot more groundwork than I wanted to write. A sci-fi reader expects some confusion and an initial demand of mental energy in order to acclimate to a foreign world. That wasn’t appropriate for this broader audience. It’s disorienting to be dropped into the exact same world they already know but process it in a different way.

Can you be more specific?

Book 1 has two unreliable narrators. Both Point-of-view (POV) characters struggle with interpreting body language and how anyone else might be processing events. It’s a challenge to tell a story without the narrator knowing another character is frustrated or looks bored, etc. But that’s how it can be for people on the spectrum. They go through life not always knowing that another person is disgusted, confused, suspicious, etc. As for body language, our narrators only see physical gestures (such as pointing) as weird hand movements that are more distracting than communicative. I can’t count how many times I wanted to write that a person pointed to ___ and wasn’t able to use that mental shorthand that “neurotypical” (NT, people not on the spectrum) use. A person on the spectrum may fail to notice what’s happening with someone’s face (or their own, for that matter). My characters pay attention to different details and draw some unusual conclusions. Sometimes events going on in the background are important and worth noting, but the narrators gloss over them. When someone is having to process a lot of new input at the same time, it’s easy to miss things NT folks would assume are obvious. I worried the readers would be confused, but welcome to the club. Haha. That’s a tiny glimpse of how strange things can be for someone who converts information differently.

Q4

Will you address what causes autism?

Plenty of people are debating the origin of autism. I’m more interested in how we interact with people who are here rather than question how or why they came to be.