Daily OpusEverything I write is freely rebloggable. Just keep the source and tell people about my books :D [Until I decide otherwise, my pronouns are Ze/Hir/Hirself. As in "Ze went to the shops to get hir medication hirself". Thank you for the respect.]
Sir Terry Pratchett awakens. A skeleton stands at his bedside, wearing a long black robe. He sits up. “Well, hang on, let me get my hat,” he tells it.
The skeleton reaches into its robe. From abyssal depths it produces a heavy book bound in sheets of lead and night. It is the kind of book that gets stolen by a rugged adventurer from a temple with more spike-traps than the average house of worship contains. It is the kind of book to which the word “tome” might properly be applied. Frost forms on its pages from the lingering chill of the void.
The skeleton coughs once and holds the book out to the man sitting on the bed.
Send me a # (questions for OCs) or a letter (questions for creators) and I’ll answer
QUESTIONS FOR YOUR OCs
What’s the maximum amount of time your character can sit still with nothing to do?
How easy is it for your character to laugh?
How do they put themselves to bed at night (reading, singing, thinking?)
How easy is it to earn their trust?
How easy is it to earn their mistrust?
Do they consider laws flexible, or immovable?
What triggers nostalgia for them, most often? Do they enjoy that feeling?
What were they told to stop/start doing most often as a child
Do they swear? Do they remember their first swear word?
What lie do they most frequently remember telling? Does it haunt them?
How do they cope with confusion (seek clarification, pretend they understand, etc)?
How do they deal with an itch found in a place they can’t quite reach?
What color do they think they look best in? Do they actually look best in that color?
What animal do they fear most?
How do they speak? Is what they say usually thought of on the spot, or do they rehearse it in their mind first?
What makes their stomach turn?
Are they easily embarrassed?
What embarrasses them?
What is their favorite number?
If they were asked to explain the difference between romantic and platonic or familial love, how would they do so?
Why do they get up in the morning?
How does jealousy manifest itself in them (they become possessive, they become aloof, etc)?
How does envy manifest itself in them (they take what they want, they become resentful, etc)?
Is sex something that they’re comfortable speaking about? To whom?
What are their thoughts on marriage?
What is their preferred mode of transportation?
What causes them to feel dread?
Would they prefer a lie over an unpleasant truth?
Do they usually live up to their own ideals?
Who do they most regret meeting?
Who are they the most glad to have met?
Do they have a go-to story in conversation? Or a joke?
Could they be considered lazy?
How hard is it for them to shake a sense of guilt?
How do they treat the things their friends come to them excited about? Are they supportive?
Do they actively seek romance, or do they wait for it to fall into their lap?
Do they have a system for remembering names, long lists of numbers, things that need to go in a certain order (like anagrams, putting things to melodies, etc)?
What memory do they revisit the most often?
How easy is it for them to ignore flaws in other people?
How sensitive are they to their own flaws?
How do they feel about children?
How badly do they want to reach their end goal?
If someone asked them to explain their sexuality, how would they do so?
QUESTIONS FOR CREATORS
A) Why are you excited about this character? B) What inspired you to create them? C) Did you have trouble figuring out where they fit in their own story? D) Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look? E) Are they someone you would get along with? Would they get along with you? F) What do you feel when you think of your OC (pride, excitement, frustration, etc)? G) What trait of theirs bothers you the most? H) What trait do you admire most? I) Do you prefer to keep them in their canon universe? J) Did you have to manipulate or exclude canon factors to allow them to create their character?
All these ‘humans are weird’ posts seem to talk about how difficult humans would be to work with— but what we’re actually one of the easiest species to work with?
Sure, we have that weird ‘relationship’ with local fluffy predators that nobody wants to talk to much about, and when scared (or happy, or excited) we scream at a frequency that bursts other species’ eardrums, and sometimes we do this thing called ‘brushing hair’ which involves using a spiked tool to rip out most of our head hair in an effort to make what’s left lie flat— but we’re just so well prepared!
Other species spend generations trying to figure each other out, but for humans there’s a guidebook… written by a human. Several decades before humans actually made contact with other species.
Yeah. Sometimes this preparedness can make us seem a bit like the kind of creep who spends the whole first date talking about the wedding, but even while they’re weirded out by it, nobody can deny how useful it is.
For instance, every species goes through a phase of hating what they see as 'alien invaders'— the difference is that humans pretty much got past that stage almost before they’d discovered space travel. By the time we make contact, we’d already made the groundbreaking works of fiction that suggested that other species weren’t all that bad. The leap from first contact to working with other species, which for most species took generations, was incredibly short for us.
What’s more we’d, bizarrely, already prepared for species that hadn’t been discovered yet. When UP (United Planets, a human idea that had caught on. Other species were amazed that such a thing had been achieved, humans seemed a bit surprised that there hadn’t been one already) made contact with the first known sapient reptillian species, it was the humans who set to work redesigning the heating controls to mimic the climate of that planet. Hell, before other species— who weren’t sure it was going to be that easy— stopped them, they were about to go through with plans to put a hatchery on every ship.
All this 'humans are space orcs’ stuff is what makes humans so easy to integrate into the galactic community.
Let’s talk about the astounding similarities between cats and autistic people, and how we should make them the official autism mascot instead of that godawful puzzle piece
Oh man, now you’ve got me going!
Firstly, cats stim. They purr, swish their tails and knead their paws against pillows, blankets, and other soft things. Many cats actively seek out sensory experiences, like listening to birds singing, lying in a sunbeam, rolling against the grass, etc.
Cats have sensory sensitivities— many of them dislike walking on certain flooring, touching certain textures, and certain smells or sounds may make them anxious. Their fur is very sensitive, they can sense the lightest touch, or speck of lint, or dust and their skin will quiver until they can lick or rub it off. When they become overstimulated cats retreat into a small, dark place to recover.
Cats love routine. Many cats know the exact time that their owners wake up in the morning and will wake them. A cat with a routine is a happy cat— they love to have their meals or soft food on a schedule and will learn their owner’s schedule. Cats will become anxious when the schedule is disrupted or if their owner doesn’t follow their usual routine.
In the same vein cats are very wary and/or anxious when it comes to the introduction of new things or people into their environment. Cats require time and patience to get used to anything or anyone newly introduced. Cats also feel anxious when existing furniture is rearranged or when a new smell (like an air freshener) is introduced into the home.
Cats often have “special interests”, a particular activity or thing that they love and can spend hours enjoying. It could be playing with a particular toy, chewing on something, listening to the radio, or watching the clothes in the washing machine. My cat Kitty has a certain ball that she fixates on and will happily enjoy and obsess over for hours.
Finally, cats have a very distinct and subtle body language. The difference is particularly evident when compared with the exuberant, unsubtle dog. The slightest twitch of a tail or turn of the ears, the frequency and timing of blinks, and the positioning of the tail in relation to the body are all little movements that can express much. To the untrained eye it may appear as if a cat is bored, aloof, or unaware of its surroundings. But once you learn to recognize cat body language and understand cat communication, you’ll be amazed at the depth of emotion and how expressive your cat really is.
Yes, I think that cats have a lot in common with autistic people. And that’s wonderful!
also can I add to this:
cats like to show their affection just by sharing the same space. a cat will generally want to be in the same space as you, even if you’re not really interacting and are half way across the room. still hanging out!
they don’t always want to be touched, and can be easily overstimulated by physical affection.
they don’t like to make eye contact.
their body language is often misinterpreted- and then they are blamed for it, or have negative motivations ascribed to it. a cat following you around is stalking you instead of wanting to hang out. a cat that doesn’t want to make eye contact with you is ignoring you instead of being polite. a cat that lashes out because it’s over stimulated, or you ignored their body language telling you to leave them alone is suddenly an asshole who hurt you for no reason.
I had this book as a child and I’m glad to see the comparison is so widely recognized too
I KEEP SAYING ALL CATS ARE AUTISTIC IM SO HAPPY THIS POST EXISTS PLEASE SOMEONE ARTISTIC MAKE A CAT WITH THE NEURODIVERGENT SYMBOL ON IT FOR AUTISM MASCOT :D
Her name is hope, her breed is highlander and she’s precious.
