Writing Neurodivergence into my Historical Fiction
Image credit: illustration by Ethel Franklin Betts, from Little Orphan Annie by James Whitcomb Riley, The Bobbs-Merrill Company Publishers, Indianapolis, 1908.
Hello, folks!
Welcome back. I’m so glad you’re here, because I am starting something new and exciting on the blog:
Every other week, I’ll be sharing a brand new post about my process of writing historical fiction, especially for young readers.
I believe that historical fiction is so important, especially for young readers. In these difficult times, when kids are facing so much in the world, reading historical fiction helps them see how people of the past have overcome incredible odds. Historical fiction also helps kids make sense of history through the universal language of storytelling, which in turn helps them navigate the present with purpose and maintain hope for the future.
Writing Neurodivergence into My Historical Fiction
As someone who was late-diagnosed autistic and ADHD (commonly called AuDHD), I have begun intentionally writing my characters as neurodivergent. This especially applies to my protagonists, who all have some of myself in them.
I began writing my latest book, Little Orphant Allie, just a few months before I identified my autism. It took over three years and numerous drafts to complete the book. While I was learning to understand my own autism, I was also noticing it in my protagonist.
But this is a unique situation, because my character Allie, was a real person. Her name was Mary Alice Smith, and she became the subject of James Whitcomb Riley’s famous 1886 poem “Little Orphant Annie.” Of course, it can never be confirmed that Mary Alice was in fact autistic, since she lived at a time long before autism was identified. Still, as I grew to understand the autism spectrum more deeply, I could see autistic traits in her.
Who was Mary Alice Smith?
Mary Alice came to live with the Riley family during the winter of 1861-1862 when she was about eleven years old. As an orphan whose extended family could no longer care for her, she needed a place to stay. Mrs. Elizabeth Riley (James’ mother) agreed to take her in. She was welcomed as a guest, but also worked for her board and keep.
Mary Alice was described as a peculiar child. The Riley children, it seems, stood somewhat in awe of her. She was imaginative and bright, and told the most fantastical stories to the children. She kept rigid routines, moved repetitiously, and often talked to herself. It’s in Riley’s 1902 essay entitled “Where is Mary Alice Smith?” where I most clearly see autistic traits described.
In one section, it reads:
“It was not long, however, before her usual bright and infectious humor was restored, and we were soon piloting the little stranger here and there about the house, and laughing at the thousand funny little things she said and did. The winding stairway in the hall quite dazed her with delight. Up and down she went a hundred times, it seemed. And she would talk and whisper to herself, and oftentimes would stop and nestle down and rest her pleased face close against the steps and pat one softly with her slender hand, peering curiously down at us with half-averted eyes. And she counted them and named them, every one, as she went up and down.”
The thing I love the most about this is how much the Riley children were endeared to Mary Alice, and how Mrs. Riley accepted and welcomed her into their home. Sure, it seems she was deemed a little odd and different. However, she was not cast out, ostracized, ridiculed, or rejected by the Riley family. To me, that is simply beautiful, and telling of what is possible.
Read the Book:
My book Little Orphant Allie is a middle-grade novel-in-verse that tells the story of Mary Alice’s time in the Riley home. In its writing, I’ve drawn on extensive historical research as well as Riley’s own beloved poetics.
The book may be found in paperback or Kindle on Amazon, Bookshop, or locally in central Indiana, including the James Whitcomb Riley Museum Home in Indianapolis.
Thank you for stopping by the blog! I’m so glad you came.
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I’ll be back on the blog soon with more of the goodness that is writing historical fiction!