Hi my name is jennifer and I’m 21 years old. I am writing a book and all of my characters are pretty much in seventh grade. I believe one of them is in eighth grade now this book has some language in terms of derogatory terms towards gay people as in this story is going to be about bullying possibly gay bashing and bullying towards the handicapped The main protagonist of cerebral palsy ,One is typical but gay one is autistic ,one has Down syndrome One has an intellectual disability and the other one is what would you call typical would that be considered middle grade or ya? have autism and intellectual disability and I also used to have a seizure disorder I’m trying to write and main character that I had cerebral palsy. Is there any way you can give me some tips? I am also trying to write a character with down syndrome as a side character. Also a character that’s coming to terms with the fact that they have an intellectual disability and one that gets diagnosed with autism as As I said before I’m trying to make this a middle grade novel or possibly a young adult Finally I also have a first draft and writing a book about autism in general and about my views on itThank you for reading this
Hi Jennifer I'm one of the moderators here, and I want to extend a warm welcome to you! I see you intend to tackle some serious subjects in your writing, and want to gear the stories to a younger audience. There are quite a few YA and Middle Grade writers on the forum who can probably give you some advice on how to approach these subjects in a way that will be suitable for these younger audiences. It sounds as if you have personal experience to bring to bear on these topics, which will provide a great deal of authenticity. Trust your own voice on this. You've been there, to some extent. That's a very valuable tool to have, in your writer's toolbox. We've actually had a few threads on related topics here on the forum over the past few months. Feel free to browse them, to see if there is anything there that might be helpful to you. https://www.writingforums.org/threads/disabled-character-insights-and-advice.164925/#post-1845311 https://www.writingforums.org/threads/writing-disabled-characters.164696/ https://www.writingforums.org/threads/middle-grade-main-characters.165375/ https://www.writingforums.org/threads/any-middle-grade-writers-out-there.164904/ Meanwhile, in order to help you get oriented and get settled into the forum, here are a couple of links I strongly recommend that you read at the start—if you haven’t already. They will give you a good idea of how we operate here on the forum: New Member Quick Start Forum Rules You will notice in the New Member Quick Start that in order to post your work in the Workshop area—the only area of the forum where you are allowed to ask for feedback—you will need to do at least two critiques for other people, in exchange for receiving feedback on one of your own pieces of work. This site is designed around the concept of members helping each other out by ‘paying it forward’—through our two-for-one critique system. So do two critiques, THEN you can post something of your own. And another two critiques, before you post your second offering, etc. This advance 2:1 ratio lasts as long as your membership here. In order to help you get started doing critiques, if you're not sure how we approach them, here is a link to a good article written by one of our former moderators: https://www.writingforums.org/threads/constructive-critiques.20627/ I hope you have fun getting to know us and let us get to know you, via the posts you make. Please feel free to explore the forum. There is a lot under the hood. This site map might help you find your way around more quickly than the menu bars do, so feel free to use it to get around. https://www.writingforums.org/faq/ If you encounter any difficulties, don’t hesitate to contact me or one of the other moderators, whose names appear in yellow at the bottom of the Community page. We will be glad to help. Again, welcome! Cheers for now, Jan
