Advice for writing someone with ADHD!
NO SHADE AT ALL!! I just want all of us to become better writers! please correct me if I get anything wrong, and ADD YOUR OWN EXPERIENCES in the notes! every person is different, I'm only writing from my experiences, means from people I know with ADHD but like I said EVERY PERSON IS DIFFERENT so take this as a starting point not a rulebook!!
✮ they don't just get distracted, they get ABSORBED in the wrong thing. your character isn't just "ooh squirrel", NO, they started cleaning one drawer and now they've been organizing their entire childhood photo collection for 4 hours and they forgot to eat lunch and they were supposed to be doing their taxes. the hyperfocus is REAL and it picks the WORST times to activate.
✮ time is a social construct they don't understand. "I'll do it in 5 minutes" could mean 5 minutes or 5 hours, they genuinely don't know. "this will take 20 minutes" takes either 6 minutes or 3 days, no in-between. they're either 45 minutes early or 20 minutes late and both feel equally bad. they have NO CONCEPT of how long things take.
✮ they have 47 systems that they used once. your ADHD character has bought: planners they never used, apps they forgot to open, color-coded calendars that looked pretty for 1 day, timers they didn't hear go off, reminder systems they ignored, and 12 different brands of fidget toys. they're CONVINCED each new system will fix them. it never does but they keep trying.
✮ the brain doesn't shut up but also can't focus. it's like having 19 browser tabs open, 4 of them are playing music, 7 are buffering, 3 are the same Wikipedia article they opened three times because they forgot they already opened it, and one is just static but they can't figure out which tab it's coming from. your character is thinking about 8 things at once and retaining NONE of them.
✮ they NEED the pressure. your character does their best work at the absolute LAST minute because that's when the adrenaline kicks in and suddenly the brain goes TURBO MODE. they've known about this deadline for 3 weeks but didn't START until 2 hours before. and honestly? it's their best work. this is not healthy but it's REAL.
✮ object permanence is a lie. if your character can't SEE it, it doesn't EXIST. they've bought the same item 6 times because they forgot they had it. they've missed appointments because the reminder notification disappeared from their lock screen. "out of sight, out of mind" is LITERAL. they've forgotten about food in the microwave until they go to use the microwave again 8 hours later.
✮ they're either talking too much or not at all. your ADHD character interrupts people (and feels bad about it) because if they don't say it NOW they'll forget FOREVER. or they're completely checked out of the conversation because they got distracted by a thought 3 sentences ago and now they have no idea what anyone said. there's no middle ground.
AGAIN please please please add your own experiences!! ADHD looks different for everyone and I'm just one person with one perspective!! if I got something wrong or missed something important TELL ME so I can learn too!!
