Wanted to take a minute to talk about one of the books I’m currently reading: Bury Your Gays, by Chuck Tingle.
It’s been a slow go of it, not because it’s not good (it’s very good), but because of how often I’ve had to stop and take time to process the absolute sheer delight of reading not only queer writing by a queer author, but reading something written by someone autistic as an autistic reader.
There have been paragraphs that just hit different because of how things are described and the depth that they are described to. It’s also really making me look at other fiction I’ve gravitated toward over the years and assess which of those authors either were or possibly were on the spectrum, and how that impacted how they write, and how I process it.
It’s really just so, so refreshing and it also makes me feel more optimistic about my own writing (even if it is just fan fiction) - because all too often I find myself strangled in the creative process, worrying about my way of describing things through an autistic lens being too descriptive, or too hyper focused, or too introspective of a character. Seeing a similar way of writing out in the wild and in something as successful as this book really does wonders for a sense of optimism with one’s own queer and autistic creativity.
Anyways. I’m not done with it yet but I’d already recommend ‘Bury Your Gays’ in general, but especially to other autistics, and extra especially to creative autistics because I think you’re in for a great time on a few different levels. 📖
