Tips for writing a fantasy or sci-fi novel when you're neurodivergent 

When we started our careers, we found that a lot of writing advice didn't work for us. The most common techniques left us overwhelmed and stuck. We didn't know it yet, but it was because these methods were by and for neurotypicals.

With nothing working for us, we developed our own systems and started to share them with our fellow writers.

Over the following years, each of us was diagnosed with some form of neurodivergence. 

It probably took us longer than it should have to realize that was actually worth saying out loud to our audience who likely works with the same type of brain.

If you want the short version, our Chaos to Clarity bundle was built for exactly for ND writers.

 

The Specific Ways Neurodivergence Impacts Writing

Writing a fantasy or sci-fi novel is already a complicated, long-horizon project. If you have ADHD, autism, dyslexia, or another form of neurodivergence, there are specific places where that complexity tends to create friction:

Hyperfocus on worldbuilding, and resistance to the actual writing. Fantasy worldbuilding can become an elaborate (and satisfying) distraction. You can spend months in the fun part and never get to the writing. This is a very common pattern and it's not a character flaw, so don't beat yourself up if you've been caught in this trap. As a side note, you can check out our worldbuilding resources for streamlined guides to keep you focused and on-task.

Task initiation. Sitting down to work on a creative project with no external deadline and no clear starting point is genuinely hard. "Work on my novel" feels like it's just a simple task but it's a huge category that once you touch, a million other smaller tasks pop out.

Working memory and consistency. Keeping track of details across a long manuscript — for example, what color were her eyes in chapter 3, when did this character find out that information — can be exhausting when your working memory doesn't behave.

Perfectionism and rejection sensitivity. Your internal critic is often loud. The fear of the draft being bad enough to prove all these made-up stories that you aren't good enough is often deafening. This makes it hard to write the messy first draft that every book requires and get to the step of proving to yourself you can finish an amazing novel.

None of these are unique to neurodivergent writers. But they often hit harder and need different solutions.

Tips That Help Neurodivergent Writers

Turn "Work on the novel" into a specific, small task.

The vaguer the task, the harder it is to start. "Work on chapter 4" is better than "write." "Write the scene where Mira realizes the map is wrong" is better than that. The more specific the task, the lower the activation energy.

Some writers find it helpful to end each writing session by writing down the first sentence of the next one. You show up to something specific instead of a blank page.

Use external structure.

This is where tools really matter. A worldbuilding workbook that asks specific questions removes the decision-making burden from the creative session. Instead of sitting down and trying to figure out what aspect of your world to develop, you work through the next question in the workbook. The structure is external, so your brain gets to do the interesting part.

This is also why we built our workbooks as guided systems that are already organized for you.

Browse our workbooks on worldbuilding, character development and arcs, plotting, and more.

 

Build a project bible early.

Keeping track of details across a long manuscript is much harder without a dedicated reference. A single document or section where you track character descriptions, timeline events, worldbuilding details, and continuity decisions offloads the working memory burden onto a document instead of your brain.

It's one of the reasons we created The Story Stride Novel Dashboard as a way of helping keep track of all the little details and moving parts so they're never lost.

Separate your worldbuilding session from your writing session.

If worldbuilding is your hyperfocus trap, treating it as its own dedicated activity can help. Schedule specific worldbuilding time with a clear goal. When you reach your goal, close your worldbuilding and move on.

Give yourself permission to write a messy draft.

We like to think of the first draft as the raw material; it's the stone you'll carve into a work of art. The masterpiece can't exist unless you procure the imperfect lump.

For writers who struggle with perfectionism and rejection sensitivity, it can help to rename it. Some people call it the "zero draft" or the "exploration draft." 

A Note on Our Tools

We've heard from neurodivergent writers who've told us our workbooks were the first writing resource that actually worked for them. We didn't actually set out to build ND-friendly tools. We just developed resources that worked for us: practical, precise, structured, and flexible. Hell, we only found out after we had made them that we're ND ourselves (late-diagnosis peeps unite).

If you've tried other writing resources and found they made things harder instead of easier, it might not be you.

See all our workbooks.

 

Final Writing Tip

Writing a novel with a neurodivergent brain isn't a harder version of writing a novel. It's a different version of it, with different friction points and different solutions.

The ND writers in our community who've finished and published their books aren't the ones who figured out how to write like a neurotypical person. They're the ones who figured out what works for them specifically and did that. Everyone is unique, just like every story is unique. Find yours.