AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Aidan Widmer
Everything Is True
Ada Hoffmann's author newsletter
Aidan has been writing since telling a crayon-illustrated story about Care Bears at age six. He meant to keep it as a hobby, but after being given the chance to enter the strange world of publishing via a niche small press, he started writing the occasional book or short story for sale. His stories use the "anything is possible" lens of science fiction and fantasy to explore issues of gender, identity, and sexuality, among other things.
Tell me about a recent work you released - a short story, a poem, a book, a game. What one work of yours do you hope readers will go out and read today? What's it about?
Things have been sparse so far in 2021, unless you're looking for Hades fanfiction, because Greek gods grabbed my attention in fascinating ways there, but last year The Sacrifice came out in paperback, and I feel it's very much my best stand-alone story. It's an exploration of divinity, the spread of Christianity vs. paganism, and how somebody who is powerless can grasp power and make a difference. It's also unabashedly gay and has a vampire-god as a major character, so I'm not avoiding having fun while I also address serious topics!
Published by JMS Books and also available on Amazon and everywhere else you might buy a book.
What do you enjoy most about writing?
I love the writing process itself. Taking imagery in my head, and building interesting characters, putting them on the page for people to see, feel, and meet, is just wonderful. I also love those rare but precious moments when somebody reaches out to tell me something I've written has touched them. They make it all more than worthwhile.
Tell me about a special interest of yours. Have you found yourself incorporating your special interests into your fiction?
My special interests definitely get into fiction! I am an interest-jumper, I get obsessed for a few months, then find something new, so I have a long train of things I've been fascinated with, which are great resources for building character backstories. I have a vampire who's obsessed with classic rock in one of my stories, for example, which I definitely have gotten very into, and he's frustrated sometimes that he can't talk about having gone to all those concerts back in the day, because he looks much too young to have been around in the sixties and seventies! Aside from that sort of thing I also get interested in fandoms and write fanfiction. I think it's a shame that people sometimes look down on fanfiction, because many of my best stories were inspired by other people's worlds.
What one thing do you wish more speculative fiction readers knew about autism?
That it's endlessly variable. There are these narrow stereotypes about it, about the "Rain Man" version of it, but there are infinite ways to be, and infinite variations. I can seem highly social and really chatty if you catch me in the right moment or on the right topic, where the stereotype would have you believe that I'm rocking in a corner, unable to express myself. I'm an author, expressing myself is what I do best! And I'm not shy, I'm not good at math, and I'm not fixated on a single thing forever. All these are simplistic ideas, and I want to see a wider vision of what autistic means embraced.
Do you have any writing advice for other autistic people?
My main writing advice tends to be: ignore writing advice! Especially when you're not neurotypical, since writing strategies often seem to come from people who are. There is no one right way to write. It's very easy to see what other authors do, or advise, and feel like you're doing it wrong, but if you're putting words down at all, you're a writer and you're writing, and that's the only requirement.