Going through all my childhood books filled with #ActuallyAutistic drawings and writing (I have dozens of books), and there are some striking themes that repeat themselves.
So, a thread on hypergraphic Autistic play!
So, a thread on hypergraphic Autistic play!
1) Lists. So many lists. 📃
Lists of books, artists, shows, movies, people, food, vocabulary.
Information sorted into categories from memory.
Imaginary budgets with items listed from catalogues.
I used 100s of notebooks & did this for years. Notepads/paper was my main "toy".
Lists of books, artists, shows, movies, people, food, vocabulary.
Information sorted into categories from memory.
Imaginary budgets with items listed from catalogues.
I used 100s of notebooks & did this for years. Notepads/paper was my main "toy".
2) 🎭 Absurdist writing. Parodies of famous books and movies. Characters with funny names. Lots of puns and random chaotic plots. Slapstick violence.
3) 🗺️ Extensive imaginary worlds with back stories, timelines, family trees, histories, chronologies, fake alphabets and languages with grammar built from scratch.
I never really fleshed out a story though, I mostly built the world through these background materials.
I never really fleshed out a story though, I mostly built the world through these background materials.
4) 📍 Detailed maps of buildings in a technical style. Sometimes I'd stick sheets of A4 paper together so it was several feet long.
My largest map was filled with stickmen 🤸🏻♂️ that I enjoyed populating the rooms and corridors with, doing various funny things.
My largest map was filled with stickmen 🤸🏻♂️ that I enjoyed populating the rooms and corridors with, doing various funny things.
5) 🎓 Imaginary institutions, mostly schools. I designed imaginary timetables, detailed curricula, and even drew the uniforms in great technical detail and colour. I invented coming of age ceremonies, graduations and social events for these worlds.
6) 📚 Random extracts of information from books. Motivated by a combination of wanting to learn it and wanting something to physically write about, because the motion of writing anything felt so good.
So paragraphs on geography, history, physics, basics of a language ... etc.
So paragraphs on geography, history, physics, basics of a language ... etc.
7) 📺 Random information from television. I used to sit in front of the TV with a notepad waiting for an idea to satisfy the hypergraphic itch.
I'd study adverts.
I'd make notes on a character's clothing 👚 each episode, like style, colour, accessories etc.
I'd study adverts.
I'd make notes on a character's clothing 👚 each episode, like style, colour, accessories etc.
8) 📅 Imaginary plans and schedules as an imaginary person, me or someone else. Day 1, 9am ... etc.
"Day of a writer."
"Gandalf's daily routine."
"Agenda of ..."
"Day of a writer."
"Gandalf's daily routine."
"Agenda of ..."
9) 🛍️ Imaginary products. I designed merchandise based on my main interest (e.g. LOTR, H*rry Potter). For some reason in Year 8 I was obsessed with designing pens with novelty characters on top. I loved (subject)-themed everything.
10) 📝 Schoolwork always incorporated my special interests. So a science diagram would have a H*rry Potter logo drawn onto the beaker, or everything I'd write about was horses. My spare time in class was spent on writing, drawing, making lists using scrap paper.
11) 🏃🏼♀️ ADHD + hypergraphia manifested as hyperproductivity in school. I had a two-track mind. I'd fixate on schoolwork, finish it early, then secretly write plans or lists of information in my homework planner, "exorcising" my thoughts. I only slowed down if I was tired/sick.
12) ✍🏻 In secondary school I kept redesigning my handwriting. A forensic investigator would think my Y7, Y8, Y9, Y12 schoolwork came from completely different people.
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