I was wondering, do you think there might ever be an autistic Wayward Child? Or one with depression? I love all the rep in the Wayward Children Series (especially Cora, Chris, and Nancy!!!), and as someone who’s autistic I was wondering if there might ever be a book w/ and autistic MC? We don’t get very many sff books w/ autistic main characters. Also you’re amazing, congrats on Spider Gwen!

seananmcguire:

May…be?

I don’t want to say “no,” because I really do have a rule of “I try to give representation to everyone who needs it.”  But I also don’t want to say “yes,” because right now, the cast list is pretty full, at least so far as central characters goes, and until I get rid of one (or more) of them, bringing in anyone else would be either “they get to be background” or…

Well, no.  It would be “they get to be background.”  I can only juggle so many central characters at any given time, and I have a solid cast for the moment.  This may change–probably will change–as the series goes on, but I am really not comfortable saying “yes” when I can’t give a firm idea of when.  Word of God is not representation.

I will say, though, that reading your Ask makes me wonder if you’ve read any of my other work?  Toby Daye, the main character of the October Daye books, has severe depression, and has cycled in and out of dark patches over the course of the series.  I have depression myself, so I’m very much writing from a place of experience, here.  And one of the main characters of Into the Drowning Deep, Olivia, is autistic, and kicks a lot of ass as she tries not to get eaten by killer mermaids.

When I say I will provide rep for anyone who tells me they need it to exist, I don’t mean in just one series; I mean spread out across my body of work.  I think you might find what you’re looking for if you go digging through the rest of my bibliography.