V Music Playlist

 My name is Aura and I'm a 40 year old autistic woman. One of my special interests is vampires and I decided years ago that I wanted to write a vampire novel with the representation I have always craved in the genre. My main character V is a vampire who is Chicana, pansexual, and autistic (just like me), all of the things I've always wanted to see in a main supernatural character.

    One aspect of V's autism that is explored in the novel is her auditory stimming. Autistic people's brains stim for numerous reasons. We stim when we have extreme emotions, when we're anxious, upset, when we are trying to process information, etc. Stimming is known as repeated movements or activities performed by autistic and neurodivergent people. For me auditory stimming consists of listening to the same sound, music, or playlist over and over again. Sometimes I'll hear a song and it's all I want to listen to. I'll play it in my headphones for an hour, having it loop. I also have a playlist of songs that speak to me. I've been listening to this playlist non-stop for 3 months. If I have my headphones on I'm probably listening to my playlist while also blocking outside noise. When I'm really anxious listening to my playlist calms me down, and it helps me perform tasks that I need to complete.

    Part of it is that I also have auditory processing disorder. People constantly recommend Podcasts or audio books for me to listen to and I have to tell them that I can't do them. People are especially taken aback that I don't listen to audio books but by brain can't do it! When I'm listening to a lot of information it becomes really hard for me to understand what I'm listening to. Most of the time I'll listen for 5 minutes and realize I haven't paid attention to a thing they've said. Other times I'm trying to concentrate but the voices literally sound like Charlie Brown's teacher, I can't make out what they're saying. I like listening to the same thing over and over because I know what to expect and I've memorized it. It takes no effort for me to listen. Consistency and familiarity is necessary for me to feel comfortable because of my disabilities. 

    When I was writing my novel V I listened to my preferred playlist over and over again. As I would write certain scenes a song would stand out as necessary in order to create ambiance. By the end of the book I had added 30 songs throughout, and auditory stimming was also a huge part of V's coping mechanisms. 

Here is the link to the playlist that accompanies my novel V: 

V Playlist

Give it a listen, and leave me a comment letting me know what you think!

If you're autistic feel free to share your favorite ways to stim also!