Liane Holliday Willey New Member

Neurodivergent author. Currently living in 1830.

Fiction Nonfiction

Liane Holliday Willey, EdD, is a neurodivergent author, educator, and speaker reimagining life as it might have been for someone like here in the 1800s. Diagnosed with ASD at 35, she is the author of four nonfiction books on autism, including Pretending to Be Normal. All her books have remained in print in multiple languages for more than two decades. She has been featured by The New York Times, USA Today, NPR, BBC Radio, and other media. Now Liane is bringing her lived experience to historical fiction. Her debut novel The Shape of Charlotte, set in 1820s–30s New York, grew from a question she couldn't stop thinking about: What happened to people like me before anyone had words to explain minds that worked differently? Her novel is character-driven, with a historically accurate, immersive setting. It focuses on Charlotte, a neurodivergent young woman, and her found family, exploring what they would have seen, said, explored, enjoyed, questioned, and thought.

Location:: Ada, MI
Birthdate:: 27 September (67 years old)
Social:: Facebook
Instagram

Interview with Liane Holliday Willey

If you could only take one book on a ten-year voyage, what book would you choose?

Rosamunde Pilcher's The Shell Seekers.

How much of a typical day (or week) are you able to dedicate to your creative work?

Seven! Sort of. On most days I sit down for a serious note taking or novel writing session. Every day I think about my writing and at least take mental notes.

What makes you procrastinate when you could be doing your creative work? What are your strategies for finding focus?

Noise! Dog barking, phone ringing, husband wandering around. Ear plugs, sneaking away to a quiet room, and turning off my phone are my go-to strategies for creative calm.

How do you celebrate your successes, such as acceptances? How do you handle rejections and other setbacks?

I celebrate success with disbelief then gratitude, quiet moments along thinking about how lucky I am to have a need to write. Rejections, missed deadlines, and (the worst) times when I have sent the WRONG manuscript, can send me on a spiral. Time is the only thing that stops the spiral.

How much time do you spend reading for pleasure or edification?

I write non-fiction and historical fiction, so in my world, pleasure and edification are rarely one without the other. Some weeks I read an entire book, some days I read a handful of scholarly articles, some days I read whatever I find in my research rabbit hole. How much time? I have dyscalculia, so I'm going to plead the - not sure- reply!

Do you have a personal creative style? How would you describe it?

I'm a neurodivergent thinker who can't not see everything, usually all at once. Vivid characters and immersive settings are my calling card.

Where do you find inspiration?

I'm not sure how this happens, but ideas tend to pop into my head as if by magic. If my brain is coming up blank, I can usually get at least some kind of inspiration or kernel of an idea from watching a period drama or looking at photos and art.

What single creative achievement are you most proud of?

I wrote a seminal nonfiction book called Pretending to Be Normal: Living with Asperger’s Syndrome. The day I saw it on the shelf at Barnes & Noble was transformative—the day I decided I could finally call myself an author. The book is still in print, in lots of languages, sold world-wide. When I think of the people it may have helped, I am completely overwhelmed with happy thoughts.

What fictional character would you most like to be?

I’d like to be Atticus Finch in female form, with a hefty dash of Charlotte the pig’s kindness, Willy Wonka's imagination and Elizabeth Bennet's everything.

If you could choose to be born in any era, which one would you choose and why?

I think about this often! If medical safety was guaranteed, I'd have enjoyed life in the 19th century as a one room school teacher and rancher! A life of opening minds, riding open spaces, and living authentically... surely magic happens then.

What advice would you give to a young, budding writer (or artist) with less experience than yourself?

Write. Read. Travel. Listen. Yep, nothing new. Bottom line: take in everything you can, even the bad stuff. The wider your lense, the richer your words, worlds and skills.

For your first draft (or sketch), do you prefer analog or digital tools, or a mix?

Digital. Hard stop. I can't read my own handwriting. And who can find all those napkins and bits of scrap paper we writers inevitably grab when we get a notion.

Do you incorporate generative AI/LLMs into your creative process? If so, how?

Like many authors, I have a love/hate relationship with AI/LLMS. Some of my work has been pirated. Dislike. But, I have dyslexia and cannot spell to save my life. AI catches my spelling and synonym errors. And I live in rural Michigan without large libraries. AI can bring a research library to my home.

What is your favorite word and why?

Precocious. I like the way it sounds. And it was a label my young self wore with pride.

What would you like your epitaph to say?

Liane was empathetic and supportive. She was one of my loudest cheerleaders. And she was unabashedly clever.

Are you an unreliable narrator?

I can be, but this is difficult for me. I am more interested in revealing the world through unconventional points of view.

Last Updated: 30 Sep 2026