Co-writing Ways to be Me with Libby Scott

Rebecca Westcott and Libby Scott have co-written their third book, Ways to be Me, the portrayal of an autism diagnosis.  Ways to be Me is the prequel to Can You See Me? and Do You Know Me?, featuring diary entries by 12-year-old autistic author Libby Scott, and follows Tally through her autism diagnosis in her final year of primary school.  In this blog, Rebecca Westcott tells ReadingZone about co-writing the books with Libby:

When I was approached about writing a book with an 11 year old, I wasn't really sure what to expect. Writing is usually such a solitary business and my solo books always demand a lot of time of me sinking deep into my own head while working on a story. However, as a primary school teacher and SENCo, I was curious to see just what could be achieved when combining a child's voice with my experience.

And I am so very, very glad that I did. As soon as Libby and I met, I knew that we had the chance to do something special. Her ability to describe how she sees the world, as an autistic child, pulled me up short. Over the course of the next couple of months she continued to bust every autism myth I had ever heard and show me that for her, and so many other autistic people, the biggest barrier is not autism, but rather how autism is perceived.

Libby and I had a few very strong aims at the start of writing our first book together. Libby wanted to share her story and has always been clear that she speaks only for herself (although from the number of readers that contact us, having either found themselves or their family members in the pages, it has become apparent that her experiences and feelings resonate with many). She also wanted to highlight the many inaccuracies that exist around the subject of autism, especially the ones concerning empathy. Tally, our main character, doesn't struggle with a lack of empathy - in fact, it is her heightened ability to feel and consider the needs of others that sometimes makes life tricky for her.

One of my goals was to write a book that showed the universality of certain life experiences. Most children know what it's like to feel anxious about transitioning to secondary school or going on a school residential trip and can relate to how Tally feels about these events. It was incredibly important to us that Tally is not 'other' - while her reactions may sometimes be more extreme than those of a neuro-typical child, there is always a reason for her responses. She just needs the people around her to be bothered enough to take the time to figure out why she does what she does.

Tally is not an angelic child. She can be difficult and demanding and she makes the same mistake as everyone else when she assumes things about other people and doesn't consider their reasons why. Life isn't always easy for her parents or her big sister, Nell as they try to help her navigate the choppy waters of school and friendship and identity. They get it wrong too, as do some of the teachers at school and this was something else that was really important to us. We want our readers to recognise Tally - either in themselves or a friend or sibling or classmate. We want them to go with her on her journey as she learns more about who she is. We want them to see that when things go wrong, there is always a reason and most of all we want them to understand that different is not scary.

Tally works hard to find strategies that will keep her safe in a world that doesn't always choose to understand. However, from the feedback we've received from teachers, school librarians, children, teenagers, parents and adult readers, it seems that more and more of us are prepared to accept what we don't know and learn about ways that we can make simple, easy changes that will make Tally's strategies less needed. I thought I'd learnt a lot about autism as we wrote our first two books but during writing our third book, Ways To Be Me, I was continually discovering new situations that just hadn't occurred to me could be challenging for a neuro-diverse child. I guess the learning will never stop.

If writing a novel is all about existing in your own head, then co-writing is about trying to put yourself into someone else's world and that is what our books are all about. Tally's story offers opportunities to step outside our own experience and consider the difference between sympathy and empathy. We know that lots of teachers are using our books to spark class discussions. What will help Tally the most? Does she need people to feel sorry for her or to try and understand her? Can children identify with the way that she feels and can they see where the other characters in the books are making life trickier for her?

Another popular talking point is the fact that our books were co-written by an autistic child. When I'm talking about writing in schools, I always ask why this in important. Why couldn't I have written these stories on my own? This always ends up with huge conversations about the importance of Own Voices and the representation of all people in children's literature. Can everyone in the class think of a book where they recognized themselves or their experiences? And if they were inclined to tell their own story - what would it be?

We are so excited that Ways to be Me is now available and getting into the hands of readers. For some people it will be a window into a different life while for others it will be a mirror, reflecting back their reality. We hope that for everyone, it will be a journey of discovery as Tally works to accept that there is no 'one way' and that she needs to see herself before anyone else can begin to understand her.