I will work on whichever novel the mood takes me to.

Marcia Hutchinson's (neurodivergent) notes on writing

Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of the Neurodivergent Notes on Writing where I chat to different neurodivergent writers at all stages of their career and across all forms and genres.

It was a total pleasure to learn more about Marcia Hutchinson’s work and how she’s learned to accept her self-described scatter-brained creative approach. I just love this description of Marcia’s writing life: These days I aim to write in the mornings, chill in the afternoon and teach fitness classes in the evenings. It's pretty much the perfect life.

Marcia mentions how her debut novel, The Mercy Step (publishing this July!), isn’t actually the first she’s written which is an experience I think many (if not most!) writers share, myself included. Marcia also talks about how people might recognise neurodiversity as an implicit theme in her work which is something I touched on in an article for the Bookseller this week where I argued that not all representation in books needs to be explicit - it can be incidental too.

Marcia has put a huge amount of effort into organising so many great events for her book so do check them out. And if you’re looking to attend further events that support neurodivergent writers, come along online next Wednesday 25th June to hear myself, Lucy Rose and Callie Kazumi discuss our work.

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Hey Marcia! Tell us a bit about you and your work.

I was born in Bradford in 1962 in what can only be described as a miserable winter, the coldest of that century. I come from a big family, but I was definitely the bookworm in glasses in the corner. I loved school and was one of the first pupils from my comprehensive school to go to Oxford, and that was quite the eye opener.

I worked as a lawyer in the city but if I'm honest it really didn't suit me and I quickly gave that up and after getting married and having children set up an educational publishing company in Yorkshire. Fourteen years an MBE later the company closed and I moved to Manchester. I got involved in local politics but that was even worse than law. The best I can say is that it provided me with a lot of material for novels.

My first novel was politically related (and one of these days it might even see the light of day, but it was actually the second that got me my publishing deal). These days I aim to write in the mornings, chill in the afternoon and teach fitness classes in the evenings. It's pretty much the perfect life.

The Mercy Step, my debut novel, is inspired by my childhood in Bradford and covers the first 11 years of my life. I don't want to say too much about the plot, but I've tried to approach difficult subjects with an element of humour. But think Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, meets Shuggie Bain meets Toni Morrison's Sula and you're along the right lines.

Does being neurodivergent impact your creative process? And if so how?

I didn't realise that being neurodivergent impacted my creative process but it does. I'm able to focus very deeply when writing a novel - often I don't realize how much time has passed. The most I've ever written in one day is 10,000 words, that was for a novel for which the first draft was completed in 17 days. However, after this I was exhausted for some time.

I've learned to accept that my creative process can be very stop-start, and so not to worry about it too much. That is the hyperactivity part of my ADHD. It often means I have ideas for novels or plot points in the middle of the night because I find it very hard to relax and often have to write my thoughts down then and there, because the attention deficit part of my ADHD means I will not remember the next day.

I think much faster than I can write and dictating my work straight into Google Docs while out walking helps me get ideas down before I lose them. It also means I can write quite quickly. (Physical movement seems to help with my creativity).

Is neurodiversity a theme throughout your work?

Neurodiversity is not a conscious theme of my work although I suspect other ADHD-ers reading my work might spot some of the traits. I think because I was diagnosed relatively late in my mid 50s I haven't really spent a lot of time thinking about how being neurodivergent effects me.

What's one piece of advice you would give to aspiring neurodivergent writers out there?

Try to think of your neurodivergence more as a superpower than an obstacle. The fact that you think in a very different way from other people can mean that your writing is unique. With my debut novel I genuinely thought I was writing something very close to memoir, but my agent and other people who have read it see it as much closer to magic-realism in parts, because I am trying to describe my subconscious thinking process. I would also advise neurodiverse writers not to try to be something they are not, the way you think is what powers your creativity. It's a bit like having a Ferrari for a brain, it's hard to drive but once you get the hang of it you can go so far.

Is there a book (or other kind of art) by a neurodivergent artist that you love and you'd like to draw our attention to?

Kindred by Octavia Butler. She wasn’t formally diagnosed with autism but she was dyslexic and many believe she may also have been autistic.

What’s one thing the publishing industry could do to make things better and more accessible for neurodivergent writers?

For me it would help if people in the industry understand that I can get very easily overwhelmed, especially in meetings.

What are you working on at the moment?

I've got about five novels on the go. My inability to concentrate on one thing for long means I jump from project to project, but after being diagnosed with ADHD I simply accepted this scatter-brained nature. I will work on whichever novel the mood takes me to. I've just submitted a finished manuscript to my agent called The Squeezed Middle, about a 60 year old woman pulled between taking care of her age and mother, helping her daughter who was just given birth and trying to have a love life of her own.

And lastly, how can readers of the newsletter support your work?

My debut novel The Mercy step is out on 22nd July 2025. I would be so grateful if people could either order an advance copy, or attend one of the events which are publicized on my website where you can also join my mailing list.

I'm on Instagram, Tiktok and Substack as well.