Let's Play AQ-10 • When I’m reading a story, I find it difficult to work out the characters’ intentions

This is one of a series of discussion posts based on questions from the AQ-10 autism test.

2. When I’m reading a story, I find it difficult to work out the characters’ intentions.

Definitely Agree
Slightly Agree
Slightly Disagree
Definitely Disagree

Is this statement true for you? Can you think of any examples? Is it an easy or difficult question for you to answer?

You can take the full AQ-10 test here. Note this test is intended as a quick screener, and cannot diagnose or rule out any condition on its own.

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18 comments

Compared to the first question, I had to think a lot harder about this one. First stumbling block - 'difficult'. Difficult compared to what? Second, 'reading'. Is it ok to also think about characters in films and TV here? Taken at face value, the answer would be no, but the question seems more about interpreting the story than about the medium that the story is in. So film and TV should be ok? I think?
Anyway, characters in stories tend to be pretty explicit in their intentions. Captain Ahab wants to kill the whale, Frodo Baggins wants to destroy the ring, Elizabeth Bennett wants to find a suitable husband. They will explain themselves in dialog, and sometimes even get their thoughts narrated. Sometimes a character's goals will be ambiguous or misleading, and that's deliberate on the part of the author. It's not a problem if you get to the reveal in a mystery novel and don't yet suspect the killer. So, I think I can follow stories well enough. But..
Is there some aspect to characters that I'm not getting, and that I am not aware I'm not getting? There's a kind of intrigue type of stories that just go over my head. I never know what's going on in Scorcese or Frances Coppola movies, for example. And then there's people in the fanfic space who like to ship characters, or imagine this character in that universe, and I don't get it. Back in school we had a book report exercise with questions about the characters and how they develop through the story, and I found it unreasonably difficult to apply those questions to the stories I was reading.
So I'm going to say Slightly Disagree. On the face of it, I can generally understand what I need to follow a story. But I have some doubts, and I don't think I have the insight to assess how relevant those doubts are.
E. After the discussion below, I'm revising this to Slightly Agree. I think there's more going on with this question than I'm able to fathom.
- Anyway, characters in stories tend to be pretty explicit in their intentions.
  The overall story arc might be explicit, but I tend to trip up on the smaller interactions. Frodo might want to destroy the ring, but in one of the books when he's talking to Sam and Gollum, I might struggle to tell what he's feeling, unless it's explicitly spelled out. I might think that they're having a normal conversation, until one of them slams a pot down and shouts at the others*, then I realise that they're angry, and have been for the whole conversation.
  I find that I miss their intentions in smaller things like this, rather than the intention for the main plot.
  *I'm not sure if that actually happens, I haven't read the books for a while.
- I think a better phrasing I for this question might be, how easily can i put myself in a (fictional) character's shoes?
  using examples from the adjacent reply, it's obvious Frodo is intending to destroy the ring, is questing to that end. but can you imagine yourself being him, imagine how he feels at a specific moment in the story, discern his deeper, non-explixit motivations, his thoughts or fears?
  
  yodel if
  yourself?
  This is a very helpful perspective, thank you. Is this what people mean when they talk about identifying with a character? I've never really been sure if I understand that properly.
  To maybe lean on the example a bit too hard - there was a part where Frodo started to put his trust in Gollum, and I remember (gosh, it was a long time ago,) being frustrated with him. So, we'd want to think about why he might have developed that trust. And feel, what? Satisfied that it makes sense for the character? Feel the same trust ourselves, despite us knowing it's a mistake and still being frustrated with him as readers? It's a complicated tangle to unravel.

I took the test, aced it, got 10. What do I win?
- a marginally more imminent death.
- Congrats! You get blame! Here you go, this is your fault :)
  /j

- Reminds me of an odd interaction where someone recommended The Outsider to me. Like, not prompted by anything - You, personally, octoperson, should read The Outsider by Albert Camus because You will find it relevant to Your self. What exactly was she trying to tell me??

Gawwwwwd I need to get diagnosed....
- I looked in to getting a diagnosis, it was difficult to obtain, ridiculously expensive, and not particularly useful to me, but could be used against me.
  I scored as "probably autistic" on all of these tests. That's good enough for me.
  
  I hate that there are ridiculous places where getting a diagnosis might actually be harmful, that sucks so hard, man. I consider myself very fortunate to live in a place where a diagnosis can really only be beneficial (neutral at worst) and getting it is free. Just takes forever to get an appointment.
- We can put you down as a Definitely Agree then? 😁
  
  Tbh, this particular question I'm having trouble answering (which might be telling too I suppose?) but I clicked through and took the longer version of the test and the result further confirms things that my therapist has already implied.

This is definitely true for me. That's one of the reasons I love anime and manga because in most of those the innermost thoughts of the characters are shown to the audience.

I know that for most of these seemingly vague questions, I'm supposed to pick an average or likely scenario as it would apply to most people. Like the "do you prefer to go to a library or party?" question where the answer is wildly different depending on what type of party with what type of people and when. There I can assume it's a regular NT party of small talk, loud music, drunk people, irregular distribution of snacks, and a lack of comfortable place to sit.
But here, I'm stumped. What type of story? The choice of word "characters" implies fiction, but then what? Pulpy fantasy? Sci-fi? Yeah in those everyone has their intentions either spelled out so clearly nobody will struggle to work them out, or crafted to be vague/misleading in order to facilitate a plot twist in such a way that nobody is expected to work it out.
I do read some books with complex characters, but again books tend to describe what the characters are doing. Their motivation in the overall plot? Their intentions in a specific dialogue?
And in order to "find it difficult" I need to need and try to work them out in the first place. There are complex side characters in some books that I don't understand on a deep human level I guess, but I don't need to in order to understand the story. Do they count?
Definitely Confused

Disagree. When reading a story, it’s easy to go at your own pace and work intentions out.
Tried the test and got a 9.

Marks definitely disagree because it's not that I find it difficult. It's that I can't whatsoever. Looks like I'm not autistic after all 😀

18 comments