writing-plurals

[writing-plurals]

Hey, I'm working on a system oc as a singlet. I have friends who are systems and they've been helping me a lot, but I still have worries about my character (Technically characters because each alter are their own person) They have an alter who is more aggressive and chaotic oriented, which I'm scared creates a bad light on systems. My friend (system) seems to have no problem with it though. I'm not entirely sure this alter is a persecutor or (from research I just did) malicitor(?)

My only reference to systems is my friends, Mr. Robot and Moon Knight, and whatever the internet says.

Isit be okay to have a more violent alter in a character who acts upon those actions?

Well there are actual systems who do have alters like that, so it's not necessarily inaccurate. Although, do you need a violent alter? What are they bringing to the story? Are they a villain (which would shine more of a bad light on systems) or are they someone who's struggling with themselves or their system? There are ways to frame it so that it's more respectful of systems and compelling to the story, but if you just threw in the violent alter or something like that then I would say you don't need it, and if you want someone violent, you could make a violent singlet

If you are going to go ahead with a violent alter, here's some ideas for making it more respectful towards systems (you don't have to do them all, they're just suggestions):

Have that alter be trying to recover, and maybe the whole system is helping and learning to love that alter (which makes it about recovery and system-love instead of just about the violence)

Give that alter a reason for the violence (are they trying to keep their system safe? Do they have internalised issues/trauma that hasn't been addressed?) so they're not just chaotic for the sake of being chaotic, and that's something interesting you could explore

Have the system have ways of keeping those in the outerworld safe from that alter (like a gatekeeper who stops them from fronting if they're going to do something particularly bad, although there could be some autonomy issues if that gatekeeper is too strict. Many angles to explore if you want)

Have one or more other systems who don't have a violent alter so it's clear that this isn't how all systems work

-Mod Mountain

[writing-plurals]

If I were to write a story in a medical setting and I made an endocrinologist and a trauma surgeon have beef with each other that closely parodies syscourse arguments ("disorders don't just happen with no reason" vs. "we are talking about the HUMAN BODY which we still don't fully understand"), would the audience find that problematic?

To be clear I am pro-endo and the rivalry is making fun of syscourse, not supporting it.

Both doctors have an enemies-to-lovers arc and end up dating.

I am not aiming for medical accuracy with the syscourse parallels. This story is purely self/ves-indulgent and will probably never be posted.

They're technically both singlets (at the moment), they just represent two sides of discourse.

That sounds brilliant and personally I would love to read it :]

(Edit: check the notes though!)

-Mod Mountain

[writing-plurals]

How would the concept of endogenesis interact with a world where people can get paid for allowing ghosts to possess them or can be possessed involuntarily? For the rest of these questions let’s assume the ghost can puppet the person possessed (vessel), speak with either their own voice or the voice of the vessel, and can be a “voice in the head of” the vessel assuming they’re not possessing a dead person, and multiple ghosts can possess one body. If a ghost(s) stays for long enough could the vessel have good reason to claim themselves endogenic? In the case of a person who had dissociative cPTSD from early life trauma could there be a way to tell the difference between an unwilling possession and a dissociative disorder before an exorcism is attempted?

There are metaphysical systems in the real world, such as ones who have spirits/ghosts as part of their system, and yes many of them consider themselves endogenic plurals (whether the ghosts come and go or are always there or whatever else, it's always up to personal preference for terminology, and I think it makes sense for the vessel in your story to call themselves endogenic)

The thing about possession and plurality is that exorcisms have been performed on systems (and in some cases they still are being done) because they were thought to be possessed, so I guess just be careful with that topic. Though, I think of course you can still include it, if you distinguish between dissociative disorders and possession and such, and note that an exorcism might be a traumatic experience. Anyway, if your possessed plurals function much like your dissociative plurals, then I'm not sure you would be able to tell, but maybe those who are possessed don't dissociate, or maybe the person with the dissociative disorder knows that their headmates have been there for all/most of their life

-Mod Mountain

[writing-plurals]

Is it okay to make a plural character joke about themselves/their system/plurality as a whole? If so, what topics/jokes should I avoid?

Yeah it's okay! We often make jokes like that. I'm not sure on what to avoid, I guess it really depends on the sort of character they are. Like, even if they're jokes about negative stereotypes and that sort of thing, if it's clear it's in good humour then it's fine (for example, plenty of real systems will joke about their "evil alter" or being an "evil alter", and ofc they don't mean that literally)

-Mod Mountain

[writing-plurals]

Can we submit our own plural writing advice here if we can't/don't want to on our main blog?

Yeah definitely!

[writing-plurals]

If I'm writing inner dialogue between headmates, do I need to use "speech marks" since it's still technically a conversation? Or would italics be okay since it's also technically thoughts?

And how can I make it clear to the reader who's saying what?

It really is up to your own preference! Speech marks can work just as well as italics, so just pick whichever you think works best and is clear for what you're trying to convey. You could use speech marks and add that it was a thought/said in the headspace/etc, and as for italics you could format it sort of like you would with speech marks:

Like this, said Mod Mountain

Also, depending on how you're publishing it, you could use different ways of formatting it depending on the headmate that's speaking, like underlined or different colours

-Mod Mountain

[writing-plurals]

Hi, can there be a situation where an alter is unsure whether they should front or not, because it isn’t clear whether the current situation is something they’re better at handling or not?

More specifically, there’s a scene where someone the host, A., cares about might be in danger (which A. would be better at handling) but there are alarms blaring everywhere and evacuation orders being given, so their protector alt S. is unsure whether they should front or not, because they don’t want to cause unnecessary stress by getting in A.’s way if switching wasn’t needed (S. sort of acts on their own) — until the body’s directly threatened and that’s S.’s cue to front and escape efficiently.

There’s around a 30 second-1 minute gap between the first alarms and the physical threat appearing. Could the aforementioned confusion happen? What would it feel like? What might it look like from the outside? 

If there are other inaccuracies in my description that I haven’t asked about, I’d appreciate those being pointed out as well! Thank you! ^^

Yeah that's possible! A protector (or another headmate better at handling the situation) could be automatically triggered to front when there's danger, and it makes sense that this could be when the body is directly threatened (of course they could be triggered to front from alarm bells and things too, but do what fits your story best). Also, protectors fronting isn't necesarily automatic anyway, so they could know about the possibility of danger, and maybe linger around front (maybe co-conscious) until they confirm they're needed, and then they're ready to go

As for what it looks like, it depends how covert or overt the system is in general. Like, if the system is covert, then the internal confusion wouldn't be noticeable from the outside at all. If they're more overt, there are many possibilities for what it looks like on the outside depending on what's going on inside, are they talking to each other out loud? Are they dissociating at all?

As for the inside, maybe A is doing their thing and S is just quietly hanging back and observing (and A would probably feel S's presence unless A is too distracted), or maybe S is asking if it's okay to front or if A needs anything. Many possibilities!

-Mod Mountain

[writing-plurals]

One of my characters (for lack of a better word) "downloads" the Big Bad Evil Guy to their mind so they can't do any more harm. BBEG, trapped in a mortal body, eventually gives up on doing evil as they bond with their host and realise how fulfilling life can truly be.

Does this play into the "evil alter" trope or promote host-centricism in an offensive way?

Nope, you’re good. BBEG is becoming a better person, yeah? So no evil alter there. And you said nothing about BBEG not being able to front, so I don’t see any host-centrism either.

Have fun writing!

-mod birdie

[writing-plurals]

Hey what if I write a plural character wrong in a positive way

This could mean so many things so please elaborate what you mean, anon

Also irregardless of how you answer: I’m not your keeper, you can do literally whatever you want, forever

-mod birdie

[writing-plurals]

The fics for A System of Giving 2025 have been revealed!! You can read them all here (link)

Thank you to everyone who participated, and we hope to see you next year :]

[writing-plurals]

Can different alters have different communication abilities between each other? For example the host can tell two different alters the same information, maybe a plan or something, but one of them forgets, and the host goes out front. But is it possible for the two remaining alters to not have the communication ability between specifically the two of them to remind each other to do the planned thing? Or to perhaps let the other alter know what the talk was about before they ended up switching?

But the communication abilitg between the alters and the host would be well, it's just that some alters would have a worse ability. Or is it a general system thing if you have good or bad communication ability?

It’s definitely possible between individuals, groups of members, or the entire system. We personally have trouble communicating from one of our sister systems to another, unless the members trying to communicate with each other are in the shared headspace. (Our headspace functions are kinda weird so we can’t enter our other sister system’s headspaces.)

This means that Group 1 (a group of about 110) have difficulty communicating and planning with Group 2 (a group of about 90).

Does that help? Others may not share our exact experience either, so feel free to write it how you prefer. :>

-mod birdie

[writing-plurals]

how important do you think it is to use the "right" terminology in a modern story with no fantasy elements?

It's more important to use terminology your narrator would know to use. So maybe the correct ones if your narrator is a psych student who has to therapize themself. But if your narrator has no clue what's happening, using DSM terminology is gonna feel really wrong to the audience. If someone had to come up with all completely personal language for dissociating/switching/etc, think about how they'd talk about it.

-Mod Tick Tock

[writing-plurals]

What are the possible solutions for a system character that doesn't want to have an extra wardrobe because "in this economy???" and/or "I like this color and it's my style", but the other headmates have varying opinions of the host's fashion tastes from thinking it's drab because of how monotone it is to thinking it's too bold because it's not conventional to absoluting hating every clothing item and accessory that's available? What other clothing involved conflicts can I add aside from the headmates having disagreements on what to wear for the day?

well, for solutions, accessories are a good way to spice up a "bland" outfit that won't be "too" bold for hte others. allows for ppl to quick change expression too if they switch throughout the day!

other conflicts could include a guy having to share front bc he popped and a super feminine person's already there, so he's maybe uncomfortable, or vice versa.

thoughts from replies?

-mod tick tock

[writing-plurals]

Looking at my writing of one of my system character's headmates and being "hmmmm" because while the body they're collectively in is that cis man (well, maybe cisn't(?) since the headmate that fronts most of the time and has most of the memories says they have some distance with masculinity and manhood and while they typically dress masculine, they sometimes wear androgynous and feminine fits), one of the headmates used to be a teenage girl when the character was a child, but became a transmasculine adult when the character in question became a college student.

There's also a little who's transfem who can't read and write yet and she makes me go "hmmm" as well because of the body she's stuck in and because of the aforementioned guy that fronts the most. Same with with the two cis women headmates, but one of them hates the body she's in and the other woman is unaware that she can't get pregnant despite fearing that happening to her.

I'm not entirely sure what you're asking, but all of this sounds very possible to us. Gender can be especially weird for plurals, even if the system has a collective gender (we, for example, have a collective gender, but not all our headmates are that gender, and we even have one who's trans in the other direction and had that gender discovery in-system). Basically, gender is very diverse, and it gets even more complicated when you add plurality to the mix. As for the last point about the headmate not knowing she can't get pregnant, we don't personally have experience with that, but I imagine it can happen because sometimes headmates aren't aware that the body has different abilities to them, for example with non-human headmates

-Mod Mountain

[writing-plurals]

Trying to add a small thingy of a plural system character trying to leave home and they get into an argument with their headmates about if they've collectively turned the stove off before going out of their door. Can that happen? Any other stuff do I need to take in mind?

That kinda thing happens all the time! Everyone will have different levels of access to memories, after all, and might not remember having done things, or might remember having done it, but might be remembering doing it another day and mistaking it. If it can happen to a couple of ppl who live in the same place but different bodies, it can happen to a system is a good way to think about it.

For this exact situation, is one of the members gonna be more stubborn about double checking and overriding front to go back and make sure? Or can they be assuaged that everything's fine and safe?

-Mod Tick Tock

[writing-plurals]

While I, a singlet, have been researching about writing plurals and personally know at least someone who is a plural, there's still a lot of things I don't know about plurality as a whole since I'm technically an outsider.

Is it possible for a system to have a headmate that sometimes harms the collective body they're in but thinks they're helping?

Yeah, this is really common! They're usually called a persecutor (or persecutor-protector, not all persecutors think they're helping), if you wanna look that up to help in your research :]

-mod mountain

[writing-plurals]

Is it okay for an alter to identify as a mythological creature from a culture the body isn't part of? For example, a kitsune alter in a white body. I know there has been discourse about race (alters' skin colour not matching the body's) and how to talk about it, but I haven't seen anything about headmates based in folklore. Like with my example, is kitsune okay, or should it be called a fox shapeshifter?

Our skin has a notable palor to it so take this with a grain of salt, but!

This is a really common occurrence! Nonhumans happen all the time! As for the terminology they get to use is probably a case by case situation depending on the culture referenced.

-Mod Tick Tock