#mod mountain

[writing-plurals]

I want to get the courage to write about systemhood. I feel like I’m not a real system (I spent over a year faking my headmates for no external reward or gratification ig) and I have no right to write about it. Either that or my system is real, but it’s a bad thing/a personal curse/a sign of my failure and I shouldn’t encourage it by depicting it in writing. But, like, I want to write.

I want to pretend that my own experiences aren’t real and I’m a singlet writing a system so that I can have an excuse to write it. But even then I don’t know how to start the story in my head. I just want to write ordinary domestic sys4sys shit. But why do I want to write that when I would hate both characters?

first of all, our blog is here to help everyone, including singlets, write plural characters. so whether or not you're a "real" system, you have a right to write about them, what's important is writing them respectfully

also, yeah sometimes being plural can be a struggle and it can feel scary and like a curse and all those things you mentioned, and maybe by writing about that, you can help others feel seen. there are benefits to writing about plurals who love being plural because it can help others see the positive side of (their) plurality, and there are benefits to depicting the struggles too. i think that if you wanna write, you should go for it because personally i think writing is one of the best ways of processing things, but yknow i can't tell you what to do

writers don't have to like their characters, in fact i& write a lot of shitty characters, probably my favourite thing to write about. what matters is that you enjoy writing it. so while i don't know why you might hate those characters, i don't think that there would be anything wrong with writing it if that's something you would enjoy, but ofc going back to the first point, try to write them respectfully so it doesn't turn into bad representation. also i don't know if this was quite what you were getting at, but there's the blog @/pluralprompts if you want some ideas for plural stories to write

-mod mountain

[managerialtips]

Tell me your frog headcanons. I like the frog a lot

ohhhh goddd i am so sorry these have taken so long WE HAVE A LOT OF THOUGHTS but it's a lot to write them all down in between college and work. BUT THE TOAD:

-likes music a lot!! it'll hum along and even though it feels very peaceful in the moment (kinda like how taii described hookah caterpillar's containment in wonderlab) this does a lotta white damage

-doing instinct work is tough because it's feeding the toad, and you have to be careful of its tongue to avoid white damage. it likes sour food the most and makes the funniest face tho. frog eat lemon!

-after a bad work it gets frustrated and cries really loud... the next agent to go into its unit might need some kind of soundproof headphones

-a lot less soft or squishy than it looks, very tough. almost feels kinda like metal or rocks with a rubber sheet placed on it?

-when the eye is popped out and given to someone as a gift, it regenerates within the hour! the eye gift is probably a little brooch gift... a reminder of a listening to its gloomy tune

-likes having a bit of water poured on it. not too much though

hope these are enough!! sorry they're not too substantial oughhh - mod mountain

[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]

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]

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]

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