writing plural systems

to help you write plural characters, run by systems!

[writing-plurals]

heyo, welcome to our blog!

this is inspired by @writingwithcolor and @rainbowwriting!

plural systems generally have very bad representation so we thought we'd make this blog to help writers finally give us some good representation!

so if you have any questions about a plural character you're writing, whether you're a singlet or a system, feel free to come into our inbox and ask!

this blog is pro-endo

mods:

Mod Mountain - adaptive monoconscious OSDD-1b system who's pretty much always writing (he/they collectively)

Mod Tick Tock - quoigenic system whose host is a writer and digital artist (fae/faer collectively)

Mod Birdie - mixed-basis DID system who write, roleplay, program, and do pixel art, to varying degrees (they/she/aer/it colllectively, in order of preference)

Mod Galaxy - mixed origin, medically recognized polyfrag DID system who has been writing before they were a teenager and is passionate about creating diverse, nuanced portrayals of multiplicity! (they/them collectively)

Retired Mods:

Mod Sev

[writing-plurals]

I was going through my old OCs and remembered my system OCs where the host killed someone.

Like this story is set in the fantasy 1930s and my OCs get hospitalised (unrelated to them being plural). The system's main nurse picks up on the system's "strange'' behaviour (memory issues, talking and behaving like different people ect.). Naturally she assumes the system is possessed by demons and does not talk to the system or her colleagues any further, because she thinks she's always right.

In this world, one of the substances used in exorcisms can also be used as a medical drug, so she explains to the system that if the demons "keep taking over the body" she's going to keep upping the dose of the medicine. Basically if the system acts in a way she doesn't like she ups their dose. One time she gets enraged at them (for speaking too much about her mistreatment of them) and tries to inject a lethal amount of medicine at which point the host kills her and covers it up with magic.

And I had written it so the only person who cared was another alter in the system. None of the other good guys had any major issues with the murder (not even the nurse's family). They were more concerned about how the system was dealing with it.

(If the ages matter: the host is around the same age as the body, so 14 at the time of the murder and 25-27 when people start finding out about it)

I really don't know what my 14yo self was thinking with this, but I'm kinda emotionally attached to my OCs, SO I wanna ask if there's anything worth keeping here?

so while there is the issue of plurals being depicted as murderers in fiction, it doesn't seem so bad in this example because the system did it out of self-defense rather than having an evil alter who kills people for no reason. plus, you have mixed feelings about it in the system which is always good to show that they're individuals

one point you mentioned was that they were concerned about how the system was dealing with it. do you mean for example psychologically? if so i think that's a really good point to tackle. if you spend some time with the system recovering from the trauma they went through in hospital as well as the trauma of killing someone, such as feeling guilty but also glad to be free (maybe different alters are holding different emotions), then that shows the system more as people who did something out of fear, rather than out of cruelty or "because they're a system". it might be helpful to also in some way point out that a singlet might do the same in the same situation

but of course it's always safer to include another system (or a few more systems) who haven't killed anybody so it doesn't seem like you're saying all systems do this

-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

[writing-plurals]

For the exorcism anon: we would trwad extremely lightly with anything regarding any exorcism at all tbh, especially depending on other aspects of your story.

It may warrant a trigger warning somewhere if, for example, your story leans to the darker side and explores psychiatry as an oppressor profession the way The Hybrid Chronicles by Kat Zhang does, and you have systems or headmates who are also murdered against their will.

For a lighter story we'd still be careful using/putting ANY trust in psychiatric contexts trying to differentiate disordered plurality from a ghost issue, and you'd need some extremely obvious tells that the possession was not voluntary. And like, that other alternatives have not been tried for the possession (examples: is the ghost just lonely and is mot aware of the MANY people who want to be a system? if exorcism destroys the ghost, was it triple-checked it is just an accident and ghost needs to just leave body instead?). What about disordered CDD systems who are ALSO endogenic, and then ALSO happen to have a ghost? People conveniently forget endogenic systems can be traumatized too and subsequently can get fucked up with their internal communication and such.

(Side note wrt Hybrid Chronicles: we're actually kind of shocked even with the first book that it's considered YA but we consider that a side effect of plurmisia, and endogenimisia specifically as the whole series is about endogenic systems, even if that's not the word used. Non-spiritual, but we still at least highly reccomend the first book we if you are writing some darker stuff and need to know how to do it in a way we feel, as an endogenic, handles it "well enough" of you happen to be singlet and-or not an endogenic system.)

All good points!!

[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

[a-system-of-giving]

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