A Brief List of Everything in the Catalog

[lb_lee]

Organized alphabetically by creator last name; links are to full catalog entries. Quality not guaranteed, but starred works are ones LB especially thinks are worth it. Works with multiple creator names are listed by all, so may appear more than once.

(Note to selves: List of stuff to-do here.)

Quick Alphabetical Index:
A ~ B ~ C ~ D ~ E ~ F ~ G ~ H ~ I ~ J ~ K ~ L ~ M ~ N ~ O ~ P ~ Q ~ R ~ S ~ T ~ U ~ V ~ W ~ X ~ Y ~ Z

( A )

( B )

( C )

( D )

( E )

( F )

( G )

( H )

( I )

( J )

( K )

( L )

( M )

( N )

( O )

( P )

( Q )

( R )

( S )

( T )

( U )

( V )

( W )

( X )

( Y )

( Z )

The Heck Does That Mean?

[lb_lee]

It is impossible to make a concise tagging system using plural slang that everybody knows and agrees on, so here are some explanations of what the tags mean. I generally tried to use the demographics or descriptors used by the creator.

"Access" tags are used for matters of both disability usability and getting your hands on the story. Bootlegging or piracy is most acceptable when it makes a work more disability accessible. More detail:

• access mode: a video game with tools to make it easier to play for folks with disabilities. (Also sometimes called Easy Mode or Cheat Mode.)
• audio/dubbing: the story has been dubbed into English or is available in a sound-only form: audiobooks, podfic, podcasts, etc. Also includes movies with descriptive audio.
• screenreadable: the text can be read by a computer screen-reader. Plain text and HTML, for example, are screenreadable; many bootleg PDFs are not. Also includes available scripts/text-only versions of a visual work (a play, a comic, etc).

Creator tags:

• The "creator:plural" tag is ONLY for creators who have publicly stated they experience something under the plural umbrella, either in the story itself or easily found on the hosting website. Not using the tag doesn't mean the creator hasn't experienced this. Don't be a jerk and out people! When in doubt, don't use this tag!
• The "creator:speaks from experience" tag is for creators who have publicly stated the work is partly autobiographical or inspired by their own experiences, regardless of whether they call that plural or not. For example, Julie Brady has stated that she's a lucid dreamer, but I'm not sure she'd consider that plural, and it'd be mean to tag her as that without her consent. This catalog is called "pluralstories," but it's intended to be expansive in the type of many-selved experiences!

Length tags, by necessity, are somewhat arbitrary, especially when it comes to video games. For the purposes of this catalog:

• short: (1-50 pages, <3 minutes music, <60 minutes of film, <10 hours of gaming/Let's Play)
• medium: (50-300 pages, 3-5 minutes music, 60-150 minutes of film, 10-50 hours of gaming/Let's Play)
• long: (300+ pages, 5+ minutes music, 150+ minutes of film, 50+ hours of gaming/Let's Play)

( Plural tag descriptions/explanations )

Add a Story to the list!

[lb_lee]

If you have a story you want to add to the list, leave it in the comments below! Anyone can do this; you don't need an account!

This catalog purposely takes a very broad, ambiguous view of what constitutes "plural." Make our day! Story types that have been accepted in the past include:
* Spirit possession
* Imaginary friends
* Spirit marriage
* Exploring geographies of the mind, imagination, and fiction
* Bodysharing symbiotes
* MPD/DID
* Plural stories
* Telepathic bodyhopping shenanigans

Rules for submission (changed 5/17/2024):

• Only submit stories. We're willing to play with what defines a story, especially for personal experience accounts and experimental work, but self-help, philosophy, 101 and such do not belong here.
• Don't submit your own work. Boost your fellows!
• Please do not submit more than four titles by the same creator/s. When this archive gets bigger, we'll expand how many entries one creator/s can have.
• The story must be made by an adult (or at least not easily identified as made by a minor). This is to prevent malicious submissions and harassment of kids.
• The story must be publicly available. No unrecorded LARPS, rare books, or stuff on account-locked websites.
• If incomplete, the story must at least have a decent stop point. No just-started webcomics, please! They may not endure!
• You must have taken in the whole story (or at least all that's available at the time of submission). This is for complete content warnings and stuff.
• Spirited/many-selvedness must be core to story or main character/s. If you can remove it from the work without the whole thing falling apart, then please do not recommend it. (If you're not sure, ask! Make our day!)
• You must say why it's worth plurals' time. It doesn't have to be good, exactly, but it's gotta be worth it. This is to avoid completionist spam.

Does the story qualify? Then submit it using the form below! (Feel free to use the tags page for pointers.)

( Submission Form )

Chalkboard Comic, by Meg-John Barker (autobio comic, 2018)

[lb_lee]

"When I was a kid--like many of us--I tried to figure out how to keep the people around me happy. But the messages I received about how to do this were complicated--often contradictory. I could never solve the equations, but I was convinced that eventually I COULD if I just tried hard enough..."



Blurb: A young child is trapped in a room, forever crunching equations. Headmates swoop in to help out.

Why is it worth your time? It is a very short, elegant depiction of a thought-trap, and I want to boost Meg-John Barker/Team MJ Barker. Also it's free to read online.

Plural Tags: headspace/wonderland/elsewhere

Content Warnings: none.

Accessibility Notes: Unfortunately, not available in any screen-readable/audio form. However, it is short and free to read. Back-up link here

Aliens Stole My Body, by Bruce Coville (sci-fi prose, 1998)

[lb_lee]

"It was hard to decide what was the worst part about not having a mouth--not being able to eat, or not being able to talk."

Blurb: Final book in a four-book series. At the end of the third book, Rod, our sixth-grade human narrator, saves the universe by becoming the headmate of a six-legged, one-eyed, no-mouth-or-hands alien named Seymour. Book 4 takes up with the two trying to share Seymour's body, and also foil the plans of the evil mastermind who made off with Rod's body. (There's also a movie version from 2020 that toned down the multi stuff. You can skip it.)

Why is it worth your time? It's a fun kiddie-sci-fi action about a multiple saving the world, with fun asides about the concept of self and mind.

Plural Tags: Plurality on purpose, sci-fi plurality, nonhuman headmates (well, both body and Seymour are alien; Rod isn't), switching

Content Warnings: In comments below; contains spoilers.

Accessibility Notes: Available on paper and ebook, kid-friendly.

Misc Notes: Last book in a four book-children's series; it's best you read the whole series, but if you ONLY want the plural stuff, you can indeed read Aliens Stole My Body by itself; there's a "if you missed the rest of this series..." note at the start that brings you up to speed.

Cuckoo, by Madison Clell (autobio comic and play, 1996-2002, 2013)

[lb_lee]

"Oh well. Who cares what one's shrink thinks? Besides, the owners of those various scripts would never emerge in that office. I was the one in control. Funny, the harder I ignored the little girl, the more light-headed I felt..."

Blurb: Autobiographical true stories of being a multiple. Sometimes serious, sometimes goofy. The comics are mostly short fragments about various multi misadventures (including banking while multiple, dealing with health insurance and hospitalization), which culminated in a longer story about how Clell realized she was multiple, dealt, and integrated. Unfortunately, while the comic has many fun bits, the story is unfinished; the play contains the whole story, but it's also compressed by necessity.

Why is it worth your time? It's pretty good. In my opinion, the most fun parts of the comic are the short, everyday bits about such things as banking while multiple. It's the little life details that ground the story. Plus Clell is, far as I know, the first multiple to have made comics about it.

Plural Tags: MPD/DID, fusion/integration, switching, abuse high-focus

Content Warnings: In comments below; contains spoilers.

Accessibility Notes: Comic is incomplete. Available only on paper, unless you go for piracy. At least one of the floppy issues are out of print. This comic is impossible to length-tag correctly, because individual issues are short, the play and trade paperback are medium, but getting the whole story requires all three of them, which is LONG.

Buy it from Madison Clell here.

Freshwater, by Akwaeke Emezi (fiction/memoir prose, 2018)

[lb_lee]

“We’re gods,” he reminded her. “I don’t have to be fair.”

Blurb: the semi-autobiographical story of Ada, who is an ọgbanje. Emezi explores their Igbo heritage's spirituality and gender alongside those of Western construction and invites their audience to think critically about this spirit/body binary. (from Wikipedia)

Why is it worth your time? It's good. It's also the first book I've really seen engaging with metaphysical manyness and how ROUGH gods can be to deal with. This is the first book I've seen dealing with how gender and plurality interact, and the compromises therein. It's an intense read, but it is a much-needed taboo breaker.

Plural Tags: switching, metaphysical plurality, nonhumans, abuse intermediate-focus

Content Warnings: In comments below; contains spoilers.

Accessibility Notes: available in paper, ebook, and audio formats.

Misc Notes: Emezi has said on Twitter that Freshwater is memoir. "It’s like ~5% fiction in the childhood parts of the book, and the rest is straight memoir from a spirit first perspective. The conversations between the selves were literally copy pasted from my journals. I let it move as fiction because it needed that mask as my debut, you know? I don’t believe it would have been published as nonfiction because it would have required acknowledging that indigenous realities aren’t myths."