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.)

[Title] by [Creator/s] ([genre] [medium], [year released])

"[insert a cool quote from the work here]"

Blurb:

Why is it worth your time?:

Plural/1+ Tags: Choose from the ones on the tag list, or add your own!

Content Warnings: please include spoilers! I have this comm set up so that individual posts have only plural tag spoilers (because that's what folks are here for!), while content warnings will be in the comments. That way, people who want to remain spoiler-free can read the post itself and be fine, and the people who want all the warnings can scroll down.

Accessibility Notes: See the tag list for examples. Also note how you can get it. Is it an easy library book? Has someone digitized it and put it elsewhere? Is it backed up anywhere?

Misc. Notes (if any):

Is it long, medium, or short?: I wrote the standards here.

It is for kids, teens, adults, or everybody?

Comments

[acorn_squash]

Link

Title: Gardens

Creator: M. Tillery

Medium, Genre, and Format: medium: comics, genre: autobio/personal, format: digital,

Year Released: 2019

Is it long, medium, or short?: length: short,

It is for kids, teens, or adults only? audience: everyone,

A cool quote from the work: “We tend gardens in our hearts for others, even if they might never see the flowers.”

Blurb: “A story about feelings, told in the language of dreams.”

Why is it worth your time?: It’s a comic about psychopomps and emotional gardens that’s full of love. (The creator’s talked more about their psychopomps here.)

Plural Tags: creator: speaks from experience, plural: abuse: not mentioned, plural: otherworld, plural: people: dreamfolk, plural: people: imaginary friends, plural: people: nonhumans, plural: relationships: friendship

Content Warnings: None

Accessibility Notes: Free. Not screenreadable, sorry!

Misc. Notes (if any): None

[lb_lee]

Sneak: This was really cool! I didn't know about it; thanks for submitting it! :D It's been added to the catalog. ^_^

[acorn_squash]

Glad you liked it!

[matsushima]

"The Imaginary Friend" by Gwynne Garfinkle (Furry, Prose, 2022)

“It’s clearly been a long time since you’ve spared a thought for me. I should hate you.”

Blurb: A fictive imaginary friend discovers the truth about his existence as his human grows up.

Why is it worth your time?: Told from the POV of an outsourced imaginary friend (headmate? tulpha?) who blinks in and out of existence only when their human (host?) remembers them and grapples (some) with what that means.

Plural Tags: fictioneers; on purpose; fusion/integration (? - by the end of the story the imaginary friend and his human are brainstorming ways to send him out of her world and back to his own)

Content Warnings: off-screen character death

Accessibility Notes: screenreadable (? - HTML standard formatting but I haven't personally checked against a screenreader)

Format:

Is it long, medium, or short?: short

It is for kids, teens, adults, or everybody? everybody (general audience, not NSFW)

[lb_lee]

Sneak: Thank you for your submission! The story has been added to the catalog! :D

[acorn_squash]

Best Friend — The Unicorn Song, by Margie Adam (song, 1974)

“Seeing is believing in the things you see
Loving is believing in the ones you love!”

Blurb: A sweet song about being friends with a unicorn, the northern star, and someone who lives inside of you.

Why is it worth your time?: It’s cute and it’s about love!

Plural Tags: plural:abuse:not mentioned, plural:people:imaginary friends, plural:people:nonhumans, plural:relationships:friendship

Content Warnings: Discussion of facing ableism and lack of understanding, which is shrugged off immediately. This is a happy song!

Accessibility Notes: The audio and lyrics are available for free on the singer’s website. The songsheet is $5.

Is it long, medium, or short?: Medium (~4 minutes of music, 3 verses with a chorus)

It is for kids, teens, adults, or everybody? Everybody!

[lb_lee]

Sneak: This was so adorable and I'd never heard of it! Turns out there is also a Cantonese cover/adaptation, which is equally delightful! Thank you so much for telling me about this; it's been added to the catalog! ^_^

[acorn_squash]

Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon (contemporary gothic sci-fi prose, 2021)

“Vern reached out to squeeze Lucy’s hand. Lucy squeezed back. In her mind, Vern said the words, I love you, I miss you. Lucy put down the book, turned to Vern, and said, ‘I like living inside of you.’”

Blurb (written by me): Everybody in Cainland is used to hauntings - visions and night terrors supposedly caused by withdrawal from white people's toxins. But in Cainland, everything is connected and nothing is what it seems. After fleeing the Cainland cult compound pregnant with twins, an exoskeleton develops on Vern's disabled, teenage body, a passenger that saps her energy but connects her to something greater than herself. Meanwhile, she learns to communicate with her hauntings and develops loving relationships with some of them.

Why is it worth your time?: It’s a fast-paced thriller with some of the most unique and creative science fiction elements I’ve seen in a while (did I mention the exoskeleton?). Definitely read the content warnings first, though!

Plural Tags: plural:abuse:high-focus, plural: people:the dead, plural:people:children, plural:type:setting-specific, plural:relationships:family, plural:relationships:friendship, plural:relationships:intimate, plural:visions

Content Warnings: The author includes the following content warning: “I hope that even as Sorrowland delves into the pain these colonial states have wrought, one might see the joy, triumph, and humor of those who resist, resist, resist. That said, there is no mincing words about some of the darker themes in this book. Note discussion and instances of racism, misogyny, self-harm, suicidality, and homophobia, inclusion of animal death and explicit violence, and references to sexual violence that have taken place off the page.”

In addition to this, the book also includes the death and sexual abuse of children, the forced removal of children, poverty, homelessness, cults, medical experimentation, and drugs. Pregnancy, childbirth, and consensual sex also appear.

Accessibility Notes: Available in e-book, audiobook, and print.

Is it long, medium, or short?: Medium

It is for kids, teens, adults, or everybody? It’s aimed at adults. The reading level is likely to be accessible to a teenager; the content may or may not be.

[acorn_squash]

Yay! That cover's excellent, thanks for linking!

[lb_lee]

Sneak: Gosh, this looks really intriguing too, and our library has it! Thank you for this submission, it's been added to the catalog! ^_^

[(Anonymous)]

Byzantine Generals by SunsetAgain (sci-fi digital comic, 2018-2023)

"I wanna say, that your value is much higher than your assessment. It shouldn't be measured in terms of data..."

Blurb: An android, subject to horrific experiments, finds himself part of a network of clones. He fights to set them free along with the other victims of experimentation, and succeeds--at the cost of his life. Those 7 clones find new life together with their human partner, but the threats to their existence are far from over...

Why is it worth your time?: Season 1 is a set-up for the bulk of the plural content in Season 2, "Eclipse of Sybil", in which the androids act as an external system connected via their own network. (Yes, the title is partly a reference to that Sybil, whose name was used for the computer term 'Sybil attack'.) Although they each have their own body, the way they cooperate, share memories, and talk about each other is nevertheless very plural. It's cool seeing what a system could look and act like on the outside.
A particular heartwarming scene: one member tells the system's partner how each of them have their own unique thoughts, but laments that they must be indistinguishable due to being the same model of android. The partner, upset, responds with, 'of course I can differentiate all of you!' Just like how a system might feel as though only the body is known to others, but a loved one can tell the difference between members.
Ending Spoilers: through trials and tribulations, the system ends up becoming plural in the traditional sense by sharing one body/brain, complete with an example of switching!
Also, the artwork is gorgeous.

Plural Tags: nonswitching, switching, setting-specific, on purpose, teamwork, nonhumans, enmity, memory work

Content Warnings: abuse (adults and children), blood, death (dismemberment, decapitation, shooting, falling, fire, car accidents...), experimentation, gore (machine), graphic violence, strong language, suicide (attempts and one who chooses to shut down), trauma (flashbacks, anxiety attacks)

Accessibility Notes: Lots of translations! The entirety can be read in Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, and Russian. Season 1 can also be read in German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, and Spanish.
There are plain text scripts in English, but they don't distinguish between who is speaking.

Misc. Notes (if any): This is a Detroit: Become Human fan comic that goes off the rails with the artwork being a main draw (heh). Massive spoilers for the game, of course, but since most of the story is its own thing, it can (probably) be read without any knowledge of the source.

Format: Digital comic

Is it long, medium, or short?: Long; all together, it is 509 pages.

It is for kids, teens, adults, or everybody? Adults

Available to read on Archive Of Our Own: https://archiveofourown.org/works/53427262/chapters/135226435
Also available for free download by the creator (where all the translations can also be found): https://x.com/SunsetagainD/status/1667866938360623104

[(Anonymous)]

Clock Tower Ghost Head AKA Clock Tower 2: The Struggle Within by Human Entertainment (horror adventure video game, 1998)

"Don't be afraid, Alyssa..."

Blurb: Teenager Alyssa Hale is trying to start over in a new city after a horrific incident at her previous school. She is haunted by someone named Bates who has been taking control of her body against her will. Things go from bad to worse upon reaching her uncle's house and finding a dead body shortly after. The reason why Bates exists will be revealed, but she must learn to accept him in order to find that truth and, most importantly, survive the night.

Why is it worth your time?: Alyssa and Bates switching is a game mechanic that can be used to solve puzzles! One can do or find something the other can't, and vice-versa. That itself is pretty cool, especially for a PS1 game.
That said, the game's got a lot of issues. The English version's box claims that Alyssa has an 'evil split personality and she is thirsty for blood oh nooo' without acknowledging Bates as his own person. The Japanese version at least makes it clearer that they are two separate souls in the same body. In both versions, Bates, the so-called 'evil' one, is really more Chaotic Neutral.
Spoilers for clarification: Alyssa shares a body with her deceased twin brother. Said brother forcibly switches in to protect her from danger, but he can be more violent than she wants. He talks big but doesn't indiscriminately stab people like the 'killer alter ego' stereotype goes. There is an audio drama where the story goes in that direction, but in terms of the game, Bates is just a jerk who loves his sister.

Plural Tags: spiritual, teamwork, enmity, switching, the dead, family

Content Warnings: death (child and adult), bodily mutilation, strong language, parental neglect, medical experimentation

Accessibility Notes: It is a PS1 game long out of print with two language options (Japanese and English, separate releases); the English version is prohibitively expensive to acquire secondhand. Fortunately, playthroughs can be found on YouTube and Niconico.
One example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGD4dVnmsls

Misc. Notes (if any): Honestly...the game kind of sucks lol. But this system appreciates protector tropes, and Bates very much hits that trope. Plus, in the English version he's voiced by Roger L. Jackson who is so very fun to listen to!

Format: PlayStation

Is it long, medium, or short?: Short, beatable in ~5 hours with a guide (extremely recommended)

It is for kids, teens, adults, or everybody? Adults

[erinptah]

Thinking of submitting Nobody Should Believe Me season 4, so I wanted to double-check that it counts.

Short background: it's a podcast about medical child abuse (popularly known as "Munchausen's by proxy"), and season 4 focuses on Jordyn Hope, a survivor the host met through her activism while making earlier seasons. It's basically a biography-documentary. Jo is introduced as a nonbinary person who uses singular they, and this season reveals that they're also a plural they. Their multiplicity is only discussed in any detail in episode 7, but symptoms like dissociation and amnesia come up elsewhere in the season -- and obviously they're plural the whole time, even when it's not getting focused on.

If that qualifies, let me know, and I'll do a full writeup!

[(Anonymous)]

Apologies, forgot to add under Content Warnings that there is a hospital/surgery scene as well.

[lb_lee]

Wooooow, that looks intense! Interesting, but harrowing! You know what, long as you note that the multi is only discussed in detail in episode 7, and link it specifically so people can jump straight to that if they want, I'm willing to take it. It's a kind of story I haven't seen before, definitely don't have on this catalog, so that's good enough for me. (Especially since between the content and it being a podcast, ain't no way any of us are ever going to be able to take it in!)

[lb_lee]

Sneak: Wow, this art is gorgeous! Thank you for submitting, it has been added to the catalog! ^_^

[lb_lee]

Sneak: Ooh, I've seen playthroughs of a couple Clock Tower games! Thanks for your submission; it's been added to the catalog! :D

[erinptah]

Excellent! (I put the right episode in the writeup -- it was video #7 in the Youtube playlist, but on a closer look, it's Episode 5.) Onward:



Nobody Should Believe Me season 4, by Andrea Dunlop (documentary podcast, 2024)

"It's like we're all on a bus. And sometimes I'm driving the bus, and so that means I have access to my body and my words and things like that, and then sometimes I'm on the back of the bus, and I have no ability to do anything -- but I can see what's happening. And I feel like it's gotten to a point, for the most part, where I feel like all the parts that need to be around are driving the bus together."

Blurb: When Andrea Dunlop's sister was investigated for medical child abuse (popularly known as "Munchausen by Proxy") more than a decade ago, it tore her family apart. This catastrophic series of events sent Andrea on a journey to understand a form of abuse that many people don't want to believe exists, speaking with experts, the occasional perpetrator, and a lot of survivors. Season 4 follows the story of Jordyn Hope, a survivor Andrea became friends with while making earlier seasons, as they unravel the secrets of their childhood.

Why is it worth your time?: The podcast is excellent in general, with the host neither sugarcoating nor sensationalizing the abuse she covers, and getting a wide range of relevant voices on-mic. Jo had guest appearances in earlier seasons to give a survivor's perspective, and this season they step into the spotlight. Their multiplicity is only discussed in Episode 5: Revelations (Youtube link), but symptoms like dissociation and amnesia come up elsewhere in the season -- and obviously they're plural the whole time. It's rare to see DID come up in a series where that isn't the focus, and refreshing that, in contrast to all the negative/damaging health effects Jo deals with as a result of their abuse, the multiplicity is presented as neutral-to-positive.

Plural Tags: abuse high-focus, cofronting, dissociation, relationships: teamwork, type: medical, type: switching

Content Warnings: Medical child abuse (from Jo's mother), emotional abuse, sexual abuse (from someone else), gaslighting, narcissism, alcoholism, racism toward Jo's biological father, eating disorder, inpatient mental health stays. Jo's mother dies in the course of the season, which they and their sister struggle with at the end.

Accessibility Notes: Audio, available on Apple Podcasts and other podcast services. The Youtube uploads have auto-generated transcripts, with all the errors you would expect.

Misc. Notes (if any): Added the "switching" tag because Jo talks about it happening in general while they made the season, though they don't call out any specific switches on-mic. They're not the main creator or editor of the podcast, but with this specific season I'd say they're involved-enough to rate the "creator: plural" tag.

Format: Audio

Is it long, medium, or short?: Long (10 episodes, totaling about 8 hours)

It is for kids, teens, adults, or everybody?: Teens/adults

[lb_lee]

Sneak: I've added it to the catalog! I admit, in most cases the DID wouldn't be huge enough to warrant it, but the unusual and useful subject material means I'm willing to be flexible on this one! Thank you for submitting it! ^_^

[erinptah]

I was hoping for something like that! Glad I checked =D

[lb_lee]

Sneak: Yes! I am willing to make exceptions for unusual or exemplary work! :D The rules are to prevent spam and trolling, not prevent cool things from getting in!

[wolffyluna]

Her Voice Is A Backwards Record by Ozy Brennan (sff novelette, 2024)

"If all physically possible universes exist, so do all physically possible girlfriends… including the one you’re imagining who’s imagining you."

Blurb: Ana’s parents, who hadn’t heard that it wasn’t game-theoretically optimal to punish her for dropping LSD, packed her away to a troubled teen camp. During the day, Ana faces the harsh Utah desert, near-starvation, and torture in the name of “therapy.” At night, she seeks desperate comfort in the arms of her alternate-universe girlfriend, Yuya, one of three hundred wives in the harem of the Emperor of Every World. But as their respective prisons wear away at their very selves, both girls face a choice: to become the monsters those in authority want them to be, or to die trying to escape.

Why is it worth your time?: It's a really good exploration of the ways being in awful situations can make you a worse person, and also how you can help lift others out of it even if the other people are arguably 'only in your head.' It also contained a wrenching dialogue about multiversarial philosophy that made me cry.

Plural Tags: abuse (high focus), romantic relationships, type: on purpose.

Content Warnings: Institutional abuse including forced exercise torture, abusive therapy, moral injury, attempted child murder.

Accessibility Notes: Available as ebook on Amazon. Also available on hoopla in some libraries.

Misc. Notes (if any):

Is it long, medium, or short?: Medium

It is for kids, teens, adults, or everybody?: Adults

[lb_lee]

Sneak: Thanks for submitting this! We have so much trouble with longer-form ebooks, it would've been hard for us to get to this one. I've added it to the catalog!

(op)

[(Anonymous)]

Thank y'all so much for making this resource! This system loves having a place like this to reference that gets so frequently updated, too. So much is out there and we hope so much more continues to be made.

(Also, thank you for adding the Midjourney note on the catalog entry, it completely slipped our collective brain in the submission! We aren't supportive of generative AI art but at least in this comic, it was only used briefly with very clear labeling to mark its use. Still, important to add as a disclaimer in any case.)

Re: (op)

[lb_lee]

Sneak: You're welcome! ^_^ I've been so pleased that this humble project has worked out, so far, and that there's been a steady little trickle of submissions that I've been able to stay on top of without too much trouble! I hope this little catalog has something for everyone to enjoy, no matter what they like or where they come from!

I have no idea if other people would care about the Midjourney stuff, but I figured I might as well add the note when I noticed.