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

[beepbird]

Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by Matthew Dicks (contemporary book, 2012)

"...we are a different kind of real. It’s a kind of real that adults don’t understand, so they just assume we’re imaginary.”

Blurb: Budo is lucky as imaginary friends go. He's been alive for more than five years, which is positively ancient in the world of imaginary friends. But Budo feels his age, and thinks constantly of the day when eight-year-old Max Delaney will stop believing in him. When that happens, Budo will disappear.

Why is it worth your time?: The entire book is told by an imaginary friend, and he's largely treated as a real person by the narrative; he has his own opinions, hopes, and fears independent of the kid imagining him, and he has an interest in his own survival. The power dynamic of being an imaginary friend is a central theme of the story, which I haven't seen explored much before.

Plural/1+ Tags: abuse:intermediate-focus, children, imaginary friends, on purpose, neurodivergence, friendship, nonswitching, audio/dubbing

Content Warnings: Kidnapping, ableism against an autistic child, bullying, claustophobia, death and existential horror of imaginary friends, threats of institutionalization, abuse, grooming, gun violence, cancer and terminal illness, panic attacks and anxiety

Accessibility Notes: Available for purchase; it's been fairly easy to find at libraries in my experience, and it can be found on archive.org for free (https://archive.org/details/memoirsofimagina0000dick). Audiobook versions are also available (https://www.audible.com/pd/Memoirs-of-an-Imaginary-Friend-Audiobook/B008X9YLAU).

Misc. Notes (if any): Unfortunately, the imaginary friend does not survive the narrative; fortunately, he gets an epilogue that still treats him as a person after the fact, which was touching.

Is it long, medium, or short?: Long

It is for kids, teens, adults, or everybody? Adults and teens. It was recommended to me when I was 13-14 or so.

[lb_lee]

Sneak: Your submission has been added to the catalog! Thank you very much. ^_^